Tuesdays with Dorie: Last minute everything

When Laurie of Quirky Cupcake first proposed doing a weekly recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, I liked the idea, but didn't join. I think I actually commented on her blog saying that, yes, I owned the book and loved it (can you tell from my blog?), but I had made so many wonderful things from the book already, it seemed kinda silly to join in. So I didn't.

Since then, the group has grown to 100 bloggers, and the only things they've made that I also made was the Orange Berry Muffins, page 3, on January 29, and the Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake, pages 238 and 239, on February 12th. Alot of recipes, not alot of repeats for me. Which made me question.... "Why didn't I want to join up and bake more from Dorie again?"

I give up, I don't know either. Silly me.

So I asked to join. Sunday night, less than 2 days before the posting date of the Caramel-Topped Flan (chosen by my Aussie friend Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon.) Sure, Laurie got back to me ASAP, but if you don't check your email Sunday night and get the email the next day, then that cuts the time down even further! I was even given the option of waiting until next weeks recipe, based on the lateness of my joining, but hey, if I was going to do this, I was going to do this right away! No more waiting!

Oh wait. No milk. How the heck did that happen? I just bought milk last week, right before we went away for the weekend. Where did all the milk go? And typical me, I learned this later in the evening, after I was already in my pj's, unwilling to go out the door to a store. And well after I had already been grocery shopping, sure that there was 4 liters of milk in the fridge.

So here I sat this morning, post day, with no flan and still no milk. Book open to the right page, instructions read through at least twice, but no milk. And could not leave the house until my youngest child woke up. Of course he slept in until about 9am, something he rarely ever does, but hey, that was to be expected!

Fortunately this recipe is a snap to put together and the instructions are very clear. I didn't have the proper sized pan, at least not one that wasn't non-stick, but I did have a pan that would work, and there was no rule (that I know of) that said I had to follow the recipe exactly, specifically, to the letter. And as it needed chilling time and I had to go to work in the afternoon, making it this morning was wonderful timing. Run out and grab milk, throw it together and into the oven, get stuff together for lunches and work, allow flan to chill while I was at work, enjoy it for dessert after a long day.


My children gave me funny looks when I said there would be a caramel flan for dessert after dinner tonight. So they don't know what a flan is, that's not such a bad thing, is it? (Oh wait, children of foodie.... Okay, but they know lots of other food related things!) At least one of them giggle when they heard the flan make a rather rude noise as it slid out of the pan and onto the plate. Then oooh'd when he saw the topping and caramel dripping out over the sides of the flan.

He was even inhaling it until I told him what was in it, then told me he didn't really like it and stopped eating it. Oh well, more for the rest of us!

This flan is one step away from Creme Brulee. And if I owned a torch, I'd have bruleed a piece of it, just to see what it would be like. I still want to try it, but there isn't much left of the flan to play with. Not even enough, really, to share with the neighbors, who do own a torch (okay, a proper blow torch, not a mini kitchen torch.)

I think I need to find a fun colored highlighter in my drawer of school supplies and start highlighting all the recipes I have made from Dorie already, with a second color for all the recipes I will make over the next while as a happy member of Tuesday's With Dorie.

If you are looking for the recipe for this lovely dessert, you have three choices: Try and read what you can from my picture above; Go see Steph's post, where she will have the recipes; Or go buy the book already!