Tocinilllo de cielo - Spanish Flan

Tocinillo de cielo (Heaven's little pig) is one of the most surprising desserts of the Spanish gastronomy. We could compare it, in sweet version, with the potato tortilla. From ingredients of common use (eggs, water, sugar) and using a technique of not at all particular elaboration, we get incredible results with little effort! Created in the early years of the last century, when wineries from Jerez de la Frontera donated the leftover egg yolks of the clarification (the egg whites are used to clarify the wine) to the nuns. These, with divine success, mixed them with syrup and they treated to the bath Maria, thus was born tocinillo de cielo... God blesses them!

Yield:
1 flan
Category:
Desserts
Cuisine:
Spanish

INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 egg yolks
  • 9 oz sugar
  • 1 fl. oz water
  • For the caramel:
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoons water

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Caramel:
    Put the sugar for the caramel in a saucepan with the tablespoon of water and heat until the syrup goes golden brown. Cover your individual flan pans evenly with the above syrup and put to one side.
  2. Main dish:
    Put the sugar and water in an earthenware dish and heat until the syrup goes stringy.
  3. Beat the egg yolks and slowly add the syrup, stirring with a whisk. Strain through a sieve if necessary and pour into individual flan pans. Cook in a bain-marie in the oven at 300ยบ F for around 20 minutes. When the tocinillos have set, remove from the oven, leave to cool and take out of the flan pans.
  4. Note: a bain-marie is a French term for a double boiler or a steamer.

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