I first discovered cherry plums at an international market in Atlanta. These fruits are a literal cross between a cherry and a plum have more of the texture of cherries and are the size of a small variety of plums. The ones I purchased were in the bulk bins, so I got to select the ones I thought looked best…and ripe. They were sweet and delicious. So when I saw bags of cherry plums in my local grocery store a week or so later, I grabbed a package despite the fact that they were more expensive per pound than the ones I bought in Atlanta. Unfortunately, my husband informed me that “those last cherry plums” were very sour. Ugh! I couldn’t let them go to waste, but we couldn’t eat them as we normally would either.
I decided to use them to make my mother-in-laws kuchen recipe…until I read the recipe and discovered it was not what I had in mind. I remembered having a cherry dessert that had the cherries baked into a custardy/Swiss apple pie-ish dish that I enjoyed. While trying to find that recipe, I came across a recipe for a French cherry clafoutis and decided that it was close enough to what I had in mind.
What is a clafoutis? A fancy-sounding name for something that is very much akin to the less fancy sounding Dutch Baby. It is also a cross somewhere between a pancake and an omelet. It rises high and deflates as it starts to cool just like a Dutch Baby, too. Thus, it has a similar texture to a Dutch Baby as well.
As per my usual method when I decide to try a new recipe, I looked up lots of versions of the recipe. I found that the recipes varied rather significantly. Most of the time I find that recipes differ on exact ingredients and amounts, but a sampling of these recipes gave different oven temperature even. Thus, I had to experiment some. I found that following the majority of the recipes I referenced and baking the clafoutis at 400 degrees F in my deep dish pie plate was too high. It browned too much on the outside edge while not getting done in the center. Instead, the recipes that called for the oven to be at 350 degrees would have worked much better for me. I ended up reducing my oven temperature from 400 to 300 to finish baking it until the center was set and a tester came out clean. Next time, I will stick to 350 degrees from the start.
While the sweet tartness of the cherry plums perfectly complemented the eggy richness of the batter, this dish can be made with the traditional cherries or any other pitted fruit or berries. Larger fruits, like peaches or apricots, would just need to be sliced.
It turns out that a clafoutis is a very quick and easy dish to pop in the oven, especially if you use the blender or food processor to mix the batter. You can have a warm, tasty dessert in just about an hour.
Cherry Plum Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 10 to 12 cherry plums
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 c. whole milk, at room temperature
- 1/4 c. cream*
- 1/4 c. granulated sugar
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extracts
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 3/4 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. melted butter
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter a 9 or 10 inch round or similar size baking baking dish and dust with granulated sugar.
- Clean, cut plums in half, and remove the pits.
- Place the plums cut-side down in the prepared dish.
- In a blender, food processor, or mixing bowl, blend eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and extracts just until incorporated.
- Add flour and salt blending just until smooth.
- Finally, pulse the mixture (if using blender or processor) after adding the melted butter until incorporated.
- Pour batter over the fruit in the baking dish through a strainer or sieve.
- Place immediately in the oven until just baked through, a tester in the middle of the batter should come out clean or about 30 minutes.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Can be kept in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days.
Notes
Other fruits like peaches or cherries can be used instead of plums.
*Cream is optional, you can just use another 1/4 c. of milk instead.
If using a cast iron skillet, raise the oven temperature to 375 degrees and watch closely starting at 25 minutes.
