Cherry Clafoutis

I adore cherries. As a little girl, I used to hang double stalked cherries off my ears to look like earrings. Cherries also meant Christmas when we were kids (imported cherries were unheard of, so fresh cherries were only available in the summer). Cherry printed fabric and cherry motifs in jewellery still appeal to me today. And who can resist the juicy, sweet taste of fresh cherries? I also have to confess that I love the Cherry Ripe, an Australian chocolate bar originally produced by MacRobertson which, despite its name, doesn't actually contain any real cherries, and which many non-Australians loathe. (For the uninitiated, it is glace cherries and pink-dyed coconut in Old Gold chocolate.)


Recently, cherries imported from the US were on sale for $10 a kilo. That is ultra cheap for cherries here, which even in summer retail at around $16 a kilo. I bought nearly a whole kilo and ate half of them, and saved the other half to make something. The biggest issue I faced was - what to make?


In the end, I settled on this cherry clafoutis recipe that I found at Steph's A Whisk and a Spoon. It appealed to me because it only contains basic ingredients and seemed simple enough to make, even without a blender. I've never tasted clafoutis before, but I'd certainly make it again. If you make this, I urge you to use the booze in the recipe - I used Kirsch, and it sets off the cherries in the finished dessert beautifully.


My clafoutis has all the cherries to one side because my pan didn't sit comfortably on the baking sheet, and the cherries slid towards the downwards-tilting side of the pan. Regardless, it was delicious, especially with a small scoop of vanilla icecream on top served while still warm.


If you have any cherries to use up, I highly recommend this recipe - it is quick to make and delicious. Also, all the fat comes from the eggs (I used skim milk, so no fat there either), which in my books makes it a lot less "sinful" than many other desserts. Go on - give it a go!