Cherry Clafoutis

After reading “Bringing Up Bebe” by Pamela Druckerman, I thought it’d be fun to try some French or French-inspired foods.  This recipe comes from the Limousin province of France where many cherries grow.  Traditionally, the pits are not removed from the cherries which would definitely cut down on the prep time… but when consumed by children could possibly cause poisoning.  SO…. we’ll just take those out, shall we?  Cherries still seem to be cheap and in season.  The rest of the ingredients are easy to find on hand and require only one bowl.  It was a nice change for a dessert and tastes very very good with some whipped cream on top.

To pit the cherries:  Since we are cutting the cherries in half anyway, I found the quickest and easiest way to do this is to take your knife and slice the cherry in half around the pit just like you would to cut a peach in half.  Then, twist and you will have two halves.  Sometimes I could just gently squeeze the pit out and it was fast.  Once in a while I had to dig it out.

Cherry Clafoutis
yield 6-8 servings

1/3 cup sugar (2.3 oz)
2 Tb. cornstarch
pinch salt
1 and 1/4 cups heavy cream (I also did this half and half and it still worked well)
2 large eggs, room temp
2 egg yolks, room temp
1 Tb. amaretto or 1/4 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. vanilla
10 ounces (1 and 1/2 cups) fresh sour cherries (like Bing) that have been pitted and halved

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Spray your pie plate with cooking spray if you want that insurance.
3.  In a big bowl:  mix cornstarch, salt, cream, 2 eggs, 2 yolks, amaretto or extract, and vanilla.  Whisk this for about 1-2 minutes.  It took a while to get all that egg mixed in.  It isn’t a lot – but it splashes quite a bit which is why we use a big bowl.
4.  Lay the cherries out in a single layer in the pie plate.  Slowly pour the egg mixture on top.  Carefully take it to the oven and bake 35-40 minutes.
5.  Cool slightly.  Serve warm or cold.  Dust some powdered sugar on, or whipped cream is excellent.

Variation:  I’ve seen this done with different berries and plums.

Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated from America’s Test Kitchen