Cherry Clafouti from Le Cordon Bleu at Home. It can’t get any more french than this. Okay, we know it’s french, but what IS clafouti? It’s not really a pancake. It’s not a pudding. It’s not a flan. But, it points to all three, but better. It’s for breakfast or it’s for dessert. You can decide that, but I like my clafouti as a bed time snack.

You could make this with other fruits, but the cherries fit this dish in a way no other fruit could. In fact, I think after eating this, I don’t know if I would want cherries any other way. The batter is only a supporting role, and not too  sugary, matching the sweetness level of the cherries...almost reminiscent of a bread pudding, only much lighter. Now the only thing that might be just as good as this is to perhaps make the batter chocolate.

I’ve tried another recipe for clafouti, and was disappointed. It was more like cake and not what I expected. But, this recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home did not disappoint and provided a recipe quite respectful to the abundance of cherries.

Recipe (adapted by Le Cordon Bleu at Home)

1 cup flour (I used 2/3)

3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup)

5 eggs (I used 3 eggs plus 1 yolk)

1/2 cup sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 cup milk (I used 2/3 cup)

1 cup heavy cream (I used 2/3 cup)

pinch salt

2 T kirsch (I skipped)

1 lb cherries (I used 12 ounces cherries, pitted, halved)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter shallow gratin dish. Combine flour sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk. Gradually add milk, cream,whisking to avoid lumps. I found that easy and batter was easy to work with.  Add salt.  Spread over cherries and bake 45-45 minutes. Cool completely.

Dish Note: I have to thank my mom for yet again finding me the cutest dishes at her weekly thrift store shopping adventure. They are a deep lavender, shallow and perfect for cherry clafouti.

Note: In a few weeks, I’ll begin a cooking group I am calling Cooking Italy using Marcella Hazan’s, Essentials of Classical Italian Cooking, and blogging about it here. You may want to join me and you can read about Cooking Italy here.

Seared Scallops w/ Watermelon                 Rosemary Bread                        Frittata with Yellow Squash

Key Words: French, Dessert, Clafoutis, Cherries, Le Cordon Bleu at Home

Spinach Tiger Entry  72  Angela Roberts, Clafouti aux Cerises

All original content (outside of adapted recipe) copyright © 2009 Angela Roberts, All Rights Reserved