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Cherry Clafoutis is a classic French recipe made with fruit, traditionally black cherries, covered with a crêpe-like batter. It is really easy to make.
This is my favorite recipe of Cherry Clafoutis, because it is light, yet flavorful. It holds a special place in my heart because I used to make it during my childhood in Metz (France).
In my recipe, I use vanilla cane sugar, which is often used in France to flavor desserts instead of vanilla extract. It is a little hard to find this in the U.S., but you can make your own. I recommend this vanilla cane sugar recipe from Alton Brown. Do not skip the vanilla sugar at the end of the recipe because this adds a unique flavor to the Cherry Clafoutis.
Some people find that keeping the cherries' pits is not enjoyable, but personally, I prefer to not remove them because it adds more flavor to the Cherry Clafoutis. Just do not forget to warn your guests!
This summer, I also used fresh peaches to make a clafoutis. It is wonderful too! But clafoutis is so versatile that the cherries can be substituted with many other seasonal fruits .
French Cherry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 9 tablespoon sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoon flour
- 250 ml milk
- 60 g butter (I recommend Plugra)
- 1 pound black cherries (2)
- 1 packet (½ tbsp) of vanilla cane sugar (1)
Instructions
- Wash, remove stems, and pit the cherries (2) optional.
- Heat the oven at 350 F.
- Melt half of the butter (30 g) and let it cool.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs, add salt and sugar. Mix well.
- Sift the flour and add in the eggs. Mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the melted butter and the milk.
- Butter a 9.5 inches baking dish well. Add all the cherries and pour the batter over them.
- On the top, evenly sprinkle tiny pieces of the other half of butter (30 g or less if you want).
- Put in the oven for 45 min. until the custard is set and lightly brown.
- As soon as the Cherry Clafoutis is out of the oven, evenly sprinkle the vanilla sugar on top.
- Serve at room temperature or cold.
Marsha Ramsdell
What size baking dish?
Francoise
Hi Marsha, for this recipe I used a 9.5 inches baking dish. I am going to specify this on my recipe. Thank you!
Jennifer
Can I use buttermilk in place of milk?
Francoise
Hi Jennifer, I have never tried my recipe with buttermilk so I am not sure how the texture and taste will be.
Diana
If going gluten-free, do you have a preference of which type of gluten-free flour option to use?
Francoise
Hi Diana, I have never tried gluten-free and I am not an expert. I will try maybe a mix of almond flour with another GF flour of your choice but I can not tell you the right ratio. Do not use the almond flour alone this will not give you the right consistency. Maybe the safe option is to use a GF flour that you like and familiar with.
Liz
I also love clafoutis and have made many variations. If a person wants to make it gluten free, they may substitute rice flour for the wheat flour, I have done this to accommodate a guest and it is delicious - I could not notice a difference.
Francoise
Thank you, Liz! It is great to know 🙂
Tara Schaerer Evans
I am wondering if you can’t get fresh cherries can you use frozen ?
Francoise
Hi, Tara,
Fresh cherries are better because you will get more flavor with the pit. If you can not find them, you can use frozen cherries. But thaw and drain well the cherries. Pat them dry before adding them to the baking dish. Hope this help!
Lisa
Mine did not turn out! I used a 9 inch pie pan and it cooked for 1 1/2 hours! I was so looking forward to this!
Francoise
Hi Lisa, I am sorry that you had a bad experience. It is not normal that it has been so long to cook. Something went wrong somewhere for sure. Did you use frozen or fresh cherries? Did you follow the exact measurements and put only half of the butter (30 g) in the batter as I said? The fact that you used a smaller pie pan can also affect the result.