So, I took my husband on a surprise vacation to Miami, FL a few weeks ago.  We only went for a few days and my intentions were only to sit in the sun and eat all I wanted.  We did sit in the sun, but did not make it out to any of the restaurants I wanted to try.  But…I did order room service the first night we were there and thought I’d try to coconut flan on the menu.  I’ve never had flan and really didn’t even know what it was I was ordering.  But oh my goodness…when I took the first bite, I knew I’d be trying to recreate this at home.  Flan is actually a Spanish dish very much like custard.  It looks difficult to make, but my first try last night produced awesome results!  The flan I had in Miami came in little, one serving ramekin sizes; but the recipe I found online said I could do this in a bundt pan.  I used a sunflower shaped flat bundt pan my mother gave me.  This worked great and looked beautiful.  After my first bite, I knew I had a winner.  This was easy, tasted great and my dinner company enjoyed it also.  Enjoy!

Cocount Flan with Caramel Sauce:

1 cup caramel sauce

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can (13.5 oz) unsweetened cocount milk

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

6 eggs

1 T vanilla

1/2 t salt

1/2 cup sweetened coconut, toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray bundt pan with cooking spray.  Warm caramel sauce (I just bought a jar of ice cream caramel sauce and zapped it in the microwave for about 30 seconds).  Using an electric mixer, mix sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk, evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla and salt.  Take the caramel sauce and pour into bundt pan, turning to coat the bottom and sides.  Pour flan mixture over the caramel sauce.  Now, the trick to this is to place the bundt pan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with water so that the water comes about half way up the sides of the bundt pan.  Cover the bundt pan with foil.  Carefully, place the pan set into the oven and bake for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, until the center is set but still jiggles slightly.  Remove from oven and let cool in pan for about 40 minutes.  Transfer the pan, still covered, to the refrigerator over night or at least 3 hours.  Remove from fridge and invert onto a serving platter.  The caramel sauce will spill all over the flan, which is fine.  Slice to serve and sprinkle with toasted coconut.  ENJOY!

Simple and delicious!  It does not get any better than that.  A coworker brought these bars in the other day and I was going to have just one little bite.  Well, once you taste these, you’ll see how that went.  One bite turned into 3 full servings.  These are oh so good.  Very easy and they make the house smell fantastic while cooking.  Enjoy!

Almond Bars:

1 cup butter, room temp

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 lb almond paste

Cream together with mixer.  Add:

2 eggs

1/2 t salt

3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Grease a 9×13 pan.  Cream butter, sugar and almond paste together.  Add eggs, salt and flour.  As I was putting this together, I thought for sure something was missing from the ingredient list.  These go together VERY thick, the batter is almost like cookie dough.  But continue on.  Press this into the 9×13 pan.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until slightly brown.  Cool completely and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  Enjoy!