Clafoutis is a traditional French tart made with black cherries. Do not ask a frenchman whether the stones should be removed or left in the fruit....this usually leads to hour-long discussions and at some stage you, the innocent bystander, will be drawn into the debate and believe me, you will make an enemy for life, no matter where you stand on the topic!
Apart from the stone issue, a clafoutis is basically a tart made by placing the fresh cherries into an ovenproof dish and then covering it with a flan-like batter. The texture reminds me of baby Dutch pancakes, but of course you will never say this where your French friends could hear you!
In short a clafoutis is like a chic Parisian: simple, elegant, effortless and makes a lasting impression!
This is my Blueberry version of the classic Clafoutis aux Cerises, that can be found in the inspirational Fait Maison: Gâteaux book. (See the Cook and Book section on this blog to read more about the book. It is only available in French, but easy enough to practise your language skills!)
125ml sugar
125ml flour
3 eggs
5ml vanilla
30ml butter, melted
250ml milk
enough blueberries to cover the bottom of a pie/flan dish
Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Grease a pie dish and fill the bottom with a layer of blueberries. Set aside.
Add the sugar and flour to a mixing bowl.
Whisk the eggs, vanilla, melted butter and milk together in a wide-mouthed jug.
Slowly pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients while constantly whisking.
Pour the batter onto the berries in the pie dish.
Place in the oven and bake for 35 - 40 minutes.
The clafoutis will puff up in the oven and fall back on itself as it cools.
Allow to cool to room temperature.
I serve my clafoutis as is but you can dust it with icing sugar before serving.
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