French food has this luxurious romantic quality that feels like it was snatched right out of a dream. Chocolate mousse is melted chocolate whipped into a light and airy cloud. Croque monsieurs are ham and cheese sandwiches, smothered in a sinful cheese sauce. Cherry clafoutis is one of my favorite French desserts. Clafoutis is a French country dessert that is super simple to make. It's a vanilla egg custard poured over freshly-pitted cherries and baked. The perfect thing to eat to close your eyes and pretend you are far away in a chilly French cottage.
For this recipe, I really love to pit fresh cherries if they’re available. Frozen cherries (defrosted) work great, but fresh cherries are one of my favorite fruits, so I try to use them when I can. Pitting them is genuinely a labor of love.
You could also try fresh blueberries or sliced plums. Anything with a tinge of tartness balances perfectly with sweet custard.
What makes this recipe enchanting:
The eggy vanilla custard contrasts deliciously with the tart cherries
This makes great use of seasonal fresh pitted cherries
It's a fun and easy baking project. Pitting the cherries encompasses most of the work. The easy vanilla custard you whisk together in one bowl.
More fun and easy baking projects:
Baking spray, for the pie plate
About 12-15 fresh cherries, stems removed
4 eggs
⅔ cups sugar
A pinch of salt
½ cup crème fraiche
½ cup milk
Splash of vanilla extract
¼ cup almond flour
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a pie plate with baking spray.
To depit your cherries, you can use a store-bought cherry depitter. If you don't have one, here is my trick you can use to remove the expense of buying a cherry depitter. I place an empty beer bottle or vinaigrette bottle on my table, and place some paper towels underneath it to catch any juice drips. I place two bowls next to it, one for the pitted cherries, and one for the stems. Remove the cherry stem and place in your cherry stem bowl. Hold the cherry over the mouth of the bottle with one hand, and poke a chopstick through the top of the cherry through the bottom. This will push the pit out into the bottle. Place the depitted cherry in the depitted cherry bowl, and repeat with the remaining cherries. This is the hardest part about this whole recipe. The rest is a breeze. I've included pictures below so you can see what the process.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, crème fraiche, milk, and vanilla just until combined. Sift your almond flour and all-purpose flour into the bowl, and whisk just until combined. Sifting will ensure that your batter doesn’t have any lumps.
Butter a pie plate or spray with cooking spray, and then pour your batter into the pie plate. Dot your pitted cherries among the batter, spacing them evenly.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Clafoutis is traditionally eaten at room temperature or cold, so cool at room temperature for about 1 hour before serving, or refrigerate until ready to serve. Scoop out with a big spoon and serve in bowls.
