Cherry Clafoutis Recipe Ideas, Easy To Cook, Tasty, Pastry Free Flan or Tart

Clafoutis is a baked French baked tart or flan made without pastry and so it is very easy to prepare. The name of the dish comes from the French verb 'clafir', meaning 'to fill' and is made using a batter filled with dark cherries. Numerous other other fruits can be used including plums, apples, prunes, cranberries, blueberries or blackberries. Almonds and other nuts can be added and almond flour is often used for making the batter. The fruit appears suspended in the creamy stiff batter and the baked flan has a delightful appearance that showcases the fresh fruit. The baked clafoutis is dusted with white icing sugar and generally served hot or lukewarm, with vanilla ice cream. This article shows you how to make delicious Cherry Clafoutis at home and includes some of the best ever recipes. Enjoy!

Classic Cherry Clafoutis
Classic Cherry Clafoutis. Source: Pixabay Free Images, Public Domain

Classic Cherry Clafoutis Recipe

Ingredients

Method

Wash the cherries and removing the stalks, and you might like to pit them as well. Transfer the cherries to a bowl and lightly crush them, splitting the skins open but keeping the cherries intact, retaining their shape. Then, add the kirsh, cherry brandy, amaretto or other spirit, and two tablespoons of caster sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat, cover and set aside for 2 hours macerate the fruit.

Next preheat your oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Choose a baking dish that’s just wide enough to take the cherries in one layer. Lightly grease it with butter and then sprinkle over half the demerara sugar. Rotate and shake the dish so that it spreads evenly, coating the inside of the dish. Then, melt 20 g (1 oz) butter in a small pan and set aside. Sift the flour into a large bowl, with a pinch of salt and the remaining demerara sugar. Beat the free range eggs in a jug. Then, slowly mix them through the flour. Slowly add the milk and melted butter, while whisking. Add the almond essence and lemon zest. Mix only until you have a smooth batter. Next, transfer the macerated cherries and their juices into the prepared dish. Pour the batter on top and gently spread evenly, Bake for about half an hour, or until the clafoutis has just set, but is still wobbly in the centre. Check from 20 minutes onwards to ensure you only bake it to this stage. Remove the clafoutis from the oven. Sprinkle over the last tablespoon of demerara. Set aside to cool to about room temperature, or slightly warmer, but not hot.

Note: This recipe works well with most late summer /autumn fruits such as peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, pears, blackberries and other berries and fruit.

Cherry Clafoutis Recipe Ideas

Nothing beats celebrating the new cherry season (or other fruit) than to use the rich, dark beautiful cherries in a simple clafoutis. This highlights the fruit which are visually on display and retain their shape and composition in the flan batter. The cherries appear suspended in the sea of creamy custard like filling. The preparation is simplicity itself. The cherries are placed in a pan and the batter is poured in top. One trick is to pour the batter over the cherries with the pan already on the shelf of the oven. This avoids the hazards of carrying the pan full of a very runny mixture from the beach top to the oven. Most batter recipes include almond meal in the batter which adds an extra dimension and depth to the taste.

Cherry Clafoutis with Almond Meal

Ingredients

Method

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (340 degrees F). Add the cornflour, almond meal, sugar and salt in a bowl and combine well. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolks. While continuing to whisk the eggs, add the melted butter and cream. Slowly add the almond flour to the mixture while whisking and continue mixing until the mixture is creamy and well blended.

Lightly grease one large shallow dish or four shallow individual dishes (about 12 cm; 5 inches in diameter). Place the cherries evenly into the dishes to form an even layer. Ladle or pour the batter mixture over the cherries and fill the dishes close to the top. Carefully transfer to the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Test that the filling is cooked using a knife or skewer, which should not have any sticky mixture on it when inserted into the flan and withdrawn. Remove from the oven and allow the clafoutis to cool a little before serving. Dust with icing sugar and serve with ice-cream or whipped fresh cream.

Cherry and Apricots Clafoutis

Ingredients

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix the apricots and cherries with the Kirsch and 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Set aside for 30 minutes to soak. Drain over a bowl and retain the liquid. Combine the almond and all-purpose flour and sift together. Lightly grease a 10 inch (25 cm) ceramic tart or flan pan. Transfer the drained cherries and apricots to the dish and spread in an even layer. Using a medium size bowl, whisk the eggs with the rest of the sugar and the vanilla liquid or vanilla seeds. Add the salt and the liquid drained from the soaked cherries and apricots and mix well. Slowly add the sifted flours and mix until the batter is smooth. Add the yogurt and mix well together. Pour or ladle the batter over the fruit in the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes. The top should have started to go brown and the clafoutis filling should be gelled, firm and puffed. Test that it is cooked by gently pressing on the top to test for firmness. Use a knife of skewer to test that the filling is cooked. Remove from the oven and serve warm, but not too hot.