So if you’ve never tried to make a Cherry Clafoutis at home before, stay with me – you’ll be amazed how easy it is to prepare it!

The simplest Cherry Clafoutis Recipe 

Probably because it is so quick and simple to make, this custardy baked flan nestled with fruits is a staple among French home cooks in the Summer. It is ideal to make do with the abundance of cherries in early Summer and combines them with an eggy, almost custard-like batter, which makes for a refreshing yet comforting dessert.  

My recipe will give you the simplest version of a Cherry Clafoutis. Simple, classic, timeless. It just works wonderfully.  The clafoutis is soft and tender, just sweet enough, with bursts of juicy cherries, a puffy golden top and a satisfying chewy rim.

This  is a fabulous ending to any Summer meal, served warm or cold. You can enjoy it by the spoonful or cut it in slices just like a cake. You can leave it bare or with a light dusting of powdered sugar,  and top it with scoops of vanilla ice-cream. 

What Cherries to use for a Clafoutis? 

In France, clafoutis can be made using a variety of sour cherry known as “Griottes“, black cherries or the Bigarreau Cherry, a hard-fleshed pale cherry that is often used in baking and for the making or jams of candies.

In North America, you can use sour cherries such as Montmorency, which is from the Griotte family. If you’re worried that your cherries are too sour, use a mix of sour and sweet cherries.

I find thesweet Bing cherries great to bake with, since they are very sweet, hard-fleshed and do not release much liquid when baking. Bing Cherries are one the most commonly available sweet cherry varieties in North America. 

To pit or not to pit the cherries?

As per tradition in France, when making a Cherry Clafoutis from Limousin, you must leave the cherry pits intact for more flavor. The pits contain amygdaline, the same active chemical found in almond extract. So during the baking process, some amygdalin from the pits is released into the clafoutis batter and gives a subtle nutty note.

Skipping the cherry-pitting certainly makes the preparation for this recipe way quicker and easier too. But I feel it also makes the eating part far less enjoyable… You can choose whichever option you prefer (with pitted or un-pitted cherries).

If you opt to pit the cherries (like I usually do), slice the cherry in half, twist off one half and remove the pit from the other half with the tip of a pointy knife.

How to store this Classic French Cherry Clafoutis?

• Chill it. After making (and enjoying) this clafoutis, you can cover it with plastic film and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
• Don’t freeze it. I don’t recommend freezing a clafoutis. The texture is delicate, and it will likely get soggy/mushy when thawing. 

Common Questions

Can I prepare the batter ahead of time?

The batter can be prepared hours, up to a day ahead, kept well sealed in the fridge.

Can this recipe be made using other fruits?

While it wouldn’t be traditional, you can absolutely made this recipe using other fruits such as apricots, raspberries or strawberries. Even apple or pear could work well! Just know that when a clafoutis is made with another fruit than cherry, traditionnally in France it is called a “Flaugnarde”. 

Can I use frozen fruits for this recipe?

Tricky question! Frozen cherries typically work for this recipe, but I always thaw and allow them to “drain” on paper towels before using them. Fruits such as strawberries and raspberries typically turn to mush once thawed, so I would advise against their usage.

Audrey’s baking tips: 

• This recipe works for one large clafoutis : use a 8 to 9 inch circular pie dish or skillet and bake for 1 hour. For individual portions, use 8 individual (1-cup) baking dishes or ramekins and bake for 40 minutes instead. 
• Take your eggs out of the fridge 1 hour before preparing, so they warm up to room temperature.
• Make sure you use 2% or whole milk (no skimmed or fat-free). 
• This is a simple batter recipe, easily done by hand with a whisk. Although, if the batter ends up being lumpy, you can simply pass it though a fine mesh strainer to get rid of any lumps. You should have a smooth batter with a heavy cream consistency.
• I like to add 1 tablespoon of Kirsch (sour cherry liquor) to my batter to boost the cherry taste – but this is optional. 

I hope you’ll love this French Cherry Clafoutis as much as I do! If you have any questions, please leave a comment. 

More French recipes with summer fruits: 

• Strawberry Rhubarb Galette
• Apricot Flaugnarde
• Peach Blueberry Galette
• Apricot Frangipane Tart 
• Plum Moelleux Cake 
• Strawberry Flaugnarde
• Classic French Fruit Tart 
• Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
• Raspberry Pistachio Tart 

Classic French Cherry Clafoutis

Print Recipe

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 1 hour 1 hour

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.3/5

( 59 voted )

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cup (312.5ml) milk (2% or whole)
2/3 cup (132g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbsp (15ml) vanilla extract
optional: 1 tbsp (15ml) kirsh
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 (62.5g) cup all-purpose flour
3 cups cherries, pitted or unpitted

Powdered sugar, for serving 

Instructions

Make sure you read the cooking notes before you start.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter generously a 8-9 inch circular pie dish or skillet (or 8 individual 1-cup baking dishes or ramequins).

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, Kirsch (optional). Add the flour and salt, and whisk until smooth.

Place the cherries at the bottom of the prepared dish (or a handful at the bottom of each individual dish). Pour batter over top.

Bake for 1 hour (or 40 minutes for individual clafoutis). The clafoutis is done when puffed and brown on the edges, and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean.

