Clafoutis aux cerises
Ingredients
- 500 g black cherries, unpitted
- 125 g flour
- 50 g sugar
- 30 g butter, for the dish
- 250 ml milk, warmed
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp neutral oil
- Pinch of salt
- Icing sugar, for dusting
Clafoutis comes from the Limousin, a region of cherry orchards, and tradition there is firm on one point: the cherries go in whole, stones and all, because the pits release a faint bitter-almond perfume into the batter as it bakes. The batter is little more than eggs and sugar beaten with flour and thinned with warm milk — closer to a thick crêpe batter than a cake — poured over the fruit in a buttered dish. It puffs in the oven, then settles into something soft and creamy, and is eaten warm with a dusting of icing sugar.
Method
Whisk the sugar and eggs together in a bowl. Add the flour while whisking well, then the oil, and mix again.
Thin the batter with the warm milk and add the pinch of salt. Heat the oven to 180°C (356°F).
Butter a large baking dish generously. Rinse and gently dry the cherries and spread them over the base of the dish.
Pour the batter slowly over the cherries.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until puffed and golden and just set in the middle.
Dust with icing sugar and serve warm, straight from the dish.
