Cherry Clafoutis
Cherry Clafoutis: A Traditional French Dessert
As I have mentioned in other posts, I am just back from three weeks at my in-laws’ in France. Because we go to visit relatives, most of my experience with French food is with homemade meals. The meals are always delicious and mostly very healthy (i.e., lots of veggies). Among the things I have learned is that French desserts are much less sweet than what we eat in the US. Buttercream is not really a thing and even desserts from a bakery have a lot less sugar. This recipe, cherry clafoutis, is an example of a delicious but not very sweet dessert.
Cherries are the New Basis of Our Economy Apparently
Clafoutis is a thick, custard based dessert that is really easy to make. There are also very few ingredients: milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, butter, flour, and fruit. Cherries are the traditional addition to clafoutis, but they seem to be a million dollars a pound right now. You could add sliced apricot or peaches instead.
Cherry Clafoutis without Cherries is Not a Thing
I decided that I would suck it up and spend $15 for a few pounds of cherries. It will be the first and last time this year, so I wanted to put them to good use. Actually, the hardest part of the entire recipe was removing the pits, but I have to say, even that wasn’t too hard.
Super Easy: How to Make Your Cherry Clafoutis
This entire thing comes together in one medium bowl. I whisked the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and melted butter together until the sugar dissolved (less than a minute). After that, I mixed in the flour. Honestly, the flour did not incorporate as well as I would have liked in spite of some vigorous whisking. There were still a few tiny lumps, so I passed everything through a wire sieve. Your batter can go into a pie pan, lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray. That probably isn’t even necessary, but I am paranoid about my baked goods getting stuck. Once the liquid is in the pan, drop in your cherries, spreading them out evenly with your fingers.
Baking is Easy
I placed the pie pan on a rimmed baking sheet because a) I am clumsy and b) I didn’t want liquid falling into the bottom of my oven. The oven was preheated to 325 degrees. I expected the baking to take about 40 minutes, but I ended up going to almost an hour. You should check yours beginning at the 40 minute mark. You know it is done when the clafoutis is puffed up, golden, and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. It will still jiggle a tiny bit. Note that the clafoutis will also deflate a bit as it cools. Top the whole thing off with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar.
I didn’t take many photos – any photos? – of the process, but you can watch a video of me making it on Instagram: eileen_goodenoughkitchen
Bon appėtit!
Cherry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 cups cherries pitted and halved
- confectioners sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Lightly spray a pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and melted butter until the sugar is dissolved. This takes a bit less than a minute.
- Whisk the flour into the mixture until thoroughly combined. NOTE: No matter what I did, I had a few small lumps of flour, so I passed it through a wire sieve on the way to the pie dish.
- Pour the mixture into the pie pan.
- Place the cherries in the liquid, cut side down, spreading them out with your fingers.
- I put the filled pie pan on a rimmed baking sheet so that it wouldn't spill.
- Bake until the clafoutis is puffed up, especially on the edges, and golden brown. A knife inserted into the middle should come out mostly clean, although it will jiggle a little bit. The entire thing will deflate a bit as it cools.
- Optional: let the clafoutis cool a few minutes and then dust the surface lightly with some powdered (confectioners) sugar. I put a small amount in a tiny wire sieve and tapped the edge over the clafoutis.
- Serve warm or cool and store the leftovers, wrapped, in the fridge. Somehow, it is a very good breakfast food…just sayin'.
- If you would like to see a video of some of the process, check out my Instagram: eileen_goodenoughkitchen
