Easiest Ever Slow-Cooker Flan

Today I'm making a creamy flan and we're going to start with the caramel. The caramel is that halo on the top of a good flan, adds that almost burnt caramel flavor. And we're going to make caramel on the stove and in this pot I have just a quarter cup of water and to this we're going to add two-thirds of a cup of sugar. I'm going to add it right to the center of the pot and that's just because when making caramel it can be a little fussy especially if the sugar gets stuck to the side of the pot before it melts. That'll cause the caramel to seize but by pouring it right into the center you avoid that. I'm going to use a spatula and just make sure the sugar all gets wet before we put it on the stovetop. All right that looks good. Onto the stove it goes medium heat. Now when making caramel it is not time to walk away from the stove. You want to stand here and watch it go because when it goes it goes like that. So for the first five minutes or so I'm not going to do anything with the pot. I'm not going to swirl it. I'm not going to stir it. Just going to let that sugar slowly melt into the water and it'll start to turn golden. That'll take about five minutes. Okay you can see it's starting to turn a little golden on one side of the pan. That usually happens because the burner's not quite even. Just want to swirl and swirl gently. Let it continue to cook. Let it continue to get nice and golden. Ah there she goes. You can smell it. You can start to see some wisps of smoke. That means things are going to happen pretty quickly from here on out. Oh I love that smell. Makes the whole house smell like caramel. All right there's the color. Heat's off. Just continuing to swirl this. Letting the caramel continue to cook with that residual heat. Looking for a dark reddish color. Now I'm going to add two tablespoons of warm water. It's going to bubble. I love that sound. You want to swirl that water in. That's going to take that caramel and turn it into a sauce that will stick to the flan. Now this caramel's ripping hot so be careful. So here I have a loaf pan. This is a slightly smaller than a nine by five. I think this is an eight and a half by four and a half. But a nine by five would work. Into the pan it goes. One foul swoop. Now you don't want to scrape out any of the caramel stuck on the pan. That caramel stuck behind has a hard consistency. You'll wind up with hard candies. Whatever pours out is great. So I'm going to set this aside. Let it cool a little bit while we make the custard. There we go. Two eggs and three yolks. To that we're going to add a cup and a half of whole milk. I find it easier to break the yolks up first and then whisk in the liquid. Just gives you a nice even custard. There we go. All right to this we're going to add a whole can of sweetened condensed milk. Now the sweetened condensed milk is the key to a great flan. It's already sweetened. It's a stable product so the custard won't break as it cooks. And you have a nice creamy consistency on the finished flan. There we go. And now for flavor I'm just going to add a little bit of lemon zest. About a quarter of a teaspoon. Thereabouts. And I like it because it's kind of an unexpected flavor. At least for me. There's a lot of coffee flans. I've seen coconut flans. Almond based flans. But that little bit of acidity from the lemon zest is a real winner in my opinion. All right. I'm going to whisk this all together. That sweetened condensed milk is pretty thick on the bottom there. Just want to make sure it's nicely incorporated with the rest of the ingredients. Very nice. Into the pan. It goes right on top of that caramel which you can see is really nicely set up. All right. Custard into the pan. And the cool thing about this flan is that we're going to cook it in the slow cooker. And the slow cooker is a slow even heat so you get a perfectly cooked flan. So taking this back to the slow cooker. And we're going to use the slow cooker like a water bath as you would if you cooked this in the oven. So I'm going to put some water into the bottom of the slow cooker. You want it to measure about half an inch which depending on your slow cooker is about two cups. And you really do need an oval slow cooker for this so that the loaf pan can fit nicely inside. So in goes the flan. There we go. Lid goes on. Now this takes about two to three hours on low. Depends on your slow cooker. There we go. You get a good look at that. My slow cooker actually says four hours when it only takes two to three to cook this on low. That's because that's a nice old slow cooker. And it doesn't do anything under four hours on low. So I'm going to set a timer. I make this enough that I know that in that slow cooker it takes three hours. But you know it's done when the center of the custard registers about 180 degrees. That flan has been in the slow cooker for a while. Let's take its temperature. All right looking for a temperature of 180 degrees right in the center. Oh there we have it. 179, 180, 181. Perfect. I'm gonna take the flan out of the water bath. Onto the wire rack it goes. You can see when I shake it it's nicely set around the outside but it's a little jiggly in the middle and that is perfect. It will continue to cook and set up as it cools on the counter for two hours. And then of course you have to chill it in the fridge at least eight hours to get it nice and cold. But you can do it up to 24 hours in advance. Hey I hope you're enjoying this video. And if you're hungry for more check out Cook's Country magazine. It's everything you love about the Cook's Country TV show packed between the pages of our award-winning magazine. Each issue features classic recipes, unbiased product reviews, and time-saving tips. Subscribe now and continue your culinary journey with Cook's Country magazine. All right time to dig into this flan. It has been chilling in the refrigerator so it's nice and cold. Now I'm just going to take a paring knife run it around the edges of the pan. That'll help it loosen from the pan nice and easily. Now revealing a flan is always the fun part because that caramel sauce drips down the edges and it's a little nerve-wracking for the cook. So you do a flip onto a nice large platter. Knock it. Oh you see that caramel coming out. Oh all of this caramel in this pan. Oh yeah some of it will stick to the pan. Some of it can just get poured right out. The more caramel the better. All right set this aside. Now for a slice. I have to say that is a perfect looking flan. And I think we did it in the slow cooker so it was all hands off. The other cool thing about this low cooker it's nearly impossible to overcook it because it's just stuck on that low setting. All right so flan slices are up to the cook. The depth I'm going to go about there. I know it's a little on the big side so sue me. Oh look at that texture. It is just perfectly creamy and smooth throughout the whole thing. So cool and silky. Little bit of sweetness. Not too much. The only sugar was from that can of sweetened condensed milk. But it's that top that caramel top and the lemon zest that just brightens everything up at the end. This is how you finish a meal. See you next time. Thanks for watching. What'd you think? Leave a comment below and let me know what you're excited to cook this week. You can get today's recipes and more for free at our website.