Transfer to a cooling rack. The clafoutis will deflate as it cools. 

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve warm.

 

The post Classic French Cherry Clafoutis appeared first on Pardon Your French.

Once in a while, going back to basics is essential. Especially in baking. Some people’s basics will be chocolate chip cookies, some others’ will be bran muffins or brownies. For me, it’s crepes and French butter madeleines.

The warm nutty smell of butter wrapping up the whole kitchen while baking madeleines always brings me back to my French childhood. And every bite taken into these small cushiony cakes always reminds me how much I love simple, unassuming, real French baking. 

I have already shared a recipe of honeyed-up madeleines on this blog, but this recipe is the simplest and most classic one. Butter is truly the shining ingredient of this recipe. Again, back to basics.

For any French baking apprentice, this recipe is a must.

French Butter Madeleines originate from the Town of Commercy, in the Lorraine region of northeastern France.

It is said that these small shell-like shaped sponge cakes have been named “madeleines” after their creator, Madeleine Paulmier, who was a chef in the mid-18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, the King of Poland, who was in exile in Commercy at the time (and whose son-in-law was Louis XV, the King of France). Louis XV loved the tiny pastries so much that he named them in honor of his father-in-law’s chef, Madeleine Paulmier. Soon enough, Queen Marie, Louis’s wife, introduced them to the royal court in Versailles and they became loved all over France.

It was Marcel Proust, a French writer (1871 – 1922), who contributed to the fame of the Madeleines. In his most famous novel, A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search Of Lost Time), his narrator dunks a small Madeleine in a cup of blossom tea and gets instantly hit back with tender childhood memories. This so-called “episode of the Madeleine” has become a reference in French literature when speaking about involuntary reminiscence of the past.

Proust was so infatuated with the small treat that he described them as ‘a little shell of cake, so generously sensual beneath the piety of its stern pleating…’ (Have you ever heard a more poetic description of a cake?)

For this recipe, you need a madeleine pan like this one. It is a little investment worth making if you are into French baking. Madeleines come in so many variations, and truly, never fail to please.

What gives these French Butter Madeleines their distinctive taste is the melted butter gently folded in to the batter right at the very end (and not mixed in at the beginning like in most cake recipe). This makes sure the batter has a nice shiny finish and it gives a nutty-buttery texture to the madeleines.  

It’s very important to pre-heat your oven with a large baking tray in it. When it’s time to insert the madeleine pan in the oven, place it right on top of the heated baking tray. This will create that initial shock of heat from underneath, which gives the madeleines their signature little bumped top.

French Butter Madeleines

Print Recipe

Serves: 12 Madeleines Prep Time: 1 hour Cooking Time: 12 Minutes 12 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Ingredients

2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for molds
3 tablespoons almond flour (blanched or unblanched)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel or pinch of fine sea salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon maple syrup (or honey)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and warm, plus unmelted for molds
2 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and the eggs and whisk until mixture is pale and thickens slightly, about 2 minutes.

Whisk in the maple syrups (or honey) and vanilla extract.

Gently fold in the dry ingredients in three additions – For each additions, fold in the ingredients until just incorporated.

Fold in the melted butter until fully incorporated. Then finally, stir in milk until you get a smooth and shiny batter.

Leave the batter in the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the surface of the batter (this will avoid the creation of a skin at the surface of the batter). Transfer to refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.

Spoon the batter into madeleine pan (filling about 2/3 of each molds) and transfer back to refrigerator for 1 hour.

Place a large baking sheet in the middle rack of your oven, and preheat it to 400 degrees F.

Place madeleine pan on preheated baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, until the madeleines are golden and adorn big bumps.

Remove pan from oven and immediately bang the pan against your counter to easily remove the madeleines from molds. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Notes...

Madeleines are truly best enjoyed the day of.

The post French Butter Madeleines appeared first on Pardon Your French.

If you have ever been curious about making pâté, but never knew where to start, this recipe is a nice introduction to this iconic, creative and boundless French craft. An art of yesteryear, which has traveled through time, never ceasing to inspire French chefs and home cooks alike. Jacques Pepin first shared this recipe in 1982 on “Everyday Cooking with Jacques Pepin”, the PBS TV Series that shed light on this newly immigrated French Chef who made his lifelong goal to introduce easy, unpretentious French dishes to the American public.

And this is indeed a surprisingly easy, quick and inexpensive recipe. The chicken livers can be intimidating at first, but again, in this recipe, they will simply be cooked on a pan in a quick and easy manner. If you get a chance, choose your chicken livers with a paler color – they are more delicate and tender. Also, even though the addition of cognac fits in the original recipe by Jacques Pépin, one can only admit that the French liquor can be hard to find or quite pricey outside of France. But you can easily substitute it for scotch whisky or even an ice-wine, which will play with sweeter and fruitier notes. Taking a little time to clarify your butter to form a sealing cap on top of the pâté will make a huge difference in preserving your pate (24h without a butter cap, 5 to 7 days with a butter cap, in the fridge.)

Last, but not least, as a snack or a fancy appetizer, you just can’t miss out on a few fresh baguette slices for serving.

The post Chicken Liver Pâté à la Jacques appeared first on Pardon Your French.