Mind Over Batter

I am trying to live right. Yea, get my life straight and inch my way a little closer to heaven. I’m not really a fanatic and I don’t believe the world will end in 2012. It’s just… It’s time to live right. Time to be goody goody and whatnot – cause I’ve got some karma issues to work out…

I do good things…

I offer a smile and some change to my local homeless men; even ones I see holding cell phones. I mean, they gotta pay their bills, no?

I don’t kick stray cats when I see them going to town on my garbage. Those lil’ mofos are overrunning my hood, but I live and let live…

I recycle. I care about Mother Earth, yet at times I just want to throw away that now congealed can of tomato paste that may or may not have been in the back of my fridge for 6 months.

I don’t… I rinse it out like a good girl and toss it in my washable recycling bag, where come recycling day, that can will be well on its way to becoming aluminum siding, maybe. It’s the circle of life, baby. I do my part…

I offer my seat on buses and trains to pregnant women and senior citizens.

I smile waaay more than I did in the 90′s.

I bake cookies for my kids’ bake sales.

I do all that.

I am tryin’ to live right…

BUT… All this righteous living makes me want to do something bad… Something wrong, addictive…  Something that could possibly get me stopped by a cute police officer who may or may not get a glimpse of extra cleavage.

I wanna be bad sometimes…

So… I got my bad on with pumpkin flan.

This pumpkin flan is bad to the effin’ bone in a deliciously addictive manner. It’s vein tapping, sell your TV, punch anyone who gets between you and a spoon delicious.

What?!

YES!

There’s flan goodness all up in this piece, but its fall spiced and pumpkin-ed up. There’s no question about it. If you wanna be bad, this is how you roll…

Take a bite, take two… Hell, eat the whole flippin’ batch.

Whatever…

Whatever…

It’s all good, baby…

And when you’re done being all sinfully bad and you’ve climbed out of your shame spiral… Donate to your favorite charity and continue to live right.

Balance…

Love,

Me…

 

P.S. I’m blog hoppin’ – Check out all these scrumptious squash and pumpkin recipes! I’m going to live here a while… For realz…

 

: Pumpkin Flan

Adapted from: Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy

For the caramel:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cinnamon stick

For the Flan:

• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup of packed light brown sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Boiling water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Set aside either a flan mold, mini bundt pan, 10 inch Pyrex dish, or 4 6 oz. ramekins. Prepare your custard.

For the Custard:

1. Combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup brown sugar, eggs, spices and vanilla extract in a blender. An immersion blender works very well here too. Blend until smooth.
2. Using a sieve, strain custard mixture over a large measuring cup with a lip and set aside. Prepare the caramel.

For the Caramel:

1. Combine 1 cup sugar, cinnamon stick and water in medium saucepan. Stir until the sugar is somewhat dissolved. Cook over medium-high heat and boil, without stirring, until caramel turns a copper brown color. This can take anywhere from about 10-15 minutes.
2. Using either a heavy dish towel or oven mitts, grab the saucepan handle and quickly and carefully pour the caramel over bottom of your flan mold, mini bundt pan, Pyrex dish or ramekins. Please be careful because the caramel will be extremely hot, and seriously – You will not enjoy a sugar burn!
3. Immediately following the caramel, pour the custard into the mold, dish or ramekins. Arrange in a large roasting pan.
4. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes about halfway up the side of your flan vessel. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. When nudged the flan should jiggle a bit. If you are using ramekins, begin to check at around 40 minutes. Cool the flan for about 30 minutes, then cover and chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight.

To unmold:

You can do one of two things:

1. Either run a sharp knife around the rim of the mold and gently shake to loosen.
2. Or you can place the bottom of the mold in a couple of inches of boiling water for a few seconds.

Invert onto a serving plate. Eat this…

Preparation time: 20 minute(s)

Cooking time: 50 minute(s)