Let’s start right away with the pronunciation of this beautiful French dessert, Clafouti. Because, let’s face it, I’m not fluent in French. Not even close. And I don’t expect you to be, either.
So repeat after me:
“klah – foo – TEE“
Then say it one more time.
Very good. Now let’s move on.
I’ve been noticing this rustic looking sweet for a couple years now, in magazines and on the web, and have tucked away a few recipes that looked especially enticing. But when I came across the gorgeous photo of Cherry Clafouti in the book, Canning For a New Generation, I could take it no longer. It was destined to grace my kitchen counter. And my wide open mouth.
This Bing Cherry Clafouti with Sweet Almond Cream could not be simpler. Pitted sweet cherries are placed in the bottom of a buttered dish and then drowned in a milk and egg mixture. It rises up puffy like a souffle while baking in the oven, and then falls slightly as it cools on the counter. Right before serving, it gets a little dusting of powdered sugar.
This French dish proved fascinating to me. I found it stunning, yet humble, with the deep color of the cherries beautifully offset by the much paler golden batter. The clafouti was heavenly to eat, too, with its soft custard-like texture and luscious bites of whole sweet cherries. I preferred eating it warm and could be found eating it for breakfast, even though clafouti IS considered dessert. And I didn’t feel one bit guilty about it.
Traditionally, Clafouti is made with unpitted cherries. Baking purists insist on the delicate almond-like flavor that the pits impart. But I didn’t feel like fishing cherry pits out of my mouth while eating this, as was the consensus with most other recipes I found. Instead, I opted to add a touch of almond flavoring to some sweetened whipped cream and I topped off my piece of cherry deliciousness with that.
It was ohhhhh, so very lovely.
Cherry Clafoutis with Sweet Almond Cream
Ingredients
Cherry Clafoutis
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at soft room temperature
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar, divided
- 2½ cups pitted fresh sweet dark cherries
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅛ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
- powdered sugar, just a bit for dusting over the top of the finished dessert right before serving
Almond Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
Instructions
Cherry Clafoutis
- Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 10″ pie pan (or another same-sized baking dish) with the 1 tablespoon of butter and sprinkle it with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Add cherries to the pan in a single layer.
- In a medium bowl, briskly whisk eggs and ¼ cup of the sugar until smooth and well combined. Add flour and salt, and whiskly brisk until smooth. Add milk, cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract; whisk briskly until smooth. Pour batter over cherries in the pie plate.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then remove clafoutis from oven and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Place back in oven and bake for about 15 minutes more, or until it looks puffed and lightly golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. The clafoutis will deflate as it cools.
Almond Whipped Cream
- While clafoutis is in the oven, use an electric mixer to beat cream until softly firm. Add powdered sugar and almond extract, and whip for a few more seconds to combine evenly.
Serve
- Clafoutis is best enjoyed on the day it's made. I like to serve it about an hour after it comes out of the oven, so the center is set and it's still super fresh. Add a light dusting of powdered sugar over the top, cut into wedges, and serve each piece with a dollop of almond whipped cream.
Nutrition Information:
Everyone loves it whenever people get together and share opinions.
Great website, keep it up!
I’ve made clafouti with berries, but never with cherries. I’m sure it would be great with Bings, and I still have some from the farmer’s market, so thanks for the idea! Clafouti is a good, inexpensive dessert that’s actually fairly healthy with all the eggs and milk that’s in it. I never made a topping for it, though, sounds yummy though it does take a bit away from the ‘healthy dessert’ angle.
I don’t care about the pronunciation, lol… All i care about is how to do it cause it really looks delicious! Thank you for all these recipes. Keeping posting more!
I love clafouti for its luscious custardy goodness. the cherries look vibrantly red in this delicious looking dessert.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I almost got lazy and didn’t make the whipped cream, but I buckled down and made it and am so, so glad I did. It was the perfect complement! My husband and kids loved it, too. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for letting me know, Toni – and nice to meet you! I’m so glad you liked this, too. And I’m also glad you buckled down and made the sweet almond cream. :)
sounds delicious
Mmm, delicious! I love clafoutis, but I haven’t tried it with cherries yet – can’t wait! I just made a raspberry one tonight, so yummy!
Thanks, Heidi! Raspberry Clafouti is next on my list!
This is beautiful! I love that you added almond flavouring the whipped topping and I love the way you wrote up this post.
This is beautiful! Ive never had a clafouti but my goodness I want to change this fact very soon indeed after seeing your gorgeous looking example :) easy too! wonderfullll
One of my very favorites from childhood! My grandmother used to make this for us when we would visit.
As I was making this, you actually came to mind several times. I wondered how true to form it would be from your eyes. This was so lovely, and nothing like I’ve ever made before. I’m smitten with clafouti!
Gorgeous! Just gorgeous! Along with VERY yummy looking too…I look forward to making your recipe soon :-)
Hi Avril – thanks! I’d love to know if you make this, and what you think.
Pitting the cherries definitely seems like the right way to go! This clafouti looks so delicious. And I love your pronunciation guide!
I realized when I was trying to relay this recipe to my mom, that I should probably include the pronunciation! So nice to hear from you again, Katie.
Adding this to the list of things to make with the huge bounty of cherries I got last week! It looks delicious, and I am definitely going to look for that book. Thanks!
Hi Toni – so nice to hear from you. I’d love to know what you think of this!
Oh my goodness… Brenda this looks incredible. What a delicious way to use up some Bing cherries! Well done :)
Thank you, my dear. I knew I was going to like this as I was making it, but I had no idea I would enjoy it so much. It was simply lovely.