What is clafoutis?
Clafoutis is a traditional dessert from the region of Limousin, in Southwestern France. Cherries are placed in a buttered dish, topped with a flan-like batter and baked until the whole thing is puffed up and golden-brown. The dessert is rustic, but somehow irresistibly beautiful and ambrosial, which is perhaps why it has acquired such fame.
A little crunch and a little booze elevate this simple dessert to near perfection. Break out the Cognac!
Here’s my twist on this beloved classic: I make individual-sized clafoutis and sprinkle the tops with sliced almonds and sugar crystals for a delicious crunchy bite. Then I drizzle the clafoutis with Cognac just before serving them.
Made with sweet, meaty Bing cherries, every bite of these clafoutis is pure heaven.
Here’s another clafoutis you’ll love (see photo below)
Apricot clafoutis with almonds
Food & wine pairing: France, Beaumes-de-Venise with Cherry-almond clafoutis
A glass of chilled Beaumes-de-Venise, a dessert wine named after the picturesque village of Beaumes-de-Venise in southern France, is delightful with this dessert. It won’t overpower the delicate flavors of the cherries, and you’ll be tempted to continue sipping the delicious libation long after you’ve had your last spoonful of the clafoutis.
Cherry–almond clafoutis with Cognac
serves 8
active time: 30 min
For the clafoutis base
- 1 cup sliced almonds (5 oz) (140 g)
- 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 extra large eggs
- 4 extra large egg yolks
- 1 cup organic sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- large pinch sea salt
For the fruits and topping
- 1 1/4 lbs (565 g) Bing cherries – pitted and left whole
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1 1/2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
- 1/3 cup Cognac
- vanilla ice cream
- 8 one-cup-capacity ramekins or 1 medium ceramic baking dish (13″ x 9″ x 3″) – buttered
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190ºC).
- Step 1: To make the custard – Place the almonds and flour in the bowl of a food processor and process for 1 to 2 minutes until very finely ground. Place the eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl and whisk until lightly blended. Add the sugar, cream, milk, vanilla extract, salt and ground almonds and whisk until well incorporated. Set aside.
- Step 2: Place the pitted cherries in the prepared molds. Drizzle with the custard. Sprinkle with the sliced almonds and the Turbinado sugar. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the tops are puffed and golden-brown. (If making one large clafoutis, bake for 45 to 50 minutes). Serve the clafoutis warm or at room temperature. Drizzle with the cognac, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and serve.
- Cook’s note: The clafoutis can be made up to 4 hours ahead and kept at room temperature. To serve, reheat at 375°F (190ºC) for 6 to 7 minutes until warm. If refrigerated, the tops will become soggy.
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Oh my. This looks incredible. I must try this.
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Thank you for the awesome recipes. It will make it easy to remember Name Day!
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Oh my, this looks yummy. I have a recipe for clafoutis I was going to try but you’d better believe that this one is going on my “to make” list also.
A wonderful post with a stunning must try recipe 😀
Cheers
CCU
Beautiful photo, story & recipe. I’ll give it a try, thank you!
What a beautiful dish, and cherries are my favorite fruit!
You pitted the cherries – I always do, too… much safer for the teeth. Love the addition of almonds – and doing individual. Bookmarked!
Looks fantastic, Viviane! Incredible combination of flavors and fragrances, I’m sure is very tasty!
I havent visited you in awhile I apologize but what a wonderful surprise with the new layout!! I LOVE it is strikingly beautiful 🙂 Much like these clafoutis, can you believe I’ve never had a clafoutis? Shame on me I know, I’ll have to save this one and make it!
Joy! How lovely to see you here. Thank you for stopping by… Please do not worry, I’ve been quite busy running my tree blogs, so haven’t had much time to check in with you either – shame on me! One bite and you’ll be a clafoutis convert – I know it!
I have never heard of this word, but the recipe sounds delicious, custardy eggy dish!
Dave! Yes, Clafoutis is a custardy-eggy dish… but so much more! I hope a clafoutis makes an appearance in your near future!
Absolutely stunning! I love cherry clafoutis and used to make it all the time. I love that you made them individually…
Thank you Ann! As always you are very wonderful!
Spectacular! I’ve never had a clafoutis before, never knew it existed before food blogging and yours looks so amazing! I clearly need to try it 🙂 Buzzed!
Parsley Sage! Yes, yes, yes… You need to try a clafoutis. Such a simple yet scrumptious dessert. Thank you so much for the buzz!
Looks very decadent.
This sounds great! It is really a gourmet dessert. Thanks for the recipe.
Isabelle, Thank you for your comments. It’s funny, but clafoutis is also my go-to dessert when I have a dinner party and not too much time to cook. I just got back from my local farm and bought a huge bag of the most gorgeous, ripe, firm Bing cherries. Guess what’s for dessert tonight?
Clafoutis is one of my usual go-to desserts when we have guests – so easy, but always guaranteed to get rave reviews. I usually make one big clafoutis because I’m too lazy to butter more than one dish, but I quite like the idea of making it special by giving everyone their own personal-sized serving instead.
That crunchy almond topping looks divine, BTW… it’s hard to improve on a classic, but I think you’ve definitely achieved that. I can practically taste the almonds and brown sugar from here! 🙂
I’ve been eyeing clafoutis for a while and this one looks so gorgeous! I bet it tastes amazing!
Thank you Steph!