Clafoutis (French batter pudding) Recipe

There are fancier and more calorific recipes for Clafoutis on the net, but this simple French recipe is enough to impress & delight.

Ingredients

80g Plain Flour                        2 Eggs              40g Butter                               60g Sugar

200ml Milk                              300g fruit*      Icing sugar (for dusting)         Butter for greasing.                                                                                                                                                       

*The original recipe I followed is for cherry clafoutis, which recommends using 300g tinned stoned cherries, which is 2 tins worth.  1 tin of cherries cut in half works just as well, or tinned strawberries  (again 2 tins) is cheaper than cherries.  You could also use fresh fruit – I shall be experimenting in the near future with blackberries..... I reckon blueberries would also be delicious....  Regarding the tinned strawberries – open and strain them in advance as if used straight from the tin, they will make the batter soggy and harder to cook.

Let’s get cooking...

(1)   Preheat the oven to 160 centigrade, beat the two eggs well in a small bowl, and place the butter in a small pan over a low heat to melt.  It is important not to forget to pre-beat the eggs, as adding them in unbeaten will give you a manky texture.....

I normally do the mixing in a large bowl with an electric whisk.  Haven’t tried it with the food processor.

(2)   Sift the flour into the mixing bowl and add the beaten eggs, whisking until thick & stiff. (behave)  Then add the sugar, followed by the milk, followed by the melted butter, mixing all the while.

(3)   Grease the dish and “arrange” your fruit.  Cherries will arrange themselves into pretty concentric circles while it cooks while strawberries will require a little more artistic input.

(4)   Pour over the batter mix and put in the top third of the oven.

(5)   Bake for around 40-50 minutes.  When cooked, it will have risen considerably, and a sharp knife will come out clean from the centre.

(6)   Dust with sugar and serve with clotted, whipped or ice cream.

This dish is at its best eaten freshly cooked, with a texture like a cross between clouds and pancakes.  Reheating in a medium hot frying pan with butter until lightly browned will cause a markedly upward twitch in your cholesterol guage, but will be absolutely delicious!