My parents' 43rd wedding anniversary was coming up and I wanted to make them a home cooked dinner since my dad's mom is not doing too well with dementia and he's afraid to leave her. He loves a Cape Verdean milk pudding that my mom makes so I figured flan would be perfect cake instead of our favorite bakery. Just in time for the Magic Chocolate Flan to pop up on CreateTv at least 3 times last week that I saw on Cook's Country. I made a test cake and shared with extended family for their thoughts as I really really hate flan-like desserts. I also refuse to pay $4 for a gallon of milk at my local grocery stores when it's $2.50 at Costco which I normally go to at the end of the week (plus I could give the rest to my grandparents who have no less than 5 kids at their home at one time so I know it would be appreciated). So I mixed my 2% Lactaid with some heavy cream after doing some crazy math conversions. I went to 7 grocery stores and couldn't find one jar of caramel sauce so I had to make my own. The extended family and neighbors loved it with only one person saying the flan part was too jello-y but she loved the chocolate part and her son loved every part.The flan came out light chocolate colored and my caramel sauce didn't look as pretty but tasted so great (I wish I had something to use it with as a topping!).
My father says he really hates cheese, yet when he doesn't know, he devours foods with cheese (stuffed shells, french onion soup, calzones, Smartfood, cheesecakes, broccoli with melted shredded cheese, etc...). So I figured, even if he detected the cream cheese (which somehow escaped him with the cheesecakes or the freaking french onion soup on the cruise), he would keep on eating as long as everyone kept quiet. He did have huge seconds and my niece had thirds. So there we were: me not a fan of flan, my nephew, brother, and I somewhat allergic to eggs, my niece trying to do anything for more chocolate cake after I told her she needs to find someone to eat the flan part first, my mom adoring the chocolate part, a cousin popping in with her son, my paternal grandmother eating whatever we give her, and dad and SIL loving the flan part. So we had to start splitting and sharing pieces between my dad and SIL and the rest of us. Less than half of cake was left by the end of the night.
I need to start making baked goods I enjoy eating other than no knead bread. And now I have 8 egg whites which I have no idea what to do with (I'm also allergic to the white part of eggs if raw) and I really don't want to make an omelet. Maybe I'll make a Cape Verdean (okay Portuguese) meringue cookies called Kisses.