Cherry Clafouti
Prevention’s Ultimate Quick & Healthy Cookbook Copyright 1998
1 teaspoon unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract I omitted this
2 cups pitted sweet cherries
1 ½ teaspoons confectioners’ sugar
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish or a 9-inch pie plate with the butter or margarine and dust with 1 teaspoon of the granulated sugar.
2. In a blender, combine the remaining granulated sugar, the milk, flour, eggs, egg whites, vanilla and almond extract; blend or process until smooth.
3. Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking dish or pie plate. Add the cherries and pour in the remaining batter.
4. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the clafouti is puffed, browned and firm. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.
5. To serve, place the confectioners’ sugar in a small strainer and dust over the top of the clafouti. Cut the clafouti into 6 pieces.
Per serving: 187 calories, 3.3g fat, 74mg chol. ,1.1g fiber, 68mg calcium,60mg sodium
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In high school, my French class had a cooking day. Our group made cherry clafouti. This was before the internet and one member of our group found the recipe in one of her mother's cookbooks. I know I loved it and I've remembered it all these years but I don't remember much about it. I'm sure we used canned cherries and it was custard-like.
So it's been on my mind to make this but why I chose this 'lite' version, I have no idea. Big mistake. The cherries, which were perfectly sweet and delicious, had no flavor after being in the oven. The custard (or what I thought should be custard) tasted like paste, and not that good paste that kids like to eat. It was edible but not worth it. I tossed it.
It was worth a shot to find a good 187 calorie dessert but this just didn't work for me. Of course now I am extremely curious as to what this should taste like, it all it's full-fat and sugar glory. Some examples I am finding look as custardy as I remember but others, even with all the fat and sugar, look much like this version. Maybe it was just the cherries - I've read that you should keep the pits in them for more flavor. Someday I will get it right.
Question of the Day: Did you cook in high school? I remember very little cooking from home ec - vegetable dip, a strawberry pie with a chocolate rice krispie crust. I never took cooking as an elective (I was cooking dinner every night - why would I want to do more cooking in school?)
Yep, I did home ec at school. Loved it. Our teacher was darn strict but once you got used to her (and behaved yourself) she was actually very nice. The best bit was, of course, eating the goodies after class.
ReplyDeleteI've made two quite different versions of clafoutis (though not cherry) - one was cake-like and not that great, the other was custardy-like and wonderful. I hope you find the one you remember.
I did cooking in Jr. High, they made everyone, which I thought was fair. It was the mac and cheese with velveeta that I remember the most.
ReplyDeleteI recently made a clafouti recipe from here:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cherry_clafouti/
It was delicious, though probably not low calorie. I think a low fat milk would work okay in place of whole milk.
Why did you omit the almond extract? I think that is one key to the flavor, especially with no cherry pits.
I didn't use the almond extract since my son is allergic to peanuts and we avoid certain things out of paranoia/fear of cross contamination/trying not to confuse him. Almond extract is one of those things.
ReplyDeleteAlmond extract should be safe since I don't think he's allergic to almonds and almond extract really isn't extracted from almonds, BUT, it's just one of those things I've been hesitant about. I think I did buy a bottle and maybe used it once or twice and then I found that it emptied itself in the cupboard. Maybe that was a sign!
While I took Home Ec 4 different times during my school career (we kept moving and my dad kept registering me for it in every new place)I don't remember anything we cooked. It must have been really bad since I can still remember every horrible item I sewed. :)
ReplyDeleteI was lucky not to have to take Home Ec. in HC. Because I too cooked dinners for my younger siblings I saw no need to buck the system.
ReplyDeleteThe versions I've had have been less custardy, more dense. All in the name of research, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, I know we cooked in Home Ec. It's strange though, that I can remember very little about it. I remember we were working with whole chickens (maybe learning to cut them, I don't know) I guess we cooked them but dont' remember. I remember making a salad - rubbing the bowl with garlic and preparing mashed potatoes ahead of time for a "Mother-Daughter" banquet. It's strange how you remember little details - they were in pyrex dishes with pats of butter on top, to be heated.
ReplyDeleteJan