Cherry Clafoutis

By John, 17 February, 2024
Region
France
Description

"Cherry Clafoutis"The Clafoutis Limousin, or cherry clafoutis, is the best known of this traditional and simple dessert style. It can also be made apples, pears, plums, or berries. If a menu says only Clafoutis (also spelled clafouti), they mean the cherry version.

The clafoutis is not elegant or elaborate, it's simple country fare, essentially just a pancake batter poured over cherries and baked, served warm from the oven.

Yield
8 Servings
Preparation time
10 minutes
Cooking time
1 hour
Total time
1 hour, 10 minutes
Ingredients
3 c Fresh Black Cherries (pitted, or drained canned Bing cherries)
1 1⁄4 c whole milk
2⁄3 c Granulated Sugar (divided in two)
3 Eggs
1 T Vanilla extract
1⁄8 t Salt
2⁄3 c All Purpose Flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Wash, drain, and pit the cherries.
  3. Butter a pie plate or a 9-inch cake tin.
  4. In an electric mixer or a food processor, blend together the milk, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and eggs, then the vanilla and salt, and finally the flour.
  5. Put the pie plate/cake tin on the stove over moderate heat and add enough of the batter to cover the bottom. 
  6. When it has set, remove it from the heat.
  7. Spread the cherries over the set batter and sprinkle the other 1/3 cup of sugar over them.
  8. Pour on the remaining batter, smooth with a spatula, and put in the hot oven.
  9. Bake for about an hour. It's done when a toothpick or a skewer comes out clean. 
  10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve hot or warm.
Notes

You can make a slightly boozy version of this: Combine the second 1/3 cup of sugar into 1/4 cup of cognac or kirschwasser, and let the cherries marinate in this mixture for an hour or more. When you drain the cherries, use the liquid in place of some of the milk (to end up with the same volume) and omit the sugar in step 7 because you've already used it.

Source

Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Beck, Bertholle, Child.