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Gluten Free Maple Flan

This creamy, decadent gluten free maple flan is the perfect dessert for any occasion! This was inspired by Maureen Diaz's recipe at the Wise Traditions conference in Texas, November 2021. See her recipe below that is easier though because it's all in one 9" pan, and it has no extra sugar, just maple syrup!
Servings: 9 servings
Author: Kelly the Kitchen Kop inspired by Maureen Diaz

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325*.  
  • Put 9 ramekins into 2 baking dishes/pans, like a 9x13 or 11x14.  Spray each ramekin with avocado oil or use soft butter--then pour 4 teaspoons (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon) maple syrup into the bottom of each one. 
  • Heat milk and cream in a saucepan carefully, on low-medium, until it just starts to boil.  Don't let it burn.  Remove from heat. 
  • In a bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and 2 more Tablespoons maple syrup.  Keep whisking as you slowly pour the warm milk and cream into this mixture.  Next pour all of this through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher to get any lumps out.  From the pitcher, pour the custard equally into the ramekins. 
  • Carefully set the baking dishes into the oven.  Fill that same pitcher with very hot water.  (I used our hot water tap, I love that thing.) Pour water into the baking dishes around the ramekins until it's almost all of the way up the sides.
  • Bake until the center of the custard feels set and doesn't jiggle.  I started with 50 minutes but ended up leaving them for another 32 minutes!  Just see how it does in your oven.
  • Carefully remove from the oven and let cool.  Once you can grab the ramekins, put them onto a towel on the countertop, and empty the water from the baking dishes.  Refrigerate the custards until time to serve, a few hours is best.
  • When ready to serve, use a sharp knife around the edge of each flan (to loosen the edges so it comes out easily), then put a plate on top, and invert the plate and the ramekin, lift off the ramekin and serve.

Notes

This is so interesting!  I ended up asking Maureen for her recipe after all, just to compare…
This seems easier since it all goes in one 9″ round pan and also has less steps, I'll try hers next time!  UPDATE:  this really IS so fast and easy and turned out perfectly!
Maple Flan serves 12:
  • 1 3/4 cups dark maple syrup (I just used regular)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 2 1/2 cups cream (remember, if you don't have raw cream, for sure never buy ultra-pasteurized dairy, which you can tell by the use-by date--if it's 2 months away, don't buy it!)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Preheat oven to 325*.  Bring 1 cup of the maple syrup to a boil in a heavy pan over medium heat, turn down and reduce to 2/3 cup. Cool until the foam is reduced, pour into a greased 9″ round pan or ramekins to coat the bottom.
Gently whisk the remaining ingredients together (with the rest of the maple syrup) so as not to stir up foam. Pour into the baking dish or ramekins and gently place in a bain-de-mer--that's where you place your pan inside a larger vessel, filled with hot water.  Place in the center of the oven for about 50-60 minutes, until the edges are set but the center is still wobbly. (I left mine in for more like 75 minutes--it was a beautiful deep golden brown on top and still a little wobbly.)  Carefully remove from the water and cool, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Run a knife around the edges so it'll come out easily, then turn over onto a dessert plate to serve.  (All of the maple syrup didn't come out so we just spooned the extra thick and wonderful maple syrup on top as we served it.)
***Find a GAPS-friendly version from my friend Sarah here!