Venezuelan Custard
Submitted by happyzhangbo
Quesillo! Venezuela’s silky three-milk custard baked in a caramel-lined pan. Just 6 ingredients, a blender, and a water bath stand between you and the smoothest flan you’ve ever tasted.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
5 minCOOK
10 minREADY
5½ hrsIf you’ve never had Quesillo, buckle up.
This is Venezuela’s answer to flan, and it plays by its own rules: three types of milk (sweetened condensed, evaporated, and fresh) blended with eggs and vanilla, then baked in a caramel-coated pan using a water bath.
The result is impossibly smooth, jiggly custard with a bittersweet caramel sauce that pools around every slice when you flip it out.
Six ingredients. One blender. That’s it.
It needs to chill for at least five hours (overnight is better), so this is the kind of dessert you make the day before and pull out like a hero when it’s time.
Pro Tips
- Melt the sugar slowly and pull it off the heat the moment it turns light amber. Dark caramel tastes bitter and will overpower the custard.
- Blend the custard mixture for a full two minutes so there are zero lumps. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve for an even silkier texture.
- The water in the bain-marie should come halfway up the cake pan. This gentle, even heat is what keeps the custard from cracking.
- Run a thin knife around the edge before flipping to release cleanly. Give it a confident flip onto a plate with a lip to catch all that caramel.
Variations
- Coconut Quesillo: Replace the regular milk with coconut milk for a tropical twist.
- Coffee Quesillo: Dissolve 2 tablespoons of instant espresso into the warm milk before blending.
- Chocolate Quesillo: Blend in 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder with the milk mixture.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).
Over medium heat melt sugar in a cake pan or in a pot.
You can add a tiny bit of water (1 Tablespoon or so) before sugar heats up to make it a little lighter.
After sugar is melted it should be light brown.
Don’t let it get dark or burn.
Take off the heat and if it’s in the cake pan let it cool.
If it’s in a saucepan, pour it into the cake pan and let cover the bottom of the pan and harden a bit.
Put the rest of the ingredients into a blender and blend for a few minutes.
Then pour on top of the caramel mixture in the pan.
Place the cake pan into a larger casserole or round glass dish and fill the larger pan with water until the water comes up to about halfway on outside of the cake pan.
This is called a bain-marie or bano de maria in spanish.
Place this into the oven and bake for about an hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Place cake pan in refrigerator to cool for about 5 hours to overnight.
If you’re in a huge hurry you can also leave it in the bain-marie but dump the water and refill with cool water then add some ice cubes to this and place in refrigerator.
If the ice cubes melt, add some more, removing a bit of water if necessary so as not to cause overflow.
This could be ready in an hour or two if the ice is replenished often.
Alternatively I’ll sometimes do this in two loaf pans and place both into a large casserole dish.
In that case, sprinkle enough sugar to coat the bottom of each pan lightly.
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