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Thursday 12 September 2013

Peach and Cherry Clafoutis

Clafoutis (pronounced 'kla-foo-tee') is a rustic French dessert originally from Limousin in Southern France. This region is known for its sweet black cherries, which were traditionally baked unstoned in this custard like dessert, believing that the cherry pits imparted flavor to the whole dish. But if serving to unsuspecting guests, I suggest you stone the cherries to save a few dental disasters.
 This classic French dessert has had me intrigued for quite a while now. This summer, with the fresh cherries in season, it seemed to be the toast of every food website. The dessert looked really beautiful in the photos leaving me wondering what it would taste like. 
Sadly, the summer fruit has gone out of season without me getting a chance to try out this wonderful dessert. Not one to give up easily, I had to get the ghost out of my mind and decided to try out the dessert with canned fruit. 
More so, I was pushed into it as dear daughter has been hounding me the past few days to keep something sweet in the fridge (cake is no longer counted as sweet) to satisfy her nocturnal cravings while she studies at night. It helped that I had half a tin of peaches lying in my fridge from the Peach Crisp I had tried earlier. This obviously  was not enough to fill the whole dish so I added a few cherries - after all traditionally a Clafoutis was made with cherries. The result was a rich vibrant looking dish which tasted as good as it looked. 
You can substitute with any fruit of your choice.  
Some recipes on the net  called for a mixture of milk and cream but thinking about where the cream would settle down, I preferred to leave the cream out. I am sure my daughter would thank me for this later. Also, don't worry if the custard looks too thin when you pour it, eventually it will set on baking. 
Adapted from Julia Child's book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking",  you  won't believe how amazingly simple this recipe is and how stupendous the results are, which makes it absolutely perfect for you to enjoy on days  when you want to have something special without breaking in too much of a sweat.
 Ingredients
11/4 cups milk
2/3 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 eggs
50 gms melted butter
1 Tbsp Vanilla essence
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour 
1 tsp ground cinnamon
6 canned peaches halved
100 gms canned Cherries
powdered sugar for sprinkling on top.
Method
Preheat oven to 180 C.
In a blender, blend the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla essence, salt and flour until totally smooth. 
Set the dish aside for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease a 7 or 8 cup round baking dish with softened butter. 
Pour in the batter in the prepared dish, then place the dish in the oven for 5-7 minutes till a thin layer of the batter begins to set.
Take the dish out of the oven and place the fruits in the dish over the batter.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup sugar.
Return to the oven to bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes, or until puffy and golden and a knife plunged in comes out clean.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve lukewarm.



3 comments:

  1. This looks absolutely yummy Mukta..Am bookmarking so that i can refer it once i get back home.thank you for sharing....:)

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  2. yummy yaar... is it veg.. and also chk out my blog http://spicymumbaiya.blogspot.in

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