Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Total time: 55 minutes
Rustic and incredibly easy to prepare, Cherry Clafouti is a French dessert that puffs up remarkably before collapsing into a custardy, soft pancake. It is also identified as Clafouti aux Cerises and is considered as one of the most popular French custard cake. This classic version features sweet cherries, although other stone fruits, such as apricots can also be used. While majority of the people prefer to eat it as dessert, you can use it for breakfast as well. It is customary in France to serve this mouth-watering dessert with cherry pits intact. Leaving them whole keeps the cherry juices from leaking. Also, the pits are believed to add a little almond flavor to the dish. In order to ensure the dental safety, either pit the cherries, or forewarn the guests/friends of the tradition.
Ingredients:
Softened butter: 1 tablespoon
Whole milk: 1 cup
All-purpose flour: 2/3 cup
Eggs: 3 (large)
Heavy cream: 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract: 2 teaspoons
Granulated sugar: 1/4 cup
Almond extract: 1/2 teaspoon (It is optional to use almond extract)
Salt: 1/4 teaspoon
Dark cherries: 4 cups (preferably pitted)
Confectioners’ sugar: 1 tablespoon (powdered)
Directions:
Preheat your oven precisely at 350 F. Take a nine inch deep dish, or a nine inch by nine inch square baking dish, and butter it with some softened butter.
Take a large bowl, and put cream, milk, eggs, flour, vanilla, sugar and almond extract into it. Add some salt and whisk everything together until a thin, smooth batter is formed. Spread about ¾ cup of the prepared batter on the bottom of baking dish. Put it in the preheated oven, and let it bake for about two to four minutes. Monitor the batter while it cooks and remove it before it is thoroughly cooked. The batter should be a little thickened and set when you remove it from oven.
Pour some batter on a heatproof surface. Arrange the cherries all over the hot, half-cooked batter. Put the remaining batter all over the cherries. Put this dish in the oven and let it bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. Take a knife and insert it into the Cherry Clafouti. If it comes out clean, the dish is ready to be taken out of oven.
Sprinkle the sugar (confectioners’) all over the finished dessert, and serve it warm. It will make about 8 servings.
Where did this Julia Child recipe come from? It is not a rendition of the Pear Clafouti in The Way to Cook nor the clafouti found in Mastering the Art.
why some of Julia’s recipes not here? Like French apple tart.