I love a classic flan, but I can’t resist adding a seasonal twist to it like this caramel apple flan! There’s always way too many apples in my kitchen during the fall months, so I had to put them to good use.
Between this flan, my pumpkin flan, and my gingerbread flan, you’ll never have to eat another boring flan again! Well, at least during the holiday season.
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Use dulce de leche in place of caramel
Flan is made with a layer of homemade caramel, so to give this caramel apple flan a sweet caramelized flavor I add a can of dulce de leche. So this ends up tasting similar to my dulce de leche flan, but it has the addition of the sweet spiced apples.
Layer the apples then pour the caramel
The reason you want to layer the apples first is so that they can stay at the top of the flan instead of floating to the bottom of the flan. You can arrange the apple slices nicely and unmold the flan to reveal what resembles an apple upside down cake!
Caramel Apple Flan
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 apples sliced
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 5 egg yolks
- ½ cup dulce de leche
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Peel and slice apples into thin slices. In a pan over medium heat, add the apple slices with cinnamon and brown sugar. Cook the apples, stirring occasionally, but do not let them become soft. Set the apples aside.
- Preheat oven to 300°F. In a pan over medium heat, add sugar and let it begin to caramelize before stirring until smooth.
- Place the prepared apple slices evenly in the baking pan. Pour the caramelized sugar over the apples, tilting the pan to spread evenly, then place the pan in the freezer while you make the flan mixture.
- In a blender, lightly pulse the eggs, yolks, and dulce de leche without creating too many bubbles. In a large bowl, mix heavy cream, evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla, and the egg mixture, being careful not to create air pockets. Strain 3 times until smooth.
- Remove the caramelized pan with apples from the freezer and place it in a large baking dish. Pour the flan mixture into the pan. Add hot water to the baking dish to come halfway up the sides of the flan pan.
- Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove from oven and water bath, and let the flan rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, run a knife along the edges of the pan. Place a plate over the pan, flip, and gently shake to release the flan. Slice and serve. Buen provecho!
