Cherry Almond Flan

• Preheat the oven to 325 °F
• Whisk together the half and half, the egg, the egg whites, 3 tablespoons of sugar, half a teaspoon of vanilla and almond extract. (I like to do this in a large measuring cup for ease of pouring)
• Pour the half-and-half mixture into 6 ramekins or custard cups
• Set the custard cups in a 13×9-inch baking dish and carefully pour about 2 cups of water into the bottom of the baking dish, taking care to avoid pouring water into the custard itself. This is called a "bain marie" and it will help the custard cook evenly, but be careful of adding too much water because the custard will bake much too slowly!!
• Bake at 325 °F for about 40-50 minutes. You'll know it's done when the custard is slightly browned on top and a knife inserted into the middle of the custard comes out clean.

Make the cherry sauce

• Remove the pits from 2 cups of cherries.
• Put the pitted cherries in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water (you might add more or less sugar depending on how sweet or tart the cherries are)
• Bring the cherry mixture to a boil over medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until the cherries turn soft.
• Remove the cherry sauce from heat and stir in ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.

Arrange it nicely on a plate

• You don't need to do this — it'll still taste great if you just spoon the cherry sauce on top of the custard and it out of the cup, but you can turn the flan onto a plate by running a dull knife around the edge of the custard and turning the cup or ramekin upside-down on a plate. After a few gentle shakes, it should slide out onto a plate, and then you can spoon the cherry sauce over it.