Cherry Clafoutis

Name: Cherry Clafoutis Recipe: Classic French Dessert with Almonds
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: French cuisine
Ingredients: Cherries 300 g; Almonds 150 g; Eggs 5; Cream (10%) 200 ml; Powdered sugar 6 tbsp (5 for the batter, 1 for dusting) (55 g); Starch 1.5 tbsp (15 g); Orange zest from half an orange; Orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier) 1-2 tbsp; Vanillin or vanilla extract to taste; Butter for greasing the dish; Fresh cherries, chocolate, vanilla ice cream optional

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When the cherries ripen in the garden, I suggest making a simple French dessert: cherry clafoutis. Fans of flour-free baking will surely love fresh fruit in an egg batter, baked as a pie or in individual ceramic ramekins. Ground almonds in the batter give the dessert a special touch. The idea to make it came from my daughter Yulia, for which I am very grateful to her.

Cherry clafoutis seems to be considered the classic, although versions with peaches, apples, apricots and wild berries are common too. Large fruit is cut into pieces about the size of a cherry. The essence of the dessert is fruit, pieces of fruit or berries covered with egg batter. Baked, it turns into a pie similar to quiche, in which the batter is filled with fruit. The name comes from the French clafoutis, from clafir, “to fill”.

Like quiche, tart and tartlet, clafoutis is a dessert typical of French cuisine. At first glance it may look like a casserole, which is not far from the truth. By and large, that is exactly what it is: fruit baked in a crepe-like egg batter without flour. To improve the egg mixture, ground almonds are often added, and starch for extra thickening.

Old recipes advise against removing the pits from the cherries, as clafoutis is said to be more aromatic that way. As for me, enjoying a dessert while worrying about your teeth is no fun at all. Though, to each their own. There are plenty of ways to pit cherries quickly and cleanly, without splashes and fountains of cherry juice.

In principle, frozen cherries will do for this, but they release a lot of juice, which does not do the baking any good. By the way, the word clafoutis is pronounced with the stress on the last syllable.

A large clafoutis needs very few cherries. The general principle of the dessert is that fruit or berries are placed in a greased dish and covered with a liquid mixture of eggs and sugar. Somewhere I saw a version of clafoutis that was less a dessert than an appetizer, with a shrimp filling, a sort of shrimp pizza, very original. If you add cocoa to the egg mixture, you get an excellent chocolate dessert. Still, I like cherry clafoutis dusted with powdered sugar best.

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Ingredients

6 servings

For the clafoutis
Cherries 300 g
Almonds 150 g
Eggs 5
Cream (10%) 200 ml
Powdered sugar 6 tbsp (5 for the batter, 1 for dusting) (55 g)
Starch 1.5 tbsp (15 g)
Orange zest from half an orange
Orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier) 1-2 tbsp
Vanillin or vanilla extract to taste
Butter for greasing the dish
For serving
Fresh cherries, chocolate, vanilla ice cream optional

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing the cherries and almonds

Ripe cherries are the ideal choice for this dessert. It is important that the cherries are not overripe, otherwise juice will run out during baking, and that must not happen: juice is better suited for cherry jelly.
Pit the cherries, damaging the walls as little as possible. Back in childhood we learned to pop the pits out of ripe cherries with one movement of the thumb. Not a drop of juice is spilled, and the cherries stay almost dry. I will film a video when I get the chance.
Peel and dry the almond kernels: as a nice bonus, we add them to the egg batter ground. Contrary to a common misconception, an almond is not a nut but the kernel of the pit of a tree fruit. It is exactly the same as in peaches or apricots, which are used to make apricot pie. But the flesh covering the pit of an almond is not edible.
The kernels need to be peeled of the dark, velvety skin that covers the tasty “nut”: put the almonds in a bowl and pour boiling water over them for 10 minutes. After that the skin comes off very easily with your fingers, you only need to press. Dry the peeled kernels in a dry skillet over medium heat or in the microwave until they give off a light nutty aroma.
Grind the almond kernels to a powder using a hand mill, a coffee grinder or an ordinary kitchen blender. The grains should be as small as possible, literally almond flour. Otherwise the baked dessert will have noticeable hard particles, reminiscent of the semolina in kindergarten casserole. Almond flour goes superbly with any dough and refines it, so do not skip this.

The egg batter

Mix the eggs with the powdered sugar and flavorings. Take the eggs and cream out of the refrigerator ahead of time so they come to room temperature. Break the eggs into the mixer bowl. Add 5 tbsp of powdered sugar (45 g) and keep another 1 tbsp for dusting the finished dessert. Add the grated zest of half an orange and vanillin (vanilla extract works too), all to taste.
Mix at low speed until the mixture is completely smooth. Try not to create too many air bubbles, although some will form anyway. Taste the mixture and, if necessary, add more powdered sugar or vanillin.
Add the cream, liqueur and starch. Set aside a quarter cup of low-fat cream (10% is fine) and use it to dilute 1.5 tbsp of starch (15 g). Pour the rest of the cream into the mixture. You can use regular milk, but to keep the dessert fluffy enough you will need to add more starch. Add 1-2 tbsp of a strong orange liqueur, Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Keep mixing until the mixture is smooth. Pour in the diluted starch.
Add all of the almond flour to the eggs mixed with sugar and cream. You can put the mixer away and stir the egg mixture with a spatula. The almonds need to be distributed through the mixture. The egg batter for the filling is ready.

Pouring

Grease the dish and arrange the cherries. For baking clafoutis, it is better to use a ceramic or glass dish with high sides. Grease the bottom and walls of the dish with softened butter. Arrange the prepared cherries in a single layer on the bottom. They should be evenly spread, but should not cover the bottom completely. By the way, clafoutis can be baked as one large pie or in ramekins.
With peaches, apples, apricots or wild berries the method is the same, but cut large fruit into pieces about the size of a cherry.
Carefully pour the prepared egg mixture over the cherries. The cherries will float up, but pour the mixture only to the middle of the height of the dish wall or a little higher. Clafoutis rises and gains volume as it bakes. If you pour in too much, it may overflow the edge and burn.

How to bake the dessert

Bake the dessert in an oven preheated to 180°C for 45 minutes. It is often recommended to heat it higher and lower the temperature during baking. Try that if you like. While it bakes, it is better not to disturb the pie. Then check the inside with a toothpick for doneness: it should come out dry. If necessary, add more time.
Take the hot dessert out of the oven, put it on a wooden board and let it cool right in the dish. The pie has risen well; as it cools, it will settle a little. When the finished dessert is lightly pressed with a finger, it is quite firm and slightly springy. We prefer to eat clafoutis cooled, although many people like the dessert hot or warm.

Serving

After it cools, you can top the dessert with fresh cherries and dust it with the remaining 1 tbsp of powdered sugar (9 g), sifting it through a tea strainer directly onto the pie.
The cooled pie can be drizzled with chocolate and served with vanilla ice cream. Run a knife around the edge of the dish to loosen the pie and cut it into portions to serve.
If the cherry dessert was baked in small ramekins, it is served right in them. All the tasty extras, such as chocolate, ice cream, fruit or berries, are served separately.
Besides tea or coffee, cherry desserts are often served with a semi-sweet wine, and with it the dessert is simply incomparable.