“A cla-waht??” Joe said the first time I served him clafoutis (you can also spell it ‘clafouti’). I acted like I knew how to pronounce it all along but actually I looked it up on dictionary.com. I’ve had to do that with so many foods that originate from other countries – ratatouille, bouillabaisse, aigo bouido. It never stops me from learning about the ingredients and how to cook them, though.
Cherries started showing up at my favorite grocery store en mass and though they weren’t on my grocery list I couldn’t resist. I came home with pounds of beautiful, shiny red cherries with no idea of what I wanted to do with them.
I thought about pitting them by hand but, being inclined to short cuts, I hopped back in my Honda Pilot and drove straight to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get a cherry pitter.
Who knew that pitting cherries could be so cathartic?
We ate lots of them, Joe had cherries in his lunch for a week, but I still had more to use up. A clafoutis seemed to be the perfect solution. I’d never made a cherry clafoutis before – I’d made other variations – my favorite being pear & strawberry.
Traditionally, a cherry clafoutis is baked with the pits in the cherries which is supposed to enhance the overall flavor. I can’t think of anything more hideous than serving someone dessert and then watching them spit out cherry pits. So, I removed the pitts and left the cherries whole to get as close to the traditional version as I could.
The result? The warm, juicy cherries were surrounded by a light, slightly sweet batter. When you bite into a cherry, the juice explodes in your mouth. It’s so much fun to eat – I found myself savoring eachbite. This is my kind of dessert – Slightly Indulgent.
Check out The Left Over Queen’s (Not Julia’s) Cherry Clafoutis using Ranier cherries.
What have you been doing with all of the luscious summer fruit?
Cherry Clafouti
adapted from Mediterranean Light by Martha Rose Shulman
Serves 6 – 81 tablespoon butter for greasing the baking dish
1 pound black or bing cherries
1 ¼ cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons agave nectar
3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour BlendPreheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12 inch tart pan or 2 quart baking dish.
Pit the cherries, catching any juice in a bowl. Keep the juice. Place cherries in a bowl and set aside.
Put any juice from pitting cherries, milk, agave, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt in a medium bowl and mix on medium speed with an electric mixer. Sift flour into wet ingredients and mix on medium speed until completely smooth, about one minute.
Pour batter into bowl with cherries and mix together until cherries have been completely coated. Pour batter into pie pan and bake for 45 – 55 minutes, or until clafouti has browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve hot or warm.
Kim, The Food Allergy Coach
posted on August 24, 2009 at 9:46 am
YUM! I think I’ll try it with coconut flour and peaches! Fresh, local peaches are everywhere here right now! THANKS!
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Amy Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 11:33 am
If you do, let me know how it turns out.
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Kim, The Food Allergy Coach Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am
I made a peach clafoutis using coconut flour today! It was yummy! Coconut flour tends to soak up liquid more than other flours, so I cut it to 4 T. I added some cinnamon to it as well. I probably should have baked it in a water bath b/c the top cracked, but it still tasted great. Thanks for the idea!
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Amy Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Thanks for letting me know. I’ve never had a clafoutis crack…must be the coconut flour.
Lauren
posted on August 24, 2009 at 9:46 am
This looks delicious =D. I’ve always loved the idea of clafoutis, but have never had the chance to try them. Good idea going with the cherry pitter though!!
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Amy Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 11:34 am
The cherry pitter is a little too much fun. Too bad cherries are out of season for now.
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Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen
posted on August 24, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I love clafoutis!!! Thanks for the link love!
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Amy Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Sure thing!! I love your recipes.
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Sandy Gillett
posted on August 24, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I have a bag of frozen cherries and I’m going to try this right now! (I’ve already been to the market once today).
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Amy Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Frozen cherries might yield a different result because they put out extra juice. I think I might let them thaw and drain off the extra juice. Let me know how it turns out….I have some frozen cherries too.
