Flan is my all time favorite dessert. I grew up eating it and love everything about it. My Mom would serve it to us with a drizzle of fresh cream. It was the most glorious dessert ever.

Over the years I have tried making it- but have not been very successful. The flan usually doesn’t invert well and breaks apart. The reason is not enough eggs- I don’t like the custard dessert too rich so I don’t end up adding too many eggs. So my solution is to have my Mom make it for us every time she comes to visit. She doesn’t have a set recipe for me to follow and I have never watched her make it.

Last year I modified a recipe and tried it- no luck- it broke apart. Finally the other day while I was cooking for some friends, I decided to make flan. I was watching food television and saw someone make coconut rum flan. That is all I needed to get inspired. I tweaked the recipe to my taste and came up with this recipe.

I am thrilled with it. The texture is perfect- soft yet firm. It is not too sweet- exactly the way I like it. Everyone enjoyed it a lot. I also like it because I can make it with low fat milk and although it has quite a few eggs- at least the dessert has protein.

For caramel

• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup water

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then wash down any sugar crystals from the side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Boil, without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until dark amber.
Pour into the glass dish and swirl so caramel coats the bottom.

For flan

• 1 cup 1% milk
• 1 (14 ounce) low-fat coconut milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 tablespoons dark rum
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
You will need a round 9-inch glass dish and a large roasting pan.

Heat the milk and coconut milk with the sugar until the mixture simmers. Whisk the eggs, add the rum, salt and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Add ½ cup of hot milk mixture to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the tempered egg mixture into the milk mixture mixing well. Strain the entire mixture before pouring it into the glass dish.
Place the glass dish into the roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with hot water- about ½ inch high. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes until just set but still wobbly in center. Refrigerate over night or at least 2-3 hours.
Top with the coconut and serve chilled.