This Pumpkin Flan recipe has a story which I’m going to share with you today! The first time I tasted pumpkin was when I made this flan! I was so excited to use pumpkin in my cooking; I made a homemade pumpkin puree. I have also for the first time made a pumpkin pie spice mix for this flan recipe.
You see, where I am from (UAE) we don’t use pumpkin in cooking. But after cooking many foreign recipes and trying new ingredients, I was intrigued by pumpkin and decided to give it a try. I wanted my introduction to pumpkin to be sweet, so I picked a dessert recipe, a pumpkin flan recipe!
What is flan?
Flan is a dessert, it’s creamy in texture and has two layers. A caramel layer and a custard layer. You can bake the flan in the oven or cook it in a water bath on the stove top. The basic ingredients in a flan recipe are eggs, milk, and sugar. The flan or sometimes is called Crème Caramel, is usually baked in a small or medium size ramekin and when is set, and is time to serve, the serving plate is placed face down on the ramekin, and then the ramekin is flipped upside down for the flan to fall face down on the serving plate.
How to make pumpkin flan?
To make flan, you will need oven safe ramekins. You will also need eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice mix. Either blend all the ingredients in a blender except milk, or you can whisk using a hand whisk instead.
First, you have to prepare the caramel layer, so add sugar into a saucepan and cook until light amber in color, pour water and whisk, then pour in the ramekins and keep aside to cool.
Heat the milk and when it boils, remove from heat immediately. Using a ladle, add the milk gradually to the egg mixture while whisking the egg mixture to temper it, keep doing so until you have used all the milk.
Strain the mixture using a fine sieve strainer. Pour the custard in the ramekins after the caramel layer is cool and firm. Cover the ramekins with aluminum foil, place the ramekins in a large baking pan, pour boiling water into the baking pan. The water should cover half the ramekins and bake for almost an hour.
The pumpkin flan is ready if you inserted a toothpick in the middle and came out clean. Let the flan cool to room temperature and then place it in the fridge for at least four hours before serving.
More Pumpkin Recipes!
This recipe was originally posted in November 2014, images and text are updated!
Pumpkin Flan Recipe
Ingredients
For the flan:
- 3 large eggs
- 1 egg white
- 7 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups milk
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix
For the caramel:
- 1/4 cup brown sugar for the caramel
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
To make the caramel
- Add the sugar in a saucepan.
- When the sugar melts, swirl the pan occasionally.
- When the caramel turns dark golden, add the water and whisk.
- Quickly pour the caramel into the ramekins. Swirl the ramekins to spread the caramel evenly.
- Set aside to cool. Do not put the caramel in the fridge.
To make the flan
- Preheat the oven, 370F/190C.
- In a blender, add all the ingredients except the milk. Or you can whisk the ingredients instead.
- Heat the milk until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat, add one ladle of milk to the egg and pumpkin mixture, whisk immediately and quickly to avoid cooking the eggs.
- Pour the rest of the milk to the egg and pumpkin mixture while whisking.
- Strain the flan mixture through sieve strainer.
- Pour the strained flan mixture in the ramekins. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Place ramekins in a large baking pan. Fill the pan with boiling water until it covers half the ramekins.
- Place the baking pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 55 minutes until the custard has set.
- Remove the ramekins from the baking pan and place on a cooling rack.
- When cool, refrigerate for four hours or overnight.
- When serving, run the tip of a knife along the edges of the flan. Place a serving dish on top of the ramekin and flip upside down.
It has turned out perfectly light and smooth. Well done, Muna.
Thanks Angie 🙂 … I think I want to try pumpkin in many recipes to come. I didn’t know what I was missing!
This sounds wonderful! I love cooking with pumpkin (must confess: the canned kind makes it quick and easy) – I make pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pie (with lots of molasses and spices). For me and my braces-friendly focus, knowing the flan will be tender is an extra plus. Thanks for sharing!
You’re most welcome Pamela, this is a delicate dessert and the pumpkin made it more sophisticated 🙂
It turned out perfectly! Good job! It’s smooth and very light 😀 It is such a delicate dessert. Pumpkin in dessert? No problem! 🙂
Thanks Nagi, I have a big sweet tooth and that’s what’ helping me be creative 😉
This looks excellent and perfect. You are so talented.
Thank you Shibani 🙂