I've recently pulled out the Tala brand flan tin she gave me when she was downsizing her kitchen gear some years ago, and decided to have a try at making one from her recipe.
This is the tin - upside down,
and below is the tin with the sponge
mixture in it, before going into the oven
for cooking.
The recipe follows: (I changed Mum's 1950s instruction to "grease the tin well with animal fat" and instead suggest you use a good coating of baking spray!)
4 oz (100g) butter
4 oz (100g) sugar
4 oz (100g) self-raising flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons warm water
Cream butter and sugar, gradually add eggs previously beaten together, add the warm water, then gently fold in the flour. Bake 25 minutes at 170 degrees.
Allow to sit for 2 minutes when removed from the oven, then turn out.
The Filling:
¾ cup milk 2
egg yolks 2
tlblspns sugar
2 tblspns flour 2
teaspn grated lemon rind juice of a
lemon
¼ teasp salt
Heat milk until almost boiling. Beat yolks and sugar in bowl over boiling
water. Stir in flour. Pour hot milk over eggs, stirring all the
time. Cook until flour is cooked, add rind and salt, and as much lemon juice as is
necessary for taste and texture. Pour
into flan case.
I then put the drained contents of a 400g tin of pitted cherries on top, and then made a meringue with the egg whites as follows:
Meringue – Beat the 2 egg whites till thick. Add 90g sugar in the last stages, gradually, continue whisking until stiff. Pile meringue on top of flan, making sure it comes right to the edges. Dust with sugar. Bake 170ยบ ten minutes, keeping a close watch on the colouring.
Happy Christmas to one and all!