Almond Flan

I simply love Flan. Its the perfect ending to any meal really! Its smooth and creamy with the bitter-sweet caramel sauce drizzled all over what could be better? How about bumping up the flavor factor and pairing it with ALMONDS. The nutty flavor goes oh so well with this, it was a match made in heaven. A real crowd pleaser, in my opinion. I followed this recipe below that I found at All Recipes.com and tweaked it! Recipe as follows with my tweaks:

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs (I used 5 eggs)
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (I substituted Vanilla for Almond Extract)
• 1/4 cup of toasted, sliced almonds

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt sugar until liquefied and golden in color. Carefully pour hot syrup into the 9 inch round glass baking dish , turning the dish to evenly coat the bottom and sides.
3. Evenly sprinkle the toasted almonds over the syrup while hot. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Beat in condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla until smooth. Pour egg mixture into baking dish.
5. Place pie dish in a larger glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water.
6. Bake for 45 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready.
7. To serve, carefully invert on serving plate with edges when completely cool (I suggest cooling the flan in the refrigerator for one hour prior to serving).