Abiding by this large Mexican food chain’s “no cans in the kitchen” edict, we’ll craft our clone of the delicious flan
dessert with fresh whole milk, rather than canned sweetened condensed milk required by most flan recipes out there. The canned stuff has a bit of a funky taste to it, plus it’s much too sweet to be an accurate Chevys knockoff. When you’re ready to clone this one, be sure to get some parchment paper (it’s near the wax paper in the supermarket). When laid over the top of the baking pan, the parchment paper helps the flan cook faster and more evenly than if left uncovered. Aluminum foil doesn’t seem to work as well since it tends to reflect the heat away from your ramekins of sweet, creamy goodness.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS.

INGREDIENTS

• 2½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup hot water
• 3 cups whole milk
• 4 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium/low heat, combine cinnamon with 2 cups of granulated sugar. When the sugar begins to melt, stir often until all sugar has dissolved and the solution is light brown. Add water to the pan and stir until smooth.
3. Pour about ¼ cup of the sugar solution into each of six 6-ounce ramekins (custard cups). Swirl the sugar around the inside edge of each ramekin. Arrange the ramekins in a 9×13-inch baking pan.
4. Heat milk in another medium saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining ½ cup of granulated sugar. Mix until the sugar has dissolved.
6. When milk starts to bubble, remove it from the heat. Carefully pour about ¼ cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture while stirring. This will temper the eggs so they don’t cook while adding the rest of the hot milk. Slowly add the remaining milk while mixing.
7. Fill the ramekins to the top with the custard mixture. Remove any foam from the top of each ramekin. Add water to the pan so that it goes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place a piece of parchment paper over the ramekins and bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until the custard is firm and a knife inserted into the middle of the custard comes out clean.
8. Cool flan and cover each one with plastic wrap. Chill thoroughly before serving. To serve, simply cut around the inside edge of the ramekin with a knife, then turn the flan over onto a plate. The golden, caramelized sugar will spill down over the edges of the flan. Forget about the leftover hardened sugar that stays inside the ramekin. Let the dishwasher deal with it.