1: In a metal flan mould (you can buy them in most Ferreterías or in the kitchen utensils department of a department store or large supermarket), burn the desert spoon of sugar with one dst spoon of water. Stir over a strong heat until the sugar and water becomes a brown coloured caramel. If you want to skip this step, you can find ready-made caramel in most Spanish supermarkets.

2: Beat the egg with the 2 desert spoons of sugar. Beat well, add the glass of milk, and beat some more.

3: Pour the mixture into the metal mould over the caramel, and put the mould (or moulds if you have made various) into a pan of simmering water. Make sure the level of water is lower than the moulds, so that no water spills into the flan mixture. Let the flan cook like this until it is ready. To test, put a sharp knife into the middle of the mixture. If it is clean when you take it out, the flan is cooked.

 

Varieties / Tips:

• Fruit flan: If you want to make a fruity flan, just add small pieces of whatever fruit is in season (banana, apple, peach, strawberries, cherries) once the egg and milk mixture is ready.
• Nutty flan: The same as fruity flan, but substitute the small pieces of fruit with chopped nuts and/or raisins.
• Cinammon Flan: Before making the flan, heat the milk up with a cinammon stick and a piece of lemon peel, for about ten minutes, and then leave it to cool. When the milk is properly cold, remove the stick and lemon peel and follow the usual recipe steps. Once ready, your flan will have a delicious lemony cinammon taste.
• Coffee flavoured flan: Just before adding the beaten egg and milk mixture to the moulds, add a few drops of coffee essence. You can make the essence yourself, by stirring a desert spoon of instant coffee granules into a very small amount of warm water.
• Coconut Flan: As in fruity flan, but instead of fruit use grated coconut.