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Sandy Gillett Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
The flavor was very good. I did thaw and drain the cherries. I used four eggs because my eggs were small and I used rice milk. I baked them 50 min. the knife came out clean but when it was cool enough to eat the “cake” part was very wet and doughy. I’m sorry to say I could not eat it and it ended up in the trash can. I am having a difficult time getting GF flour blends to work for me. I realize the extra moisture from the cherries were a possible problem and the extra egg too. I’m interested in the cocomut flour result from Kim. I am also wondering about using my convect oven cycle. Any thoughts you have are appreciated.
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Amy Reply:
August 24th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
What flour blend are you using? That has a big affect on the outcome. Let me know.
Sandy Gillett
posted on August 24, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I used Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend – sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour,arrowroot flour,sorghum flour and xanthan gum.
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Amy Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 9:05 am
GF flour blends are tricky because they’re not all the same. The one I’ve been using is here. I mix my own because I know exactly what’s in it and how much. It helps me produce a better result.
It does sound like your final product was too wet. Sometimes you have to ‘feel your way’ around when doing alternative baking and add a little more flour if the batter looks too runny. I don’t use rice milk in my baking so that could have been part of the problem, too.
When I make a clafoutis, I look for a clean knife, a puffed, slightly browned top, and for the dessert to feel like it’s set all the way through. The middle should have the same resistance as the edges. The final result is somewhere between a cake and a custard. Hope that helps.
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Linda
posted on August 24, 2009 at 9:16 pm
That looks really good! I thought the carnival started today and had my post all ready. I’ll save it for next week.
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Amy Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 6:58 am
I am so glad that you’re planning on participating. Can’t wait to see what you’ve whipped up!!
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Alta
posted on August 25, 2009 at 7:43 am
I’ve actually never tried a clafoutis. Sounds wonderful though! I haven’t seen as many cherries in the past few weeks at the groceries as I did…I swear, for a while there, I was buying 3-4 lbs of cherries a week! How did you make your pear clafoutis? Same recipe, only adding peeled, sliced pears? I might have to get some more pears from my farmer friend at McKinney farmer’s market…
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Amy Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:56 am
The pear clafoutis has a slightly different recipe because the juice output is different – you need more flour. It took me a few tries to get the ratio right. I saw some pears recently – I might whip it up and publish it.
Do you live in McKinney, TX?? If so, you’re 20 minutes from me.
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Kim
posted on August 23, 2010 at 11:10 am
Oh, wow! I have a serious love for cherries, especially the Ranier cherries! I will be trying this recipe out as soon as I can get some more cherries!
Kim
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Tessa
posted on October 15, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Did you end up making/posting the pear version of this?
Pears are in season now and I have a bowl full of them I’m wondering what to do with…
i’m gluten,sugar and dairy free…
thanks!
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Jen
posted on November 8, 2010 at 11:12 am
I made this with dried cherries and golden raisins that I re-hydrated in a bath of warm water and a dash of vanilla.
I think it would have been better with fresh fruit and if I had baked it longer. It ended out layered with a dense cake-like bottom layer and a flan like top.
I am unsure if that is correct since I have never had a clafoutis before.
All in all, it tasted pretty good, especially after adding whipped cream.
Also, this environmental blog I subscribe to directed me to this like on ebay that sells vanilla beans for a really good price (30 for $12) and I think once I get them I am going to try this again and work with it a little bit. I can’t wait for fresh cherries though. I bet those are what make this dessert really shine.
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Amy Reply:
November 8th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
@Jen, Yes, it’s fabulous with fresh fruit. It should have baked with a homogeneous texture throughout the clafouti. Sounds like it separated when baking. You can also try baking it in a bain marie – it’s a custard type dish so that would probably help.
Hugs, Jen!
Amy
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Jen
posted on December 4, 2010 at 11:59 pm
I made this again and it turned out much better. The first time I used Bobs Red Mill all-purpose (which I have never had good results with) and didn’t use a mixer.
Second time I used coconut flour and mixed the daylights out of it!!!!
Turned out much better. I am discovering that I don’t really care for coconut flour so next time I am going to use white rice flour I think.
I am starting to see how awesome this dessert can be if done right! If I think it is good now I bet it is going to be AWESOME once I get the flour right : )
Thank You again!!!!
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