Fresh cherries baked in a custard-like base with slivered almonds, almond and vanilla extract. Lightly dusted with powdered sugar.
Have you ever made a clafoutis? My friend Garrett McCord taught me how to make this classic French treatyears ago. It’s one of the easiest desserts you can make, especially if you find yourself with extracherries or berries on hand.
It’s a custard of sorts, a firm custard, one with enough structure to support a lot of fruit. The basic ingredients are sugar, eggs, flour, and fruit. Easy! For this cherry clafoutis we’ve also included some vanilla extract, almond extract, and blanched almonds.
Right out of the oven thisclafoutis looks a little like a battlefield of cherries. Which is why I think one sprinkles powdered sugar over it before serving. Anythingcan be made pretty with powdered sugar, right?
As Garrett says, “if you’re a fan of desserts with little work and a lot of payoff, then clafoutis is the way to go. ” Agreed!
Cherry Clafoutis Recipe
Traditional clafoutis is made with cherries that still have their pits. The pits give some almond flavor to the dish. But prepared that way can be a little more difficult to eat, so in this recipe we’ve pitted the cherries first. You can leave them in if you want.
Note that the texture of clafoutis is like a sturdy custard, so if it feels a little rubbery, that’s just how it’s supposed to be.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
- 2 tablespoons of blanched slivered almonds
- 3 eggs
- 3/4cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of milk (2% or whole milk)
- 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract (can sub 2 teaspoons of Amaretto)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour a 9X9 or 10X7 baking dish. Scatter thecherries and slivered almonds over the bottom of the dish.
2 Whisk the eggsand sugars together until smooth. Whisk in the salt and flouruntil smooth.
3 Add the milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish over the cherries and slivered almonds.
4 Bake for 35-45minutes or until lightly browned and a testerinserted into the center comes out clean. Check about halfway through the baking and if the top is getting well browned tent it loosely with aluminum foil.
When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool dust the clafoutis with powdered sugar. Serve.
