Try something new for Thanksgiving! Prepare a creamy and delicious pumpkin flan. It is a sweet and rich dessert with a healthy addition of traditional pumpkin for the occasion. Use one can of pumpkin puré and the usual ingredients to make this flan.

The best part is that you can make it ahead of time and serve it cold. I make it every Thanksgiving for a friend who follows a gluten-free diet and she loves this pumpkin flan recipe with cream cheese.

Table of Contents

Make the caramel.

Making the caramel is not an easy step if this is your first time. But if you are a beginner I have some tips.

First, find the baking dish that you will bake the flan and keep it near. You will place the melted sugar on the bottom of this glass baking dish. I use a dish that is about 9.5 inches x 1.6 inches (24cm x 4cm).

Next, find a small stainless steel frying pan to melt the sugar and make the caramel. I prefer stainless steel pans because they can retain heat very well.

To make the caramel, heat the pan on medium-high heat.

Once the pan is hot, add the sugar and then the water on top. Do not stir.

If you stir too soon, then the sugar will not melt.

By the way, do not stir too soon, let the sugar get hot in the pan. The sugar will start to caramelize in some areas.

Bubbles of dark syrup will start to appear and the sugar will start to melt, and then it will start to boil. Once it starts to boil, you can either shake the pan or stir the sugar until all the sugar melts.

Stir the sugar around the pan and once the sugar is completely melted, quickly pour the caramel in the baking dish.

This has to be done quickly. Rotate the baking dish around so that the caramel covers the entire bottom before it hardens.

This step took me several tries to get it right when I was learning. Now it’s super easy to do. The upside is you can repeat as many times as you’d like until you get it right before starting the rest of the recipe.

My tip for melting sugar: If you add too much water while the sugar is melting it thickens quickly, and if you move it with a spoon too soon or at the moment it is melting, the sugar will harden. Stir only when it starts to boil.

the rest of the recipe is super easy.

Blend the rest of the ingredients, pour in the baking dish, and bake in a water bath for one hour.

You can use regular milk if you don’t have evaporated milk and it will still be delicious. I have done this recipe with lowfat milk and didn’t notice a difference.

Another tip is that if you don’t have cream cheese, just add an extra egg. Even if you only have half of a block of cream cheese, add it. It will be good. I did it once like this and it was less creamy but still tasty. The cream cheese gives that soft creamy consistency to the flan.

Let me know in the comments how it goes.

Yield: 10