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Vanilla Parisian flan recipe
Here is my recipe for a Parisian flan that is both creamy and has a crunchy crust. It is not a difficult dessert to make, and you can even skip the pie dough part and buy one yourself.
What is a Parisian flan?
The Parisian flan is a staple of French bakery. You will find it at every single bakery in Paris, mainly but also across France. It is usually one of the cheapest desserts as it is quite simple in its composition. I used to get one slice after lunch almost every day when I was in high school. Be aware though that it quite differs from its cousin, the Spanish flan, as it is not jiggly and does not contain caramel. It is more similar to a custard pie.
It is not a very fancy dessert with multiple layers (which is why I could afford it) but that does not make it any less good. It only has two elements: a buttery pie crust and a pastry cream. The pastry cream is cooked on the stove and then baked in the oven with the pie crust. And because it does not have many components to it, every ingredient matters in it. If you do it, I really recommend you to use the best butter and eggs when making this recipe.
I made this flan using vanilla, specifically vanilla from my family’s farm in Comoros (Click here for more info) but you can use vanilla from anywhere, you can also use cardamom, rose, tonka bean or any spices you fancy to flavor your flan!
Tips to succeed when making
this flan
-Have your butter and eggs out of the fridge 30 minutes before you start making your dough to make sure they are at room temperature. That will facilitate the mixing of your dough.
-Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 1h after making it and let it come back to room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling it. Otherwise, it will be too difficult to roll and/or might stick to the counter.
For the pastry cream, infuse the vanilla pod in milk for at least 15 minutes ( no need to infuse for vanilla extract).
- Once you add the egg mixture in the pot, cook for at least 3 minutes while constantly stirring. If you see lumps appearing, make sure to remove the pan from the stove, keep stirring, then bring it back on stove at a lower temperature.
Before baking, don't fill the dough all the way to the top with cream as the pastry cream tend to inflate when it is baked resulting in overfilling of your pie dough
Once your flan is baked, make sure to let the flan cool down at room temperature for 30 minutes then in the fridge for at least 6 hours. I know it is hard but it is really important to let your flan cool down before eating it otherwise, the texture will be ruined.
Regular butter will work well with this recipe but I prefer to use European-style butter with at least 82% of fat, especially for the pie crust. A pie dough made with European-style butter will be much easier to roll and line onto a tart ring. If the butter comes from a grass-fed cow, even better!
Here is a tutorial video, the written recipe is right below:
Parisian flan
Equipment
- 5 cm high, 20 cm large cake ring
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
Sugar pie dough (you can freeze the excess)
- 130 g butter (cold)
- 130 g icing sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
- 300 g all-purpose flour
Pastry cream
- 650 g whole milk
- 150 g whipping cream
- 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tbsp vanilla extract)
- 150 g sugar
- 55 g cornstarch
- 160 g egg yolks (8 yolks)
- 100 g butter
Instructions
Sugar pie dough
- In a large bowl, add the cold butter cut into small cubes, flour,icing sugar, and salt. Incorporate the butter in the dry ingredients using yourhands until you obtain a sand-like texture. Make a well in the center and whisk an egg inside. Incorporate it into the dough first with a fork, then kneadlightly by hand until the egg is well incorporated. Roll out the dough to a one-inch-thickrectangle. Cover well and refrigerate for at least one hour. Remove the dough from the fridge, let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes until it becomes softer and easier to spread. Divide your dough in two. Add some flour on your counter to make sure that the dough will not stick to it. Roll the first half thin (3 mm), then cut a circle using the same ring you’ll bake your flan in. Put that dough circle in the freezer.Roll the second half just as thin and cut long strips, slightly taller than the height of your ring. These will be your sides—freeze them too.Butter your ring and place it on a parchment-lined baking tray. Gently line the sides with the dough strips, then place the frozen dough circle at the bottom. Press lightly. Chill everything in the fridge for at least 30 min. Cut the excess dough. Spread the dough with a rolling pin until it’s 3-5 mm thick. Watch my video showing how to line a tart.Leave the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
Pastry cream
- Put the vanilla pod in milk and whipping cream and let warm it up in a pot until it starts boiling. Let the vanilla pod sit in the milk for 15 minutes.In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolk with the sugar then add the cornstarch and whisk. Put 1/3 of the milk in the egg mixture. Mix well and put this back to the pot.Heat everything together while continuously stirring. Stir for 3 min after it thickens. Remove from the stove before adding butter. Mix well with a whisk and with a hand mixer if you have one.Pour in a baking dish with cling warap on top of it. Leave in the fridge for at least 30 min.
Baking
- Preheat your oven at 170C(340F). Pour pastry cream onto cold pie dough. Fill up to 3/4 of the height of the pie dough. Bake for 45 min. Let the flan cool down at room temperature for 1h then in the fridge for at least 5 hours.
Can the pudding go in the freezer?
Unfortunately no, but you can keep it in the fridge for a couple days!
Looks amazing!
I will try this one!
Have fun!
So fun to make
Thank you! I think so too!