Got this from my friend, Camille today. She made it at a dinner at our house last spring, it is easy and soo good!

Never Fail Flan

Ingredients: Serves 6

11/4 cups granulated sugar

4 cups of whole milk

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. To make the caramel, put 1/2 cup of the sugar (I use about 2-to 3- times this much) into a small heavy saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts. Warm six ramekins by rinsing them in hot water and drying them quickly. Continue to heat the sugar syrup, without stirring, until it turns a deep golden color. Remove the pan from the heat.
   
2. Pour some of the caramel into a ramekin and turn it so it coats the bottom and sides. BE VERY CAREFUL DOING THIS, I HAVE BURNED MY FINGERS SEVERAL TIMES.
   
   As soon as the caramel sets, turn the ramekin upside down on a baking sheet. Coat the remaining ramekins in the same way.
   
3. Scald the milk by heating it in a saucepan to just below boiling point. Pour into a bowl and cool.
   
4. Put the eggs into a bowl and gradually beat in the remaining sugar. Add the cooled milk, vanilla extract and salt. Mix together well.
   
5. Pour the egg mixture into the ramekins and put them into a roasting pan filled with enough hot water to some halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
   
6. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the custard comes out clean.
   
7. Cool the custards, then chill for several hours in the fridge.
   
8. Wet a non-serrated knife and run it between the custard and the side of the ramekin. Put a plate upside down over the ramekin and invert it quickly. The flan will slide out easily.
   
   Camille's Notes: It may sound like a pain in the @$$, but once you do it the first time, it gets easy. This works every time too. My mom has tried several recipes and has never had consistent luck with any of them. The reason I use 2-to times the amount of sugar for the syrup is because the first time a made it, there wasn't enough to coat the ramekins. When you are doing the syrup, the sugar will dry up and get real clumpy, just keep stirring it and it will continue to liquefy. It will get dark brown. When you pour in into the ramekins, it will get hard as a rock, but then once you add the custard mix and cook it, it liquefies again and there you go.....
   
   Enjoy!!

Linda