Cherry Clafoutis

Cherry season is finally here & the trees are bejewelled with these deliciously sweet stoned fruits. Aside from jam, one of my favourite thing’s to make with cherries is clafoutis. Pronounced as clah-foo-tee , this is a classic French dessert which is ridiculously easy to make (it’s easier to make than pronounce, my one week of French in comprehensive school really did me no favours). It’s a type of creamy baked custard that is cooked until it is just set enough to hold it’s shape & the fruit within it.

It’s name comes from the verb ‘clafir’, meaning ‘to fill’, so named as clafoutis is made by arranging the fruit in a dish before filling is with the sweetened, egg-rich batter. The traditional fruit of choice has always been black cherries, although these would always be left un-pitted as when heated, the cherry pits would actually infuse the batter with a subtle almond flavour.

I’m accident prone enough as it is without adding risk of choking to my desserts so I prefer to pit my cherries & add a splash of amaretto to the mix for that almondy delight. I’ve probably gone a little heavy on the cherries here in my sheer excitement for more summer fruits in my life, but is there even such a thing as too many cherries?