Wednesday 1 July 2020

Cherry Clafoutis with fresh cherries from my Cherry Tree



In our front yard - well our neighbour's yard - is a little cherry tree currently filled to the brim with shiny red juicy cherries! Now I am not about to sit back and watch all those perfectly good cherries ripen over and go to waste, so after the sun had set, I made quick like a stealthy ninja and picked my fill of cherries. I just like living on the edge, but full disclosure, my neighbour does not care and often encourages us to help ourselves to the cherries. 

I am not sure where I first heard of cherry clafoutis, but for some odd reason, I connect cherry clafoutis with the iconic French female cook - Julia Childs. Supposedly she was a massive fan of cherry clafoutis, but this classic french dessert can be made with a number of other stone fruits. 

This was my very first time making and tasting a clafoutis and I THINK it turned out the way it should. Food blogs describe the texture to be between a Dutch Baby Pancake and Bread Pudding. Others say it is like a baked custard flan. The batter definitely reminds me of custard as it is a loose egg heavy batter that takes on a lovely creamy yellow colour. The Clafoutis should rise into a glorious puff in the oven, but sink when it is cooling so need to be alarmed! 


This dessert sounds bougiee, but is perhaps the simplest dessert I have made to date. I literally whipped the batter by hand using a balloon whisk. Really get the batter frothy and only then add in the flour. It is crucial like with most cakes and desserts to combine the flour until just incorporated. Pour it into a well-buttered pan - I used a white ceramic baking dish - and dot it with plenty of fruit. This is where I made my fatal error. I did not put in enough cherries, so some bites of my clafoutis were missing the juicy bursts of flavour from the cherries. 


CHERRY CLAFOUTIS

375ºF 
45 minutes

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt 
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp butter to grease baking pan
12 ounces fresh fruit



1 - Whip the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until smooth and frothy. 

2 - Add in the flour until just combined. 

3 - Pour the custard-like batter into a well-buttered pan. Dot with pitted cherries or fruit of choice. Blueberries, sliced apricots, peaches all make for delicious pairings with the clafoutis batter. 

4 - Bake at 375ºF for 45 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. 

5 - Cool for 10 minutes, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Give me a shout if you give this cherry clafoutis recipe a try and if you end up going with a different stone fruit. Honestly, I think peaches would be divine.  

BYES



No comments:

Post a Comment