If you haven’t had clafoutis, the descriptions online don’t do it justice. Some describe it as a pie, some as cherries in pancake batter, some say it’s a custard, the French lexicon declares it to be “a cake with fruit.”
I will say: it’s eggy.
It is. It tastes like egg – with a lot of vanilla and sugar, poured over deliciously ripe red cherries. The traditional recipe from Limousin, France, actually includes the cherry pits (which would make this a lot easier to make, and a lot harder to eat). The idea is that the pits add flavor, but that just has me rolling my eyes. My theory? French women don’t want to mess up their nails by digging out cherry pits. I can’t blame them; my nails are a mess!
Julia Child’s Clafouti
serves 6
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
3 cups cherries, pitted
1/3 cup sugar
powdered sugar to serve
(Optional: Kick it up with slivered almonds and amaretto! That’s my suggestion, not Julia’s)
Instructions
Whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered pie plate. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan. Remove from the heat and spread the cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, serve warm.
Bonus points if you serve with a glass of cognac, because that makes it extra French!