  When I was still in the Philippines, everytime we had a family gathering, I would always be the one tasked to prepare leche flan and lumpia. Leche flan has always been my favorite dessert, so much so that I really searched for the recipe of the one that most appealed to me...not the one with eggyolks (I found that too rich) but with whole eggs. I first adapted the one by Milkmaid: 4 eggs is to 1 can condensed milk for the custard. I added either vanilla or lemon extract. Then I tried a Carnation recipe using 1 cup condensed with 1 cup water and same amount of egg. I was satisfied with the result as well. Recently, my sister-in-law has been milking her cow, so now my family receives a continuous supply, albeit for a limited time only, of fresh whole milk. Dad said we should be able to consume about 1 gallon a day, and suggested I make custard, pudding, etc. Since we also have free supply of fresh eggs from Dad's farm, I decided to make leche flan. But I had to look for a recipe that made use of fresh whole milk.
I used one which was originally a Cuban recipe. In my experiences, I have encountered some spoofs in preparing leche flan, which are often traceable to two major things: (1) wrong heat for caramelizing the sugar resulting to bitter caramel (a bit bitter is okay for me because it tastes like coffee), and (2) higher heat for steaming or baking (resulting to lots of holes and/or overdone custard that tends to be like pudding without the bread). So I chose the method of baking that gave me the best results to feature here in my foodblog. (I still don't have a big steamer here and I am not familiar with the double-boiler method yet.
BUt in the Philippines I used to steam on medium heat for 30 minutes or so. ) And since my in-laws were all praises for the two pieces I gave to them (my Mom actually requested for the recipe, saying it was unlike any custard she had ever had! ), I am gonna stick to this one. urlLink The holes in this leche flan in the photo are just at the periphery. Inside it is soooo smooth and soooo yummy...just the way I love it! My Filipina friend here even commented that it was like professionally-made (oh, she also cooks, so coming from her, it is a compliment).
While my Mom was praising it, she asked my hubby if he tasted it...but no, my fussy husband had always gently refused my offer (oh napakasakit sa dibdib! for me to enjoy this delightful recipe that my husband would not even taste...buti na lang impressed ang in-laws.
). 
