PARISIAN FLAN (FRENCH CUSTARD PIE)

By LimericksLady

Ingredients

• Flan
• 3 cups (750 ml) milk
• 1 cup (250 ml) sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 6 tablespoons (90 ml) cornstarch
• 1 cup (250 ml) 35% cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• Crust
• 11/2 cups (375 ml) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk
• 1 egg yolk

Preparation

Step 1

Flan
In a saucepan, bring milk, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
In a bowl, dissolve cornstarch in cream with a whisk. Add egg yolks and whole egg. Slowly incorporate into infused milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, taking care to scrape the bottom of the pan, until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and strain. Cover with plastic wrap directly on cream and let cool in the refrigerator or over an ice water bath. Set aside.
Crust
In a food processor, combine flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and pulse a few seconds at a time until it is the size of peas. Add milk and egg yolk and pulse until a ball begins to form. Shape into a disc with your hands.
On a floured work surface, roll out pastry and line a 20 cm (8 inch) in diameter and 6-cm (2 ½-inch) deep spring form pan. Press firmly. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes or 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
With the rack in the lowest position, preheat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F).
Pour cooled custard into crust. Cut off excess dough to ½ cm (¼ inch) of the custard level. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until custard is only slightly wobbly. Set the oven to broil and caramelize for about 5 minutes or until surface of custard is partially burnt. Remove from oven. Let cool and refrigerate for 6 hours. Unmold.
NOTE
Keep flan in the refrigerator, but let it temper before serving.