Blackberry Clafoutis

 
Blackberry Clafoutis

A cross between a Puff Oven Pancake, and a crustless custard pie, with a silky smooth consistency closer to flan.

I think I first saw an ad for a recipe for this in my facebook feed, and without seeing the ingredients or instructions, I thought "that looks like  the French version of a blackberry puff oven pancake, I should try that. ".  A couple of weeks later  I went into Aldi and saw packs of Blackberries on sale, I was reminded of seeing this recipe, so I brought home the berries and attempted to google cloutis, clafatis, cloufitis..  and finally "Blackberry Custard Recipes", until I finally found that it was spelled Clafoutis.

Pronounced kluh·fau·tuhs

And then, as I tend to do, I looked at the ingredients and realized I didn't have them all.  So I improvised.  

No heavy cream?  Lets try some lemon flavored greek yogurt.  No Orang Liquor?  Lets try some brandy.  And the milk?  We don't do 2% here.  It's whole milk, straight from the dairy, so probably closer to 5%

Oh..  I think improvising was a VERY good idea.  This was absolutely fabulous!  I think it was even better warm, but it was excellent cold too!

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THE RECIPE

I made the first recipe I saw - but after looking at others, most do not call for heavy whipping cream.  I'm glad this one did - I substituted the lemon yogurt and I think that really added to the layers of flavor, and to the texture.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

3 Eggs
1 cup 2% Milk

1 cup Cream [I used lemon greek yogurt]
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
1 Tbsp orange liqueur  [I used brandy]

2 cups blackberries 
2 Tbsp Butter, cut into small pieces

Mix the wet ingredients first, add in the dry ingredients.  Pour into a greased tart, cheesecake, or pie dish.  Drop the Blackberries on top of the batter, then top with the cut up pieces of butter.

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.  Check it at 40 minutes - you do not want to overcook, this should look barely set.

Blackberries and butter are added AFTER the batter is poured into the pan.

There will be melted butter on top when you pull it from the oven, don't let that confuse you into thinking it's not set.

View of the side "puff" straight from the oven.  This will flatten down as it cools.

The texture is silky smooth and delicious.  If it is rubbery, it was most likely overcooked.

I'm looking forward to trying this with cherry yogurt and cherries in place of the lemon yogurt and blackberries..  Maybe a brown sugar and maple walnut... and I think I could substitute pumpkin for the yogurt for a crustless pumpkin pie...   I think there will be a lot of great combinations for this base recipe.

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FOR COMPARISON

Puff  Oven Pancake Recipe

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This is a recipe I've been using for 30 years now.  Quick and easy - make it sweet, or savory.  Serve it plain, with syrup or top with fresh berries and whipped cream.  

Or add brown sugar and apples, or bacon or sausage right into the batter. The variations are endless.  It puffs up out of the oven, but can still be eaten once it has flatten down and is cold.

Ingredients

2T butter, cut into pieces

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

For this recipe, the butter goes in the pan FIRST.  Then mix the other ingredients and pour on top.  Use an 8 inch pan, and bake at 400 for about 25 minutes.

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Julia Child

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I loved everything about the DESCRIPTION of this book.

Julia Child.  France.  Murder.

Unfortunately, for me, the book just fell a bit flat.  I didn't enjoy it.  It's meant to be a series, and it I could have just been in the wrong mood when I read this one, so I might give the next book a try, if there is a next one.  The first one reviews VERY well by pretty much everyone except me.  :-)

https://amzn.to/45KAfJB

So what does that have to do with Clafoutis?  Well, since I had just read this book, I went looking to see if Julia had a Clafoutis Recipe.  Of course she does:

Julia Child's Recipe For Berry Clafoutis

• Butter for pan
• 1 and ¼ cups whole or 2 percent milk
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar, divided
• 3eggs
• 1tablespoon vanilla extract
• ⅛teaspoon salt
• 1cup flour
• 1pint (2 generous cups) blackberries or blueberries, rinsed and well drained
• Powdered sugar in a shaker

Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a medium-size flameproof baking dish at least 1½ inches deep.

Step 2
Place the milk, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour in a blender. Blend at top speed until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute.

Step 3
Pour a ¼-inch layer of batter in the baking dish. Turn on a stove burner to low and set dish on top for a minute or two, until a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish. Remove from heat.

Step 4
Spread berries over the batter and sprinkle on the remaining ⅓ cup granulated sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter and smooth with the back of a spoon. Place in the center of the oven and bake about 50 minutes, until top is puffed and browned and a tester plunged into its center comes out clean.

Step 5
Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving. (Clafoutis need not be served hot, but should still be warm. It will sink slightly as it cools.)

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