Let’s kiss cherries goodbye for the season with one last hurrah!
A clafoutis is a classic French dessert hailing from the Limousin region, a sweet custard base over fresh fruit. The resulting product is somewhere between a flan and a pancake or Dutch baby flecked with juicy fruit. The center is dense and creamy like a flan but the edges are puffy and the top is golden-brown like a Dutch baby. Cherries are traditional, but you can really use any fruit you like-berries, peaches, plums or apples.
This batter contains butter, which is a bit unusual but much needed. It would be too eggy without the butter, tasting more of an omelet than a sweet dessert. It also helps prevent the texture from being too rubbery, instead resulting in a soft, set custard that gladly yields to a fork. I recently saw a clafoutis recipe made with tons of heavy cream, which sounds very necessary for me to try with the remaining cherries I have in the refrigerator.
The traditional version contains unpitted cherries because the pits impart a slight almond flavor to the dish from the amygdalin contained in the pits (the same chemical in almond extract). I say let’s just add almond extract and save our teeth, but if you’re a purist, feel free to leave them! Here’s the cherry pitter I use and love…it makes it so easy!
This is best served slightly warm or at room temperature with a big dollop of whipped cream. If you have any left over, refrigerate it and heat it gently in the microwave until warm. It makes a great breakfast!
[tasty-recipe id=”31883″]
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