Description
This traditional French dessert is a great way to make the most of cherry season. Satiny smooth in texture, this flan-like dessert is best served warm but also works chilled for a sweet breakfast the next day. The recipe is super simple and uses only a few ingredients you likely already have on hand! Typically, the cherries are unpitted for an authentic feel but you can certainly remove the pits if you wish.
Ingredients
Scale
- Approximately 3 cups fresh cherries, de-stemmed and unpitted
- 3 eggs
- 2/5 cups (80 g) granulated sugar
- 2/3 cups (80 g) flour
- 1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
- 3 tablespoons (40 g) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon (5.5 g) fine sea salt
- Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of Cognac or other brandy
- Optional: powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C
- Prepare your baking dish by greasing with the butter.
- Melt the remaining butter on low heat on the stove in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Set aside.
- Mix in a bowl the eggs and sugar. While continuously mixing, add in the flour and salt to maintain consistency. Keep mixing to ensure there are no clumps and your batter is smooth.
- Add in the whole milk, vanilla extract, and melted better, continuing to stir to maintain an event texture.
- Optional step: Add in the 1 tablespoon of cognac or brandy.
- Place the cherries in your baking dish, evenly dispersed.
- Pour the batter carefully over the cherries.
- Optional step: Sprinkle a light dusting of sugar over the top for extra caramelization on top.
- Bake for 40 minutes. Test with a toothpick or fork, and bake for up to another 20 minutes if needed (1 hour in total). Baking time will depend on the thickness of the baking dish and your specific oven qualities. Visual cues to notice when the clafoutis is ready are a puffy, lightly browned top and edges.
- Remove the clafoutis from the oven. Add a dusting of powdered sugar over top and serve warm alongside a glass of cognac, neat.
Notes
- It’s traditional and authentic to serve a cherry clafoutis with unpitted cherries. However, for an easier eating experience, you can definitely remove the pits. I recommend using a cherry pitter rather than a knife. You want the cherries to be as “whole” and intact as possible.
- You can use frozen cherries in place of fresh cherries. Simply allow the cherries to thaw and drain the juices and proceed normally.
- The clafoutis will rise quite a bit in the oven but will fall quickly after cooling. This is normal!
- The texture should be similar to a flan; if you have some slight rubber-y textures happening, you may have over-baked the clafoutis (but hey, it happens!) but the flavor will still be great.
- Other optional accoutrements for serving: vanilla ice cream, whipped cream