Cherry Clafoutis

What better day than Bastille Day for clafoutis! Clafoutis (or clafouti) is a French custard type dish that hails from the Limousin area. It's typical for this dish to be made with dark cherries, including the pits. The reason the pits are left in is because of their faint almond taste ... I've added some almond extract and omitted the pits because I don't like to find the pits in my mouth, and because I just got a cherry pitter. This comes together quickly when one person pits the cherries and another person mixes up the batter. Let it cook while you're eating, and serve it warm for dessert.

Ingredients:

1 tsp. butter
1 Tbs. sugar
1 cup vanilla soy milk or regular milk
1/4 cup almond yogurt or vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup flour
3 cups pitted cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 inch round or 8x8 square baking dish, then dust the dish with the tablespoon of sugar. Pour the milk, yogurt, 1/4 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla, almond extract, salt and flour into a blender. Blend until well combined. Place the cherries on the bottom of your baking dish, then pour the blended custard mixture over the top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until there are some brown spots on the top of the custard and the middle is no longer liquid. Remove and let set at least 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 8

Stealthy Cooking Tip: Don't like cherries? Not to worry. This flan type dish can be made with fruits other than cherries. You could easily substitute red cherries, plums, apples, pears, or blueberries. When you use fruit other than cherries, this dessert is called a flaugnarde. You may need to adjust the sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit. Sour cherries or green apples may need an extra tablespoon or so more sugar, while sweet Rainier cherries or blueberries may need slightly less.