Mexican Pear Flan

Stages of cooking

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1. Start with cooking the maple syrup. Take a medium saucepan and pour 1 cup of pure maple syrup inside. Heat it for about 7 minutes on low fire until it reduces to 3/4 cup.

   

2. Boil the syrup a bit on low fire and start adding your whipping cream gradually. Then bring the mixture back up to a boil.

   

3. Whisk the eggs, and while the cream/syrup mixture is still warm, pour it into the egg bowl slowly while whisking it well. Add salt. Strain the mixture into another bowl, cover it and leave in the fridge for at least two hours (or more).

   

4. Mix sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan over low heat, simmering until the sugar dissolves well. Then turn the heat to high and boil the mixture a bit. Do not stir.

   

5. In 5-8 minutes, the syrup will become golden brown and a bit dense. This means that the sugar has caramelized.

   

6. Pour the syrup into a loaf pan right away…

   

7. … and carefully tilt the pan to cover all the sides. The pan will become very hot, so be careful. Keep in mind that the syrup hardens quickly, so, you'll have to do everything quickly.

   

8. Leave the pan for about 10 minutes, and then pour your maple/cream mix from the fridge into it. Make sure the sugar coating is higher than the level of custard in the pan.

   

9. Now, place the loaf pan into another (larger) baking pan, and fill with hot water until it is about halfway up the loaf pan. Cover with foil, and poke holes in the foil.

   

10. Bake at 148 C (300 F) for about 100-110 minutes. Then increase the temperature to 173 C (345 F), remove the foil, and cook uncovered for one more hour.  

    

11. Then cover the pan and refrigerate it overnight or up to 24 hours. The longer it stays in the fridge, the firmer it will be.

    

12. Now, let's cook the pears, starting about 30 minutes before you want to serve your flan. The pears should be warm when you serve the dessert. Melt butter in the skillet over medium-high heat, and add the pears, one of the cut sides down. Cook for about 4 minutes and turn to the other cut side, and cook for 4 minutes more. Add the maple syrup and bring to a boil. If your skillet is ovenproof, place it into the oven and bake at 190 C (375 F) for about 25 minutes, until the pears are soft and brown.

    

13. Take the pears out then. Mix your sour cream and salt to get creamy sauce. Toss the pears in the sauce well.

    

14. Serve you cold flan with warm pears and drizzle the sour cream sauce over the dessert. Enjoy!