Fresh Fruit Summer Flan

Hi guys, I hope you all have your Christmas plans sorted and are mentally preparing for the long holidays with the kids! I like the holidays, it’s a wee break from the running around with sports and clubs after work and school, which can be a bit hectic sometimes. So a few posts ago I told you all I was going to get strawberry obsessed and I wasn’t kidding. I have nothing against using frozen berries in my baking and desserts but it’s so lovely to have fresh ones because there are just some things where the frozen’s don’t quite cut it. So here’s a simple summery fruit flan. It has a toasted base with tasty coconut added and is filled with a thick custard that is set firm enough to cut into slices which you can flavour with vanilla or custard and is topped with fresh summer fruits. It’s quick and easy to make and is delissimo!

INGREDIENTS

BASE
250 grams of Cameo Cremes (or chocolate Oreos)
250 grams Vanilla Wines (or other plain biscuits like Milk Arrowroots or Malt)
50 grams desiccated coconut
125 grams butter (only 100 grams if using Cameo Cremes or Oreos, because of their soft cream filling you don’t need as much)

CUSTARD
4 cups (1 litre) of milk
100 grams butter
6 tablespoons icing sugar
8 tablespoons custard powder

Optional – 1/2 cup passionfuit pulp (about x4 fresh passionfruit) If you love the flavour but not the pips, sieve it before you get started.

Also Optional – 1 teaspoon of good-quality (pure) vanilla essence (or the scraped seeds and the pod from a x5 cm vanilla bean)

SUMMER FRUIT
Fresh summer fruit like grapes, kiwifruit, stoned cherries and fresh stone fruit like apricots, nectarines, peaches or plums (all cut in half, stoned and then cut into wedges) and any fresh summer berries.

WALKTHROUGH

Base

So this walkthrough is for the chocolate biscuits with the cream centres but is exactly the same method as the plain biscuits, remembering though that these biscuits with a cream filling use 25 grams less butter than the plain biscuits 🙂

To get the oven ready, place one rack just below the centre of the oven and preheat it to 160 degrees/fan-bake oven or 180 degrees/conventional oven, on bake.

Next, using non-stick cooking spray lightly grease a 25cm or 26cm tart/flan tin (or roughly the same sized shallow pie tin).

For this walkthrough I am making the base with Cameo Cremes but of course you may be using plain biscuits and if you are remember the plain bikkies have 25 grams more butter in this recipe.

So, getting started on the base, place your biscuits into the food processor and process until they are fine or………

……place them into a re-sealable thick plastic bag and gently whack them with a rolling pin until they are fine.

Place the crumbs and the coconut into a medium-sized bowl.

Now chop the butter into cubes then place it in a small saucepan, over a low heat until it’s melted (try not to boil it though) or alternately place it in the microwave for just over a minute.

Then pour it into the biscuit crumbs and stir in really well.

First, using your fingers, press the crumbs firmly into the sides of the tin so that they are around 1/2 a centimetre thick (this takes a bit of time) and then spread the remaining crumbs as evenly as possible over the base and then press them down as firmly as possible also using the bottom of a glass.

Place your biscuit base in the oven for 10 minutes and then leave to cool on a wire rack for half an hour and then pop into the fridge for at least another half an hour to harden.

Now to remove the tart from the tin. It’s easier to fill the flan on the plate you are serving them on as it’s much easier getting the base out of the tin without the filling in it! So I get the base on to my desired plate and then fill it and set the filling, then decorate 🙂 So to remove the base from the tin, gently place it (in the tin) on top of an up-side down bowl. Then gently move the outer tin, slowly down towards the bench (the bowl will be in the middle). If the outer tin is not coming away easily look to where it may be stuck and gently place the tip of a sharp knife between the stuck area of crumbs and the tin to loosen that area. So the base will still be sitting on the bowl with the metal base of the tin under it, on the bench. Now take the base from on top of the bowl and place it on the bench. Then move a metal spatula (or a knife) around in between the bottom of the tin and the base to loosen it. Then gently manoeuvre your flan base onto your serving plate.

Note* When you are at the stage of separating the bottom of your flan tin from your flan base to slide it onto your serving plate and it’s your first time, and you are shaking in your boots and feeling daunted about getting it from A to B, do yourself a flavour and leave it on the base, on the plate, it will only be seen when it’s cut up, no biggie, everyone just wants to eat your delicious dessert! It may take a few bases before you get your confidence up, that’s normal. You should see how I throw things around at work, once you have made something many times you know what you can and can’t get away with! Know though that if you do leave it on the base of your tin it will get scratched when your flan gets sliced up with a knife.

That’s it a tasty, not too crumbly crunchy flan base, ready on your serving plate to be filled 🙂

Custard Filling

Place all of the ingredients into a heavy bottomed saucepan and stir well, ensuring none of the dry ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the pan. If you are flavouring your custard with vanilla, place the essence or the vanilla bean seeds and the pod into the pot also.

Over a medium/low heat and stirring often, bring it to the point where the butter has melted.

Then turn the heat up to medium and using a whisk, whisk slowly but constantly until it has thickened to the point of coating the back of a spoon. Note* Don’t worry if it boils and bubbles, it needs to, as this helps it thicken, as long as you are constantly whisking it, making sure it’s not sticking to the bottom and edges of the pan, it will thicken and be lump free 🙂

From turning on the heat to thickened this took me ten minutes, which is just a guide as everyone’s elements produce slightly different levels of heat.

If you used a vanilla bean pod, find it inn your custard and remove and discard it.

If you are flavouring your custard with passionfruit, now fold it into your custard.

There you go, lovely thick custard, all ready to pour and spread it, into or on top of your flan base and place in the fridge, un-covered for at least one hour to set.

Note* If you cover it with plastic food wrap whilst it’s still hot, when you remove the wrap later custard will stick to it and the top of your flan will look messy! However it’s fine to wrap it when it’s cold.

Fresh Fruit

Aaaah…….this is the fun part! Let your artistic juices flow when decorating your flan with the fruit 🙂
I would recommend soft fresh fruits like seedless grapes, kiwifruit, stoned cherries and fresh stone fruit like apricots, nectarines, peaches or plums (all cut in half, stoned and then cut into wedges). All fresh summer berries of course, like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries, cranberries or blueberries. It’s best to avoid anything that goes brown quickly like bananas. I tried not to used canned fruit because living in Hawkes Bay I haven’t really got excuse not to use fresh fruit!