Easy clafoutis

For ➏-➑

30 g unsalted butter*

400 g cherries, pitted**

75 g wheat flour***

1 pinch of salt

65 g white caster sugar****

3 medium eggs

30 cl whole milk*****

2 tbs powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Grease the cake tin (Ø 24 cm) with some extra (not melted) butter. Sprinkle with some flour.

If necessary, pit the cherries and divide them over the cake tin. Sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the salt and sugar. Beat in the eggs, followed by the milk and melted butter, until no lumps remain.

Pour the batter over the cherries. Bake the clafoutis in the center of the oven for 30 m until done and golden brown. 

Remove the mold from the oven and sprinkle the clafoutis with the icing sugar. 

Serve warm.

*replace with vegetable butter or oil

**Unpitted cherries release less moisture

***Replace 25 g with almond flour

**** Replace with sugar substitute

***** Replace if necessary. by lactose-free milk or vegetable variant

Potatoes clafoutis

For ➍
500 g potatoes
2 apples
2 slices gingerbread
breadcrumbs
butter
3 eggs
4 tbs cream
pepper & salt
nutmeg
cinnamon

Cut the potatoes and apples into slices. Cut the gingerbread into cubes. Mix potato, apple and gingerbread with salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon.
Divide the mixture into a buttered baking dish and cover it with a mixture of 3 eggs and 4 tbs of cream.
Sprinkle crumbled bread crumbs and butter flakes and cook the dish for 1 h in a 150 °C preheated oven.

Clafoutis aux cerises (French cherry custard)

For ➏
500 g fresh cherries, pitted*
1 tbs + 50 g sugar**
1 ts cornstarch
50 g flour
50 g almonds, toasted***
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
20 cl milk
50 g unsalted butter, melted
1 ts grated lemon peel
1 ts vanilla extract
½ ts almond extract
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Butter shallow glass baking dish. Combine cherries, 1 tbs sugar and cornstarch in bowl. Toss to coat.
Arrange cherries in bottom of prepared dish.
Blend flour and almonds in processor until nuts are finely chopped. Whisk eggs, salt and remaining sugar in large bow. Whisk in flour mixture. Add milk, butter, lemon peel, and vanilla and almond extracts. Whisk until smooth. Pour custard over cherries.
Bake clafoutis until golden on top, about 55 m. Cool slightly.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

*Use bottled or frozen unsweetened pitted dark sweet cherries, thawed, drained. Always use dark, rather sour cherries, never the sweet variety. When using cherries on syrup, use less sugar.
**Use 100 g to make it sweeter.
***Use hazelnuts for an even nuttier taste.

Originally from the French Limousin region, this custard-like dessert spread all over France in the 19th century. The name comes from the Occitan verb for 'filling up', and that is exactly what happened with the recipe, which gradually was made with other fruits than cherries, called flognarde then, and even with cherry tomatoes. The original recipe is made with unpitted cherries, making it a little bit less sweet and adding a nutty flavour, but rather uncomfortable to eat. In this recipe, almonds are added to have this effect.