Cherry Clafoutis
I found myself with lots of extra, slightly overripe, sad looking cherries. I didn't want to throw them out, so I decided to make one of my favorite summertime desserts: Cherry Clafoutis.
This is a traditional French dessert from the Limousin region of France. If you don't have cherries on hand you can also make this cooked custard, or flan, with plums, prunes, apples, cranberries or blackberries. Purists leave in the cherry seeds, supposedly it gives the clafoutis more cherry taste, but I chose to pit my cherries so you could actually enjoy eating it without spitting out pits (eww!)
This is a traditional French dessert from the Limousin region of France. If you don't have cherries on hand you can also make this cooked custard, or flan, with plums, prunes, apples, cranberries or blackberries. Purists leave in the cherry seeds, supposedly it gives the clafoutis more cherry taste, but I chose to pit my cherries so you could actually enjoy eating it without spitting out pits (eww!)
Ingredients
My recipe is inspired by the Cherry Clafoutis recipe on Simply Recipes. Here's what you'll need:
- 2 to 3 cups of fresh cherries, pitted
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Making Your Clafoutis
No joke, this took me under 15 minutes to put together. The most time intensive part was pitting the cherries. Otherwise this is SUPER simple:
1. Get out a baking dish ( 9X9 or 10X7 are best, but use whatever you have). Butter and lightly flour your baking dish. Then set your oven to preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together your eggs, sugars and salt. Once mixed, add in the flour, salk, milk and extracts. Mix thoroughly.
3. Pit you cherries and place them in the bottom of your baking dish. Next pour all your ingredients into the baking dish. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 40 - 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean, and the sides of the clafoutis can be easily detached from the pan.
4. With a clean knife, work around the edges of the clafoutis to release the sides. This will make it a lot easier to serve. Allow your clafoutis to cool. You'll notice the sides have pulled in further. Take some powdered sugar and sift it over top. If you're like me and don't own a sifter, here's a little trick: get a cheese grater (not a box grater, though that might work) and put your powdered sugar in the concave part of your grater. Gently tap it around your clafoutis and you've got a great makeshift grater! Cut a slice and enjoy!
1. Get out a baking dish ( 9X9 or 10X7 are best, but use whatever you have). Butter and lightly flour your baking dish. Then set your oven to preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together your eggs, sugars and salt. Once mixed, add in the flour, salk, milk and extracts. Mix thoroughly.
3. Pit you cherries and place them in the bottom of your baking dish. Next pour all your ingredients into the baking dish. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 40 - 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean, and the sides of the clafoutis can be easily detached from the pan.
4. With a clean knife, work around the edges of the clafoutis to release the sides. This will make it a lot easier to serve. Allow your clafoutis to cool. You'll notice the sides have pulled in further. Take some powdered sugar and sift it over top. If you're like me and don't own a sifter, here's a little trick: get a cheese grater (not a box grater, though that might work) and put your powdered sugar in the concave part of your grater. Gently tap it around your clafoutis and you've got a great makeshift grater! Cut a slice and enjoy!