Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

I admit that I have a small weakness when it comes to French food.  I love almost all French food and yet can make hardly none of it (I'm sure there is a grammatical error in there).  Maybe it stems from the fact that France was my first venture abroad when I was 19.  Maybe it was because I lived in the south of France for a summer when I was 23. No matter the reason, I do enjoy french cooking, er, I mean eating.

Today's feature recipe from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best is a french dessert that I have been meaning to try for a while.  The dessert, Cherry Clafoutis is defined as "a baked French dessert of black cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm" as per Wikipedia. The irony of my sharing this definition with you is that I had to look up what a clafoutis was because I didn't actually know myself.  I could guess what the look and texture should be based on the ingredients but I wanted to know the technicalities.

This recipe, of course, brings me to address the main ingredient, cherries.  Last week I spent an hour up on a ladder picking these tart beauties out of a tree on my parents' new property less than 10 minutes away.  I then proceeded to spend the next hour pitting them.  My mother had asked me to bring my cherry pitter with to her house and was bummed when I handed her a paperclip. Quite honestly, they were so ripe that if I gave them a little squeeze, the pit came right out.  I knew that I was going to be baking with the cherries so I wasn't too concerned with how they looked post-pitting.  If appearance is key for you, just use a large paperclip to push the pit out, leaving the cherry itself looking wholesome.  This recipe was not difficult at all (minus the picking and pitting) and so if you have the cherries available it's a great last-minute dessert to throw together for guests.

With my remaining loot of cherries, I plan to make a cherry cobbler, however, I don't have my own recipe...yet.  So if you have a delicious one that you would like to share, please send it my way!
Bon appétit!

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis
Adapted from Fine Cooking in Season: Your Guide to Choosing and Preparing the Season's Best
Serves 8


softened, unsalted butter, for the pan
1 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extra (vanilla bean paste if you have it)
pinch of salt
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
4 cups pitted fresh cherries (be sure to use a sour cherry like Montmorency if possible, but Bing is
     delicious too)
confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling


Heat the oven to 350 °F .  Butter a shallow baking dish (such as a 10-inch quiche mold or pie plate).

Combine the milk, cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, and flour in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until froth, about 5 minutes.

Pour enough batter into the prepared baking dish to make about a 1/4-inch layer; reserve the rest. 

Bake the thin layer just until it forms a skin, about 5 minutes. Remove the dish and arrange the cherries in a single layer over the surface.

Pour the remaining batter over them. Return the clafoutis to the oven and bake until it's puffed and brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Let cool slightly (or to room temperature if you prefer) and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar before serving.