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Cherry Clafoutis is a classic French recipe made with fruit, traditionally black cherries, covered with a crêpe-like batter. It is really easy to make.
This is my favorite recipe of Cherry Clafoutis, because it is light, yet flavorful. It holds a special place in my heart because I used to make it during my childhood in Metz (France).
In my recipe, I use vanilla cane sugar, which is often used in France to flavor desserts instead of vanilla extract. It is a little hard to find this in the U.S., but you can make your own. I recommend this vanilla cane sugar recipe from Alton Brown. Do not skip the vanilla sugar at the end of the recipe because this adds a unique flavor to the Cherry Clafoutis.
Some people find that keeping the cherries’ pits is not enjoyable, but personally, I prefer to not remove them because it adds more flavor to the Cherry Clafoutis. Just do not forget to warn your guests!
This summer, I also used fresh peaches to make a clafoutis. It is wonderful too! But clafoutis is so versatile that the cherries can be substituted with many other seasonal fruits .
French Cherry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 9 tablespoon sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoon flour
- 250 ml milk
- 60 g butter (I recommend Plugra)
- 1 pound black cherries (2)
- 1 packet (½ tbsp) of vanilla cane sugar (1)
Instructions
- Wash, remove stems, and pit the cherries (2) optional.
- Heat the oven at 350 F.
- Melt half of the butter (30 g) and let it cool.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs, add salt and sugar. Mix well.
- Sift the flour and add in the eggs. Mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the melted butter and the milk.
- Butter a 9.5 inches baking dish well. Add all the cherries and pour the batter over them.
- On the top, evenly sprinkle tiny pieces of the other half of butter (30 g or less if you want).
- Put in the oven for 45 min. until the custard is set and lightly brown.
- As soon as the Cherry Clafoutis is out of the oven, evenly sprinkle the vanilla sugar on top.
- Serve at room temperature or cold.
Marsha Ramsdell
What size baking dish?
Francoise
Hi Marsha, for this recipe I used a 9.5 inches baking dish. I am going to specify this on my recipe. Thank you!
Jennifer
Can I use buttermilk in place of milk?
Francoise
Hi Jennifer, I have never tried my recipe with buttermilk so I am not sure how the texture and taste will be.
Diana
If going gluten-free, do you have a preference of which type of gluten-free flour option to use?
Francoise
Hi Diana, I have never tried gluten-free and I am not an expert. I will try maybe a mix of almond flour with another GF flour of your choice but I can not tell you the right ratio. Do not use the almond flour alone this will not give you the right consistency. Maybe the safe option is to use a GF flour that you like and familiar with.
Liz
I also love clafoutis and have made many variations. If a person wants to make it gluten free, they may substitute rice flour for the wheat flour, I have done this to accommodate a guest and it is delicious – I could not notice a difference.
Francoise
Thank you, Liz! It is great to know 🙂