Frozen Cherries Are The Shortcut To Classic Clafoutis

Need a reason to showcase all those beautiful cherries? A cherry clafoutis is the perfect way to create an edible focal point for your outdoor soiree or backyard barbecue. A dessert or brunch dish that is French in origin, cherry clafoutis was birthed in the Limousin region of France and made famous in the United States by none other than Julia Child. This rustic and beautiful-looking dessert uses relatively simple ingredients to create a fruity custard tart. Eggs, milk, sugar, flour, and almond extract are used in the batter that is then poured over the fruit. And while cherries are the most common fruit used when making this treat, apricots, and plums have also been known to find their way into a clafoutis.

If you have never made a cherry clafoutis, it might be surprising to learn that whole cherries, pits and all, are generally used. This is because of how well they hold their shape and the almond flavor they are said to impart to the custard. Of course, if you use choose to use cherries that have not been pitted, you want to give your guests a heads up or it could make for an interesting bite. But just because fresh cherries are a suggested preference doesn't mean sweet frozen cherries won't pass muster. 

If you are not a fan of keeping the pits in your cherries, you have options. Instead, you can use some of the frozen variety that have been pitted. Regardless if you use the easiest way to pit a cherry – with a straw or chopstick — or have a nice kitchen tool that can do the job for you, having cherries already pitted when you are ready to bake can save you time. However, if you do use frozen cherries to make this sweet dish, you will need to plan ahead. Frozen cherries will need time to thaw, drain, and be dried, otherwise, the excess liquid they produce will ruin your clafoutis.

That said, if you want to make a clafoutis using another fruit that contains a lot of juices, you can place your chosen produce on a baking sheet in an oven on low heat to draw out some of that moisture. If you are worried that this will dry out your fruit, you can also add more flour to coat the juicy fruits and to prevent mushiness.