Sweet cherry clafoutis – a classic French dessert of sweet cherries baked in a rich custard with a layer of almond cream on top. Naturally gluten free and delicious!
Imagine the bacon wrapped sweet tarts. Now imagine them baked in a pie form. Next, add some cherries, nuts and honey to the mix. Lastly, leave your imagination behind because this recipe is too good to be true! And yes, that was a sentence.
Cherry Clafoutis
Cherry lovers, rejoice! This simple and classic French cherry clafoutis recipe features fresh cherries baked in a custard with slivered almonds. Dust lightly with powdered sugar.
Have you ever made a clafoutis? My friend Garrett McCord taught me how to make this classic French treat years ago. It’s one of the easiest desserts you can make, especially if you find yourself with extra cherries or berries on hand.
What Is Cherry Clafoutis?
It’s a custard of sorts, a firm custard, one with enough structure to support a lot of fruit. The basic ingredients are sugar, eggs, flour, and fruit. Easy! For this cherry clafoutis, we’ve also included some vanilla extract, almond extract, and blanched almonds.
Right out of the oven this clafoutis looks a little like a battlefield of cherries. Which is why I think one sprinkles powdered sugar over it before serving. Anything can be made pretty with powdered sugar, right?
As Garrett says, “If you’re a fan of desserts with little work and a lot of payoff, then clafoutis is the way to go.” Agreed!
Cherry Clafoutis vs. Cherry Cobbler
Clafoutis is like a custard with fruit in it, but unlike a traditional custard, it has flour in it that gives it more structure. A cobbler is baked fruit with a topping of dropped biscuits or other dough. They’re both delicious ways to use up cherries.
How to Pit Cherries
Traditionally, a French cherry clafoutis contains fruit with pits. We prefer to eat this treat without pits. No cherry pitter? No problem. You can smack a cherry with the flat side of a knife blade to pop the pit out, dig the pit out with a paper clip, poke the pit out with a chopstick, or invert a pastry tip onto a cutting board and push the cherry down on it.
Fresh vs. Frozen Cherries
Fresh cherries work better for this recipe because they’ll give more flavor, but you can use frozen cherries if that’s what you have to work with. Defrost and drain the cherries then pat them dry before adding them to the dish.
How to Store Clafoutis
Store covered clafoutis at room temperature for two days or refrigerate tightly covered up to four days.
Cherry Clafoutis
PREP TIME15 mins
COOK TIME40 mins
TOTAL TIME55 mins
SERVINGS6 servings
Traditional clafoutis is made with cherries that still have their pits. The pits give some almond flavor to the dish. But prepared that way can be a little more difficult to eat, so in this recipe, we’ve pitted the cherries first. You can leave them in if you want.
Note that the texture of clafoutis is like a sturdy custard, so if it feels a little rubbery, that’s just how it’s supposed to be.
Feel free to reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup if you are working with very sweet cherries, or would prefer a less sweet clafoutis.
What is cherry clafoutis?
Super-creamy and custardy in texture, it’s almost like a cross between flan and cake. The main ingredients: sugar, eggs, flour, and cherries. But the secret ingredient is really amaretto. It gives the dessert the slightest hint of almond flavor. You could also use almond or vanilla extract, but if you have the liqueur, we very much recommend it.
Why use a blender for the batter?
You don’t need to worry about overworking the gluten here. For this recipe, you want to make sure that everything is really well incorporated.
What other fruits can you use?
Apples, blackberries, and plums are all traditional. Sturdy and dense fruits are best!
CAL/SERV:170
YIELDS:8 SERVINGS
PREP TIME:0 HOURS 15 MINS
TOTAL TIME:0 HOURS 55 MINS
INGREDIENTS
Softened butter, for pan
1 1/2 c.
tart or sweet cherries, halved and pits removed
4
large eggs
1/2 c.
granulated sugar
1 c.
milk
1 tbsp.
amaretto, or 1 tsp. almond extract
3/4 c.
all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp.
kosher salt
Powdered sugar, for serving
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9″ round baking dish with butter. Spread out cherries in an even layer in bottom of pan.
- In a blender, add eggs and sugar and blend until frothy. Add milk, amaretto, flour and salt and blend until combined. Pour batter over cherries.
- Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature dusted with powdered sugar.
Cherry Clafoutis Recipe
One of the things I love most about this dessert is how incredibly easy it is to make. If I were to publish a cookbook for kids, clafoutis would be in it!
- Butter a baking dish and fill it with cherries
- Place the milk, cream, eggs, flour, sugar, butter, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour the batter over the cherries.
- Bake until the top is a rich golden brown and the top is firm but the clafoutis jiggles when you gently shake the pan. Let it cool for a few minutes and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm by itself or with some whipped cream or vanilla custard.
That’s it! Dessert couldn’t be any simpler.
The only thing that will take a little practice is getting the timing right on how long to bake it. This also comes down to personal preference, but clafoutis should be fairly firm to the touch but jiggly when you gently shake the pan. Over-baked you’ll have a chewy-eggy textured cake. Under-baked and you’ll have cherries floating in pudding. Baked just right you’ll make Goldilocks happy with a texture that is a cross between cake and custard.
Enjoy!
