Flan Parisien

Flan Parisien Ingredients

  • Milk

  • Yolk

  • Sugar

  • Cornstarch

  • Cream

  • Butter

  • 1 Vanilla Bean or Paste

  • Salt

Crust - Pâte à foncer

  • 500 g Pastry Flour

  • 360 g Butter, cut in cubes

  • 110 g Milk

  • 14 g Salt

  • 10 g Sugar

  • 20 g Egg Yolk

Caramel Powder

  • 300 g Sugar

  • 1 Vanilla Bean

  • 35 g Butter

  • 2.5 g Salt

Flan Parisien, also known as Parisian flan or Flan à la Vanille, is a classic French dessert that has been made and popularized in France, but its origins can be traced back to Ancient Rome. This custard tart is characterized by its smooth, creamy filling made with eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla, baked within a buttery, flaky crust, pâte à foncer. Unlike the more well-known Spanish flan, which is a caramel-topped custard, this flan parisien is topped with caramel powder a few minutes before its done baking, making a beautiful silky caramelized topping.

Making the Crust - Pâte à foncer

  1. Sift the pastry flour into a mixing bowl. Then add the butter, and with a paddle attachment, mix at speed two until the butter turns into fine crumbs. Then, add the sugar, salt, milk, and yolks and mix at speed one until a homogenous texture is formed. Form into two discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 2 hours at minimum.

  2. Roll the chilled dough out between two silicone mats or two pieces of parchment until it is 2-2.5 mm thick. If the dough gets too warm to handle, chill it in the freezer for a couple of minutes.

  3. Lay a silicone mat over a baking sheet. Then, place one half of the chilled crust on top of the baking sheet. With your metal ring, cut out press down and cut out the bottom crust of the flan. Then with the other half of the crust, trim a long strip of dough to line the sides of the cake ring. Press the seam firmly together, and completely freeze.

  4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lay down parchment paper over the frozen crust and fill it with beans, rice, or pastry weights to blind bake the crust for 30-40 min. The crust should be brown all over after baking.

Making the Caramel Powder

  1. Add the sugar to a saucepan and let caramelize; there should be no sugar crystals and have a dark gold colour to it. Remove from heat and add the vanilla, butter, and salt. Whisk and pour over a silicone mat and let cool down at room temperature.

  2. Break the hardened caramel and blitz into a powder using a food processor.

Making the Flan Parisien

  1. Add the milk and vanilla to a large saucepan and bring to a scant, whisk constantly to avoid any burnt fat at the bottom.

  2. In another bowl, add the sugar, cornstarch, and egg yolks, whisk until the mixture turns a pale yellow. Once the hot milk is up to temperature, temper the yolk mixture by adding 1/4 of the hot milk while mixing it in. Repeat this process in 4 more additions. Tip: It is very important to temper the yolk mixture with the hot milk otherwise you will cook the egg yolks.

  3. Return the milk and yolk mix back into a clean large saucepan and bring up to a boil while constnatly whisking. Make sure to keep whisking until the mixture reaches 184F on a thermometer.

  4. Pass the flan mixture through a sieve, and let cool down to 140F before immersion blending in the cream, butter, and salt.

  5. Add the flan mixture to the pre-baked crust. Do not overfill the flan; leave a few cm of space. Smooth out the top of the flan with an offset spatula. Freeze the flan for a minimum of 30 minutes to make a skin.

  6. Preheat the oven to 340 F and bake the flan for around 30-35 minutes. Then sprinkle some of the caramel powder using a sieve over the top of the flan, be very generous. Return to the oven to caramelize for 5 min.

  7. Allow to cool at room temperature without taking off the mold. Then take off the mold and refrigerate minimum 6-8 hours.