Cherry Clafouti

Sending you off into the weekend with this delightfully charming and seasonal Cherry Clafouti. It’s super simple and would be equally welcome as a homey dessert or as the star of a Sunday brunch. You decide. Just make the decision soon because sadly cherry season is short…

Do you know what a clafouti is? For years, I’ve seen them in cookbooks or on menus and always been intrigued but too intimidated to order one or whip up my own at home. Silly me! ‘Cause making a clafouti is a breeze. The hardest part is pitting the cherries (traditionally, you’re not supposed to pit them but I wanted to avoid any emergency dental visits!)

Basically, a clafouti is an eggy, crepe-like batter, sort of like a Dutch-baby, that gets poured over fresh fruit (generally cherries, though this would be great with all different sorts of fruits) and baked.

Texturally, it’s somewhere between a flan and a pancake, a little bit dense with a soft center, golden crunchy top and plenty of natural sweetness from all those juicy cherries!

It’s so pretty!

The height of simplicity and elegance and in my mind, the perfect little warm weather weekend treat! Have a great one guys!

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Cherry Clafouti

Makes 8 servings

You will need a blender or food processor for this.

Prep Time: 10 minutes, plus the time it takes to pit the cherries; Bake Time: 40-50 minutes

Ingredients

• Softened butter for greasing the pan

• 3-4 cups fresh sweet cherries, pitted

• 3 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 cup lukewarm milk (I used 2 %)

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup sugar

• ¾ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

The Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Lightly grease a deep dish pie plate or any 9 or 10-inch cake pan that’s at least 2 inches deep and place the pitted cherries in a single layer to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Set aside.

2. Place all of the other ingredients, except the confectioners’ sugar, into a blender or food processor and blend together well, until frothy and smooth. Pour the batter over the cherries in the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350 and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.

3. Let cool for 10 minutes and dust with powdered sugar. Serve immediately. Or make this earlier in the day and reheat or serve at room temperature. Sift confectioners’ sugar over before serving.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour. I cut both the almond extract and slivered almonds on top, sprinkled confectioners’ sugar on instead, baked this in a deep dish pie plate and cooked it for about 10 minutes longer.