Cherry and Apricot Clafoutis



Cherry and Apricot Clafoutis


Clafoutis – (pronounced Kla-foo-tee) is a kind of baked fruity custard dessert, mine here done with the dark bing cherries and apricots.

What is a Clafoutis, one might ask? A lovely way to celebrate and showcase summer I would say – subtle, light, airy sweet bites richly studded with juicy fruits and the so wonderful flavor of almond.

But that would explain nothing, so I have to use the formal definition: “Clafoutis, sometimes in Anglophone countries spelled clafouti, is a baked French dessert of black cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm……The dish’s name derives from Occitan clafotís from the verb clafir, meaning “to fill” (implied: “the batter with cherries”).” (Wiki)

But there appears to be a twist to the Clafoutis called the  Flaugnarde/ flagnarde/flognarde/ flougnarde. Flaugnarde is a Clafoutis made with any  fruit other than the cherries. This is what Clotilde Dusoulier speaks of Clafoutis in Sweetness of Spring: Strawberry Clafoutis: “…unpretentious, easy to make, and blissfully comfortingThe fluffy custard, light as a cloud and studded with fruit, hails from the Limousin region in the heart of France, where each family has its own well-guarded recipe. Clafoutis is most classically made with cherries — leaving the pits in for maximum flavor and a nice jaw workout “.

Summer comes and I start seeing clafoutis everywhere – recipes with very beautiful pictures. But when I encountered the pretty one in Susan’s FoodBlogga, I had made up my mind and in a few days I made mine, a little differently but following almost all of her recipe, with no pits of course, for I cannot interrupt the pleasure of the dessert  while  I ungraciously spit out the pits. However I think I do understand why the cherry pits are left in there, surely not a  sign of laziness. The pits have that wonderful nutty flavor, which in modern times are substituted with Amaretto or the almond extract.

The extraordinary summer in all her gorgeousness brought me some

Sunshine  – The Apricots


Apricots


and the Sweet Luscious Bing Cherries


Bing Cherries


How could I not not give ourselves some Clafoutis/Flaugnarde?


Cherry and Apricot Clafoutis


I did make the dessert as you can see, but for so long was pretty hesitant to post it. Mine did not look nearly as pretty as the others 😉 The powdered sugar was forgotten in the pictures, which quickly took away the dreamy appeal. We did remember to do the fairy dust before we ate.

I baked them in 4 ramekins (as tiny individual servings for the 4 of us) and the rest in a cake tin.



Cherry and Apricot Clafoutis


Ingredients:

  1. 1.5 cup fresh sweet cherries, pitted
  2. 1 cup apricots, stone taken out and chopped into small pieces
  3. 5 tablespoons  of slivered almonds
  4. 3 eggs
  5. 2/3 cup of sugar
  6. 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
  7. 1/8 teaspoon salt
  8. 1 cup whole milk/or half and half
  9. 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  10. 2 teaspoons Amaretto OR 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
  11. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  12. confectioners sugar for dusting





Preparation:

Pit and half the cherries.

Remove the stone from the apricots and chop them in small pieces.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the small baking dishes/ramekins with butter, or coat well with cooking spray. Toss in the cherries, apricots, and slivered almonds.

In a bowl, whisk eggs, zest, sugar, flour, and salt until well combined and smooth.
Add milk, Amaretto/almond extract, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the ramekins/baking dish.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean. When you pull it out of the oven it will be wiggly but it will set when cooler. Place on a wire rack to cool. The clafoutis will have puffed up quite a bit and will deflate while cooling. When cool, dust the clafoutis with confectioners’ sugar if you want.

Serve lukewarm.



Cherry and Apricot Clafoutis


A faboulous Flaugnarde/Clafoutis which disappeared in no time. Not overly sweet, fruity and very right for the season.


Cherry and Apricot Clafoutis




Related Posts:

Cherry Chocolate Almond Bars

Strawberry Lime Cake (Eggless)

Cherry Berry Mousse Tart

Fruit Berry Spoon Cake


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