Orange Cream Cheese Flans Recipe | Food

Date Published:: 30/11/2007

This recipe makes 6 orange cream cheese flans with chocolate. Each of the individual flans are drizzled with plain chocolate and decorated with a bright orange physalis dipped in chocolate. Quite a sophisticated mouth pleaser. And pretty tasty too.

Makes 6
Takes 40 minutes to make and about 30 minutes to bake, plus cooling

Ingredients

375g sweet shortcrust pastry
1 large whole egg and 3 medium eggs, separated
2 packs Discover Orange Halo cream cheese
Zest of 1 medium orange
1 tbsp caster sugar
142ml carton double cream
150g plain chocolate
6 physalis (cape gooseberries)
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method: How to make orange cream cheese flans

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas 6.

Tip

Discover Pineapple Halo can be used as a substitute for the Orange Halo – just leave out the orange zest. For a quick nibble for tea-time, sandwich together 2 chocolate wafer biscuits with 1 teaspoon of Orange Halo.

Roll out the pastry and use to line 6 x 9cm fluted loose-bottomed flan tins. Prick the bases, cover the pastry with baking paper and top with baking beans. Bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the baking beans and paper. Transfer a very small amount of egg white to a bowl and use to brush the inside of the pastry cases to seal them. Return to the oven and bake for a further 3 minutes.

2. Reduce the oven temperature to 160C/fan140C/

gas 3. Cream the Orange Halo with the orange zest and caster sugar, then slowly mix in the cream until loose and creamy. Mix in the whole egg and the egg yolks. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Carefully fold into the cheese mixture, a little at a time.

3. Divide equally between the flan cases and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden. Cool for 30 minutes, remove from the tins and place on a cooling rack. Leave to cool completely.

4. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Fill a greaseproof paper cone with two-thirds of the chocolate and snip a little off the end. Drizzle the chocolate in zig-zag lines over the top of each flan. Unfold the husk of each physalis and twist in one direction. Dip the fruit into the remaining chocolate and lay on a sheet of greaseproof paper. Chill. Decorate each flan with a physalis and dust with icing sugar to serve.