Clafoutis is Totally a Breakfast Food

This dessert is right in my wheelhouse: deceptively easy yet impressive, elegant but a little rustic. It is also incredibly photogenic, if I may say.

It helps that we have started having people over for brunch, which means I can take pictures in daylight. But it also opens up the challenges of a seemingly simple meal; one thinks of eggs, but I'd say Rule #1 of hosting brunch is don't pick something made-to-order, like omelets. Baked eggs lend themselves to all kinds of neat combinations. The last two times I've experimented with this, I've been too hungry and concerned with the eggs getting cold to photograph, but definitely try this one.


I know turning the oven on in the middle of the day in July is not ideal, but it's probably worth it to have food that can hit everyone's plate simultaneously.

Anyway, clafoutis: despite the stuffy-sounding name, it's the easiest thing in the world, and probably totally adaptable to lots of different fruits. It came from my Eggs book that I got in Portland, Maine (also a lot of yummy baked eggs recipes, not to mention souffles and all kinds of stuff). It's pretty much the same as the recipe below I think I used a glug of Pimm's instead of Kirsch.


Cherry Clafoutis (from Saveur)

1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
6 eggs
6 tbsp. sugar
1 1⁄4 cups milk
2 tbsp. kirsch
Pinch salt
3⁄4 cup flour
3 cups black cherries, pitted or unpitted
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Generously butter a 9" cast-iron skillet or baking dish. Combine vanilla extract, eggs, sugar, milk, kirsch, and salt in a blender. Blend for a few seconds to mix ingredients, then add flour and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.

2. Pour batter into buttered skillet, then distribute cherries evenly over top. Bake until a skewer inserted into batter comes out clean and a golden brown crust has formed on top and bottom of clafoutis, about 30 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar if you like.