AI-generated image
Flan pâtissier
Baked custard tart
Flan pâtissier (flan parisien): baked vanilla custard tart from French bakeries
Flan pâtissier, or flan parisien, is the thick, wobbly vanilla custard tart that every French boulangerie sells by the slice, a favourite snack after school or on the way home from work. The custard is cooked on the hob first and then baked tall in a pastry case until the top is blistered dark brown. The common mistake is cutting it warm; it needs to chill for hours to set. Chef's tip: let the custard catch to a deep brown in the oven; those dark spots are the flavour.
- Total time
- 80 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
- 10 ½ oz shortcrust or puff pastry
- 3 ¼ cups whole milk
- 1 cup double cream
- 4 eggs
- 6 oz caster sugar
- 2 ⅞ oz cornflour
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (3)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Roll the 10 ½ oz shortcrust or puff pastry 3 mm thick and line a buttered 22 cm springform or ring at least 5 cm deep. Chill 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 375°F (350°F fan).
15 minStep 2: Bring the 3 ¼ cups whole milk, 1 cup double cream and 1 vanilla pod, split (or 2 tsp extract) to the boil.
5 minStep 3: Whisk the 4 eggs, 6 oz caster sugar and 2 ⅞ oz cornflour in a bowl, pour on the hot milk while whisking, return to the pan and cook, whisking hard, until very thick and bubbling, 2–3 minutes. Remove the pod.
10 minStep 4: Pour into the case, smooth the top and bake for 45–50 minutes until the top is well browned in patches and the pastry golden.
50 minStep 5: Cool, then chill for at least 4 hours before slicing.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 330 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does flan pâtissier take?
- About 80 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of whole milk?
- Semi-skimmed milk with 1 tbsp cream per 240ml (1 cup).
- What can I use instead of double cream?
- Whipping cream, same amount (less rich; whips softer).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Sandwich grecKebab baguette
In Paris, a "grec" is the late-night kebab sandwich named after the Greek-run shops that first sold it in the Latin Quarter. On rue de la Huchette and rue Saint-André-des-Arts near Saint-Michel, students queue after a night out for crusty bread or pitta stuffed with meat shaved from a turning spit, lettuce, tomato and onion, a garlicky white sauce, and, the Paris touch, a handful of fries pushed right inside. This home version marinates chicken thighs in spiced yoghurt, sears them hard and slices them thin, with oven fries. It contains milk, egg (in the mayonnaise) and wheat. Chef's tip: slice the meat thinly across the grain after resting; thick chunks don't feel like a grec.
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
