That was my reaction the first time I heard of this dish a long time ago, it is pronounced “Kla-Foo-Tee” and is this wonderful French dessert that is eggy, custardy and heavenly; the taste is akin to a very fluffy soufflé with a flan taste!  We were on Twitter when some followers of ours, @motoridersd and @brandiego mentioned it and it triggered some memory and intrigue for us.  We were really excited to try out a new recipe and take advantage of cherry season!!  We didn’t have a cherry pit remover so we left the pits in, which I found makes it a Limousin clafoutis.  According to Wikipedia, “A traditional Limousin clafoutis contains pits of the cherries.  The pits contain amygdalin, the active chemical in almond extract, so during baking a small amount of amygdalin from the pits is released into the clafoutis, adding a complementary note to its flavor.”  We would love to say we did it because of this background knowledge, but in truth we were too lazy to remove the cherry pits with a knife (we didn’t notice a flavor difference with the pits left in).

When Kevin made it he omitted the Kirsch (a cherry flavored liquor) as well as dusting the final product with the powdered sugar, we were just too excited to do that step and the picture suffered.  In our oven, the dish wouldn’t set in the time allotted so we added a few more minutes, which caused the top to possibly over-brown, but this didn’t affect the taste at all.  When we make this dish again, we will include the kirsch and do a follow-up post on whether it would have made for a better dessert.  On a side note, we found that a drizzle of a good honey on top seemed to enhance the flavors of this dish!!  Overall, it is a delicious dish that is actually relatively low in calories due to the low amount of flour so you won’t feel so bad when you go get seconds!

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp. unsalted butter,softened
1 ¼ cups milk
6 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. kirsch
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
6 eggs
Kosher salt, to taste
¾ cup flour
3 cups black cherries, pitted or unpitted
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 425°. Grease a 9″ cast-iron skillet or baking dish with butter; set aside. Combine milk, sugar, kirsch, vanilla, eggs, and salt in a blender. Blend for a few seconds to mix ingredients, then add flour and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.

2. Pour batter into buttered skillet, then distribute cherries evenly over top. Bake until a skewer inserted into batter comes out clean and a golden brown crust has formed on top and bottom of clafoutis, about 30 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving. Serves 8.