Cherry Clafoutis

I've been waiting for about 9 months to publish this recipe. I made my first cherry clafoutis sometime in last September when I paid a really ridiculous price for 350 g of cherries. I cannot say that it wasn't worth it, the cherry clafoutis became one of my favourite quick and easy recipes and I've tried one earlier this year with strawberries and it was still pretty good. But nothing beats cherries and now we're practically in the middle of cherry season, their prices won't get any lower, so I suggest you grab them while you can and make a clafoutis.

clafoutis with butter on
 it sitting in the oven

As you can probably tell by its name, clafoutis comes from France though I've never had a clafoutis by a frenchman. Perhaps one day I'll present someone French with this clafoutis and see how they react :) It's VERY easy to make and VERY tasty in the end. It has a soft smooth custardy base that's topped with juicy cherries - noone can resist it! The only bad thing is that perhaps not everyone has a ceramic quiche dish to bake it in, but I would seriously urge everyone to get one since it's a great baking form for more than just quiches. And of course, there are many possible variations to the clafoutis, I read some things about plum or pear alternatives which sound just as delicious as the cherry one presented here.

Cherry Clafoutis

the batter with wholemeal flour
but you can use plain as well

you will need:

• 350 g of halved and pitted cherries
• 125 g flour
• a pinch of salt
• 500 ml milk
• 3 large eggs
• 70 g of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 20 g of butter

1. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C, butter and flour a 20cm dish (you can use a tart pan or a baking dish too). Put the cherries in on the bottom with the flat side down.
2. Mix the flour and the salt together in a large bowl. Whisk in half of the milk until the mixture is smooth, then whisk in the eggs one at a time. Put in the sugar, the rest of the milk, vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
3. Pour the batter over the cherries slowly and dot the top with butter. Bake for 25 minutes, until slightly browned and puffed up. Take it out and leave to cool down completely (the puffed edges and centre will deflate, don't worry). Serve cool. It's perhaps even better the next day after a night in a fridge :)

clafoutis in the quiche dish