Comforting Clafoutis

Saturday 16 July 2011 was National Cherry Day and in a fitting tribute, I made my own French dessert of Clafoutis. It is quite a rustic yet, deliciously comforting pudding. I am contributing this recipe to the  Simple and in Season July Blog Event  over at Fabulicious Food. Thank you Ren! Also, I am forwarding this to Julia Parsons for the fruity round up on Cherry Pie Blog. Much appreciated Julia!.

Bowl of Cherries
 Photo credit: JD Wheaton

Time:
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes
Portion Control:
Serves 2-3


Ingredients:
250g cherries
65g of self raising flour
35g of ground almond powder (optional)
4 tbsp of granulated sugar, 2 for batter mixture, 2 for syrup
180 ml of milk
30g of unsalted butter, 15g for batter mixture,15g for syrup
2 medium sized eggs
1 tsp of vanilla essence
A sprinkle of salt
Icing sugar for dusting (optional)
Directions:

• Wash cherries thoroughly and remove stalks and stones.
• Slice each cherry in two.
• Put oven on at 200 degrees Celsius.
• Grease an ovenproof dish round the sides and bottom. I used a dish that measured 6'' by 4''.
• Place flour, ground almond powder, eggs, vanilla essence, salt, sugar, butter and milk into a blender.
• Whizz the mixture for about 40 seconds making sure that any residue is pushed down the side of blender and leave to rest.
• In a frying pan, melt the remaining butter and then add the cherries. Shake the pan tossing the cherries ensuring they are coated in butter.
• Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the cherries and stir the mixture for just over a minute or until you achieve a syrupy consistency.
• Place the cherries and syrup into the greased ovenproof dish and shake to ensure they are evenly spread.
• Pour the batter mixture on top of the cherries and place the dish on the medium tray in oven.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• Remove the dish and immediately dust with icing sugar as required.
• Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Yum! Comfort all the way!

Dessert pour moi: Clafoutis