Jun 25 Cherry Clafoutis

Oven 400°

• 2 cups fresh Bing or Rainier cherries, pitted
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• generous pinch kosher salt

As I mentioned in another post, peak cherry season has pretty much hit, so when a neighborhood barbeque came up, I really wanted to bring something with cherries. I happened to run across this recipe on SFGate, and a classic French clafoutis sounded like just the thing.

Follow the link for full instructions, but, basically, just butter a large pie pan, then dust it with a generous amount of powdered sugar followed by granulated sugar. Dump the cherries in the pan. Next, throw all the other ingredients in a blender, blend them to a smooth consistency, and pour over the cherries. Throw it all in a 400 degree oven for about a half an hour or until the custard is set, then dust it with powder sugar and let cool.

The results are terrific. We gobbled every last bit of the clafoutis up at the barbeque and I wound up making another one just a few days later. Even better, it’s absolutely dead-simple to make. The hardest part is pitting the cherries.