Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet

Translation: Happy July 14 (Bastille day)

Today seemed a fine day to make Clafoutis from the beautiful dark sweet bing cherries I bought last week. As soon as I bought them on impulse, I knew I wanted to make Cherry Clafoutis. It didn't occur to me until I came home with my cherries that I had almost none of the other ingredients I needed: no flour, no sugar, no half-and-half, no vanilla extract . . . it was really rather pathetic and a true testament to what a baker I am not.



But ingredients were purchased and Clafoutis was made using this recipe from the Simply Recipes website. I also borrowed their image, since my Bastille Day treat was not nearly so photogenic.

Cherry Clafoutis Recipe

Traditional clafoutis recipes call for using cherries with their pits still in, which are supposed to lend some almond flavor to the dish. In this recipe the pits are removed, making the clafoutis easier to eat, but you can do it either way.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of fresh sweet cherries, pitted
  • 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1/8 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 cup of whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons of Amaretto -or- 3/4 teaspoon of almond extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and lightly flour a 9X9 or 10X7 baking dish. Toss in the cherries and slivered almonds.

2 Whisk the eggs, sugars, salt, and flour together until smooth.

3 Add the milk, Amaretto (or almond extract, if using), and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour into the baking dish.

cherry-clafouti-a.jpg cherry-clafouti-b.jpg

4 Bake for 40-50 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you pull it put of the oven it will wiggle a bit which is normal. 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 powdered sugar. Serve.

Serves 6.

I had another reason to celebrate today . . . I was offered and accepted a job. Yes, I will soon be joining the working class again. Did you hear a sigh of relief coming from the general direction of Dallas, Texas?

I figured it was reason enough to add a scoop of Blue Bell Home Made Vanilla ice cream to the top of my warm Cherry Clafoutis, in lieu of the powdered sugar–not traditionally French, but quite YUMMY ;-)

12 comments:

Christine Thresh said...

Robert wished me "Happy Bastille Day" today. I'll show him your post and see if he gets the message. It sounds so good.

Did you have a bunch of posts stored up? I've checked most days and there was nothing new on your blog until today. Now, there is lots to read. (Thanks for the link to the popsicle blocks.)

sophie said...

I played catch up on Sunday after commenting to a friend that I keep taking photos, but can't manage to blog about them, but no, I don't have posts stored up.

Tell Robert there are a lot of Clafoutis recipes around; I'm sure if he looks around the web, he'll find one that appeals (or matches the ingredients in his pantry.) All the Clafoutis I ate in France was made with cherries with the pits left in, but I pitted mine.

lj_cox said...

Hurray for cherry clafoutis (sounds very yummy) and three cheers for gainful employment!

Debra Dixon said...

Congratulations. Sophie! I know you are relieved!

floribunda said...

Hurray for the job! Mmmm... clafoutis... there's a restaurant in San Francisco where I used to get that. I wonder if there are still any cherries at the farmers market?

Cyndee said...

YIPEE!!! YEAH!!!! Good for you!! I am so happy for you!!! I have been so worried for you. Now I can concentrate on Lisa and my brother who is newly unemployed.

Suze said...

Congratulations on the new job, Sophie..I could hear the sigh of relief all the way out here!! Here's hoping it's a great place to work and you like the folks and what you will be doing...

The cherry clafoutis (never heard of it before) sounds pretty tasty..I have some cherries..and the other stuff..but no A/C in the kitchen so the oven is most definately NOT going on!! I wonder if it would turn out ok in the micro...hum..might have to experiment!

sophie said...

The job has one great feature: if the weather cools down a little, it's within walking distance of my loft. You know I love that.

Thanks for all the congratulatory messages. I can't believe you all actually read to the end of my blog post ;-)

The Calico Cat said...

Oh my gosh... I had the word "Clafoutis" on my brain yesterday (I must have heard it in passing) & had no idea what it was - now I know...

It was like that snippet of a song that gets stuck in your brain...

The Calico Cat said...

Congrats on the job!

Pat/SWquilter said...

The dessert looks fabulous - but even more exciting is the new job! I hope it turns out to be wonderful - and there is NO way it can be worse than what you left in Michigan!

Pat

Kathryn said...

Congratulations, Sophie. I'm glad a job opportunity came through. And being within walking distance is a real plus. Thanks for the recipe. I've just been popping my cherries in my mouth - they are just great this time of year, but may try your dessert.

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