Wednesday 21 September 2016

Blackberry Clafoutis

Clafoutis, a speciality from Limousin, is essentially fruit cake with a built-in custard. The generous amount of fruit, milk, and eggs in this homey dessert also makes it a lovely choice for breakfast. Traditionally made with un-pitted cherries, blackberries from our garden's wild area were used instead.

Vanilla and a light dusting of icing sugar are wonderful accents

Though vanilla sugar can be found in stores, a vanilla pod whose beans have been scraped out for some other recipe can be buried in a jar of sugar. As it is used, more sugar is added and the same pod just keeps on flavouring.

Still going strong after several years!

Coating well the baking dish with softened butter and then sugaring it makes for a delectable, caramelised crust.

The silicon tart pan that The Calm One got for me allowed easy cleaning

Ingredients
(makes a 23 cm round for 8 ample servings)

  • Blackberries, fresh, 450 g
  • Sugar, vanilla-flavoured (or regular, but add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the batter), 75 g
  • Flour, white, 75 g
  • Eggs, large, 3 or 4 medium
  • Milk, whole, 300 ml
  • Butter, sweet, 60 g, melted
  • Salt, a large pinch
  • Extra sugar and butter for the baking dish
  • Confectioner's/icing/powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 210 degrees C. Put sugar, flour, eggs, salt, and milk in a mixing bowl. Whisk until thick and creamy which will take a bit of elbow grease and a few minutes. Blend in butter.


Rinse the berries.


Put them in the buttered and sugared pan. Pour batter over berries.


Place in oven and bake for fifteen minutes then lower temperature to 150 degrees C for another twenty-five minutes or till firm and well-browned.


Let cool for about ten minutes before dusting with icing sugar and slicing.

Using a small sieve ensures a more even dusting

It tastes wonderful served warm, tepid, or even cold. In the last case, I am betting a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top would be a perfect addition.


As I was making the clafoutis, Dirac the Cat was working hard also inspecting some new bed linens which passed his muster as he stayed ensconced inside a pillow case for nearly an hour.


À la prochaine!