Flan de Queso de Yaz

Description

For the caramel:

1. Pour 1 cup of sugar into a nonstick pot (2-4 qt in size) and place it on top of a stove burner that is roughly the same size as the bottom of the pot.
2. Turn on the heat to medium/medium-high and let sugar melt into a golden-amber color caramel. This will occur once the sugar reaches a temperature of 340F.
3. To make sure all sugar gets melted, you can hold the pot by the handle and make circular movements. However, resist moving the sugar/caramel with a spatula until 95% of the sugar has dissolved/converted into caramel. 
4. Once caramel reaches a golden-amber color, remove it immediately from the heat to avoid overcooking it and pour it onto a flanera or cake pan (8″ diameter x 2″H). Using gloves, carefully coat the bottom of desired mold with caramel slackened with a touch of warm water and set aside to cool.

For the flan:

1. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese with the condensed milk until smooth.
2. Separately, whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, milks, extract, and salt.
3. Add the milk/egg mixture to the cream cheese mixture in several additions and mix until smooth.
   1. Some very small cheese curdles/pieces will form and remain present, and that is normal. They will be removed in the next step.
4. Pour the custard through a fine mesh colander and over the caramelized sugar.
5. Bake at 275F in a water bath, covered with aluminum foil for 1hr. After the hour, gradually increase baking temperature to 350F until a paring knife can be inserted near the center of the flan and it comes out clean.
6. Remove flan from the oven and let cool down for at least 1.5hrs.
7. Place flan in the fridge, covered, overnight. Flan has to be chilled thoroughly before unmolding.
8. When ready to serve, run a knife thoroughly though the edge of the pan to loosen. Cover the pan with a plate and flip it over all at once. The flan should fall right out onto the pan. If it’s too sticky, dip the bottom of the pan in warm water for a few seconds before inverting again. Use a plate with edges angling upwards to catch all that caramel! Pie plates that are 10″ in diameter work well.