Clafoutis is a deliciously different choice for dessert and is an excellent choice for brunch or a holiday buffet. Containing aspects of quiche, baked custard and yorkshire pudding; it is a treat not to be missed.
Most European desserts, although sometimes quite rich, are not as sweet as American pies and cakes.
Clafoutis is no exception. Having a filling consisting mostly of egg, it is quite dense. The filling is something like that of a quiche but much heavier. As the crust bakes, if you peek into the oven, you can see the sides of the pie rise up and over the edges of the pie pan giving it the look of a yorkshire pudding or a pie that has somehow developed a souffle for a crust. Once the pie has cooled, the crust will fall slightly to obtain a light airy texture. The flour in the batter will fall to the bottom of the pan as the custard bakes to give it a dense chewy bottom crust.
If you are a fan of custards or tapioca don't be afraid to try this quick, simple and delicious dessert. It looks very elegant and everyone will think you spent hours in the kitchen.
Clafoutis
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs
- 1 1/4 c whole milk or half and half
- 5 tbsp white sugar
- 3/4 c baking flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 1# cans sweet black cherries drained, very well rinsed and dried thoroughly
Mixing Instructions:
- Open cans of cherries and drain thoroughly. Rinse cherries until no sign of juice runs from collander and water is completely clear.
- Lay sheets of paper towel on a counter or cutting board and pour cherries out onto paper to soak up all excess moisture
- While cherries are drying, pre-heat oven to 425
- In large bowl, beat eggs well until light yellow in color
- Add sugar and salt and mix thoroughly
- Pour in milk and stir
- Add flour, beating thoroughly making sure there are no lumps of flour in the batter
- Leave batter to rest for 10 to 15 min. This will allow the eggs to settle and keep the filling from developing foam on top
- Meanwhile grease a glass or ceramic 9" pie pan
- Check cherries to be sure they are completely dry
- Place cherries in prepared pie pan
- After batter has had a chance to rest carefully pour batter over cherries
Baking Instructions:
- Bake for 30-35 minutes
- Check pie after about 20 min. If crust seems to be developing too much color, lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top
Remove pie from oven. Center of pie should be set.
Allow to cool completely and refrigerate before serving
Even though this is a heavy dessert, its' flavor is very light and goes well with duck, venison, or beef.
Do not be alarmed if your pie develops a slight greenish tint around the cherries. This almost always happens as a result of the cherry juice mixing with the yellow of the eggs. It is the same effect you can see in pastries made with blueberries.
Alternatives:
- If you would like to make this pie a bit more like a breakfast dish, you can omit the cherries and sprinkle 3/4 pound of crumbled, cooked breakfast sausage, cooked ham or cooked bacon.
- Other fruits may also be substituted if you don't care for cherries.
- Dried apricots or raisins are good substitutes. For apricots simply repalce cherries with one pound of chopped dried apricots.
Raisin Clafoutis:
- 1 pound raisins (omit cherries)
- 2oz dark rum or rum liquer
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- soak raisins in rum for half an hour
- drain and dry raisins completely
- follow instructions for cherry clafoutis adding the nutmeg with the flour
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