Fruit Flan

By srumbel

The crust is a cream cheese based pastry, the filling is a mixture of almond extract, vanilla pudding and whipped cream and the top is just fruit. It’s so much better than a cookie pizza with a cream cheese frosting and it all holds together perfectly. If you wanted to make this for your upcoming festivities and decorate this like a flag, that would be quite patriotic of you. I had more than red and blue fruit to use so I opted for a random-yet-colorful fruit flan.
from laurenslatest.com

Ingredients

• For the crust:
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 cup cold butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• For the filling:
• 1-3.9 oz. box instant vanilla pudding
• 1 1/2 cups cold milk
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup whipping cream
• Fresh fruit to top: berries, peaches, kiwis, bananas etc.

Preparation

Step 1

In the bowl of a food processor, measure out flour and salt. Cube up the cream cheese and butter and add it to the mix. Pulse until larger crumbs start to form, maybe 10-15 pulses. If you grab some dough and it holds together after you squeeze it, it's ready. Pile the dough together to form a large disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough to fit into a light colored half sheet pan {18x13x1}. It's ok to cut off overhang and patch in the spots where more dough is needed. Prick the entire thing with a form and brush with beaten egg. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. It will shrink slightly. If you'd like to avoid this, forgo the egg and top your rolled out dough with parchment paper. Add dried beans or lentils on top to weigh down the dough. Bake.
Let crust cool completely.
For the filling, beat milk, pudding mix and almond extract together until smooth and thickened. Beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Fold cream into pudding mixture, then spread evenly over crust. Top with fruit and serve.
I think this tastes the best after being refrigerated an extra 1-2 hours. Totally not necessary, just more of an fyi :)

Yield: 16 servings