I love making this beautiful classic French dessert. It’s a rustic countryside dessert traditionally made with unpitted cherries. This is so their pits can release their delicate almond flavour as they bake.  It makes it a little difficult to eat the clafoutis with pits so you don’t see this version much anymore. Instead, almond flavour/almond extract is added to the batter.
Cherry clafoutis is best served lukewarm from the oven, dusted with powdered sugar with a small dollop of creme fraiche, vanilla ice cream, or softly whipped cream. I prefer whipping cream as it’s light and delicate in flavour to match the cherries’ sweetness.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar and icing sugar
- Salt
- Whole milk
- Eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Pure almond extract
- Pure vanilla extract
- Sweet fresh cherries
- whipped cream (optional)
How To Pit Cherries
This is an incredibly easy recipe to bake, the only ‘difficult’ part is getting the pits out of the cherries! If you don’t have a cherry pitter, use a sharp knife and make a small ‘x’ on the bottom of each cherry then using a chopstick push through (from the stem end) to release the pit through the ‘x’. Discard the cherry pits.
Touring The Niagara Region
I adventured to Niagara, Ontario to indulge in some wine tasting and cherry season with one of my best friends. I’m always so impressed with the region’s beautiful countryside. It’s packed with small family run wineries as well as popular wineries too. And I have to mention all of the sweet little family fresh fruit farms, that were just too cute!
The drive is lovely, once you hit Beamsville and take the side roads and it seems on every block there’s a stand bursting with fresh, ripe cherries just picked from the trees.  It’s heaven, if you ask me! I love seeing a community grow and people supporting their local farmers. Especially when the produce is as yummy and beautiful as these sweet cherries. We stopped at Casimirri Fruit Farm, the people were so kind and the cherries were delicious! So I decided to make a French cherry clafoutis with all the fresh, juicy cherries we got!
More French Recipe
How to Make a Cherry Clafoutis
Step One: Grease a 9″ baking dish, tart pan, or cast iron skillet with butter and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt, set aside. In a separate bowl whisk together milk, eggs, melted butter, almond extract and vanilla extract.
Step Two: Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until smooth and well incorporated. Scatter the pitted, whole cherries all over the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter on top and bake until the center of the clafoutis is puffed and browned.
Step Three: Let cool slightly, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve with whipped cream.
Happy Baking Friends!
PrintCherry Clafoutis
Cherry clafoutis is a simple French classic recipe with sweet cherries baked in a buttery custard-like batter. It’s the perfect dessert to enjoy the summer’s fresh juicy cherries.Â
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 1– 9” clafoutis 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
- 2 cups sweet cherries, pitted (enough to cover your baking dish)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- icing sugar, for dusting
- whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9″ baking dish, tart pan, or cast iron skillet with butter and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt, set aside.
- In a separate bowl whisk together milk, eggs, melted butter, almond and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until smooth and well incorporated.
- Scatter pitted cherries all over the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the batter on top and bake until clafoutis is puffed and browned, about 35-40 minutes.
- Let cool slightly, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve with whipped cream.
Notes
Make sure you use a deep pan, as the custard puffs up and will spill over the pan and onto the bottom of your oven!!
If using a tart pan, slide the tart pan onto a baking pan before baking so it’s easier to move in and out of the oven.Â
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving of 8
- Calories: 129
- Sugar: 10.9g
- Sodium: 126mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 2.6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 17.7g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 3.9g
- Cholesterol: 57mg
Keywords: Cherry. Clafoutis, Dessert, French
FAQ’s
A cherry clafoutis is a a rustic countryside dessert from France. It’s made with sweet plump cherries that are baked in a buttery silky custard.
Unfortunately no you can not freeze any type of clafoutis. The custard filling will become grainy and wet in texture and the fruit becomes soggy. It’s best stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Although cherry clafoutis is the traditional recipe it’s also known to have other fruit used within the baked custard, such as mixed berries, blueberries or raspberries.
A cherry clafoutis will last approx. 3-4 days stored in the refrigerator covered in plastic. Serve at room temperature.
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Looks fantastic! Any suggestions on how to adjust the recipe to accommodate a nut allergy?
Hi Michelle, great question. Yes you can subsitute the almond extract for vanilla extract. Let me know how it goes 🙂
I can eat my weight in sweet cherries and I m pretty sure I could do the same with this clafoutis! It was perfect!
★★★★★