French desserts are notoriously fussy, but clafoutis is easy, comfort food, basically a glorified pancake that would make a delicious end to a mid-summer picnic.
Clafoutis
Clafoutis, pronounced “kla-foo-tee,” is both a delicious, classic French dessert and a breeze to pull off. Does baking get better than that? You get to make a big deal of its presentation at the dinner table, announcing it with your best high-school-French accent and maybe wearing heels and a little beret but, making it, you didn’t break a sweat or lose your marbles (as is possible to with some classical French desserts).
NPR Kitchen Window contributor and Chocolate and Zucchini food blogger Clotilde Dusoulier says, “Clafoutis is the epitome of the French grandmotherly dessert: unpretentious, easy to make, and blissfully comforting.”
French Pancake
Clafoutis is basically a pancake recipe. But, oh, what a pancake those unpretentious French grandmothers make! The ingredients are: flour, milk, sugar, eggs and—classically—cherries, but you could really do any fruit you like. The technique is: stem the cherries (don’t even bother pitting them), mix them into the batter and then put that batter up to bake. Oui, it’s that easy. Merci Dieu.
You could pit the cherries, of course. But that adds a level of annoyance and work and who nowadays has on hand that instrument called a cherry pitter? Besides, the almond-like flavor of cherry pits is essential to the dessert according to those knowing French grandmothers. It is true that the marriage of almond and cherry is a deliriously happy one.
It’s probably also true that those same grandmothers, who had been cooking from first cock’s crow, wanted a break. Maybe a little nap. You probably could use one, too. Dream about other easy French desserts.
Comfort Food
Clafoutis is traditionally served cold, cut into squares and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Or served with a side of whipped cream. Or both sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with a side of whipped cream. Why not? The French eat this kind of stuff and stay slender and stylish because they don’t eat too much. They eat little squares of things, not big, honking slabs.
It’s challenging not to eat a big, honking slab of clafoutis. It will remind you of a happy childhood in the Limousin (the area where the dessert originated) even if you grew up in Bloomfield, New Jersey. It is custardy, cakey, and studded with ripe summer cherries like 14th of July starbursts. Be sure to warn your guests about those starbursts. A Bastille Day picnic is all fun and games till some American loses a tooth and says fie on France.
