My love affair with plums is already well-documented here, so I'm not going to bore you with another one of my long-winded odes to their awesomeness.
Soooo... instead, I'm going to bore with a long-winded ode to the awesomeness of clafoutis. Or, more specifically, a yellow plum clafoutis that combines two wonderful things into one perfect easy summer dessert.
Despite the fact that it's dead simple to make and incredibly delicious, clafoutis doesn't seem to be all that popular here in Canada, which is an awful shame - especially once you come to realise that it's one of the best desserts to make with the fabulous locally-grown fruits that are available at this time of year.
So... What's a Clafoutis?
Clafoutis is a classic French dessert that consists of sweet black cherries baked in a thick, eggy batter. It originally comes from the Limousin region of France, but nowadays you'll find it on bistro menus all over France once cherry season rolls around.
It's one of my favourite summer desserts for two reasons - first, because it's ridiculously easy to make, and second, because its simplicity allows the fruit to be the star of the show.
While cherries are the traditional choice, a delicious clafoutis can also be made with blueberries... or raspberries... or apricots... or peaches... or... well... you get the picture. Basically, as long as it's in season and it's a soft fruit of some sort, it's fair game.
Clafoutis vs. Flaugnarde
If we want to get all technical about it, only the cherry-based dessert is truly a "clafoutis", while its non-cherry brethren should be referred to as "flaugnardes".
However, since I've yet to meet a non-francophone who can wrap their tongue around "flaugnarde", I'm going to completely ignore the proper taxonomy and call it a clafoutis anyways.
Also, clafoutis is way more fun to say. So there.
Why Plums are Perfect for Clafoutis
For this clafoutis, I decided to use yellow plums, because a pile of them caught my eye as I walked by the greengrocer's stand the other day and I couldn't resist their gorgeously bright canary yellow colour.
Because yellow plums have a tendency to be quite tart even when fully ripe, I've boosted the sweetness of the batter to compensate, and also add a dusting of icing sugar to finish it off.
The end result is a fluffy sweet (but not too sweet) batter dotted with astringently tart plums, with neither one dominating over the other. Not bad, considering it took me all of 10 minutes to assemble, and that's counting the time needed to halve and pit the plums.
If you're a clafoutis afficionado, you'll probably notice that I've made a few other changes to the usual recipe, because I wanted to capitalize on the fact that plums play along so well with nutty flavours - for one, I added a generous dose of almond extract to accompany the usual vanilla, and also switched out the melted butter for roasted hazelnut oil to add another layer of nutty flavour.
Needless to say, please use melted butter if you're not a weirdo like me who likes to keep a bottle of hazelnut oil in the fridge for just these sorts of occasions. :)
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Yellow Plum Clafoutis
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This classic French dessert is typically made with fresh cherries, but it works just as well with other stone fruits... like, say, these sweet/tart yellow plums that are one of the first varieties to hit the market in the summertime.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp hazelnut oil (or melted butter)
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 1 tsp almond extract
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp sugar, divided
- ¼ cup flour
- 8-10 small yellow plums
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly butter a 9" deep-dish pie plate or an 8x8 baking dish, then dust bottom with 1 tbsp sugar.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, hazelnut oil, brandy, almond extract and vanilla extract. Add flour and remaining ½ cup sugar, and beat until smooth and lump-free.
- Halve and pit the plums, and arrange them onto the prepared baking dish, cut side down. Pour in the batter, doing your best to avoid disturbing the arranged fruit.
- Bake clafouti in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the batter is set around the edges and just slightly wobbly in the middle. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, then serve warm with a light dusting of icing sugar.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: French
Carolyn says
I had no brandy so substituted coffee liquor. I used only the amount of sugar you called for & thought it was delicious. I would love to find the hazelnut oil—or I even considered adding finely chopped hazelnuts to my next batch. Oregon has plenty of hazelnuts so maybe I can find the oil too. I did not leave skins on the plums - the seed does not like to part with the pulp so I carved off all the pulp as much as I could & it was juicy but still delicious!!!
Elizabeth says
This is a perfect summer dessert. I did add another 1/4 C of sugar as my plums were very tart. Probably didn't need it. The balance between the sweet custard-like bed and the tart yellow plums is divine. And the recipe takes no time at all to put together. I'm going to bring this everywhere I go in the summer! Thanks for it!
★★★★★
Cynthia says
Thank you so much! A friend gave me a flat of yellow plums, too tart to eat, and I didn't know what to do with them. I followed the recipe with the following exceptions: I accidentally doubled the sugar (a cup instead of 1/2 cup in the mix) and I'm glad I did. The plums were quiet ripe but still very tart, and the doubled sugar took me to pleasantly tart. I think it would have been sour with a half cup. I used butter instead of hazelnut oil, as I couldn't find the oil and I was thinking it would be expensive and need to be used quickly, so I wasn't that sad). My one comment using very ripe plums was that I included extra juice that came from the plums and I should have poured it out. It's already quite liquidy (yes, a word) and it doesn't need more liquid. I would have poured or paper-toweled out the extra if I did it over again. But thank you so much - not so many yellow plum recipes out there!
fortheloveofyum says
Lovely, a great twist on a classic!
Many congrats for being featured on the Food News Journal!!! :)
Joanna says
That clafouti looks superb, downstairs in the kitchen I have a little bowl of wild plums that I picked yesterday, red and gold and now I have a home for them! Thank you from another plum addict. At the moment I am waiting for some damsons to start appearing in the shops....
FrenchPressMemos says
I might have a small clafouti addiction- so delicious and un-intimidating to make! The beautiful yellow plums seem perfect for the season. It just looks like summer!
Choosy Beggar Tina says
I adore clafouti. My mom used to make cherry clafouti all the time when we were children (and I made one just a few weeks ago too). Somehow I think that if she had added a splash of brandy I would have liked it even more....
Brie: Le Grand Fromage says
ooo, this looks so pretty and deliciously sweet. i love the colorful use of yellow plums, which i are unusual. great recipe!
Isabelle says
Thanks again for all the wonderful comments, everyone. So glad to hear my humble little clafoutis got such a great reception!
I apologize for not responding to each of you individually, but it's a jam-packed weekend here at the Casa Izz (and I mean that literally... we're making jam, and also pickles). But thanks again.
Monet says
I just found your beautiful blog today, and I am thrilled! What great recipes and photographs. I've been wanting to make clafouti for a few weeks now, and your delicious recipe is making me drool!
belleaukitchen says
wish i'd seen your clafouti recipe before i'd made my cherry one... couldn't find a decent recipe anywhere... still tasted ok but your looks exceptional. Great blog by the way, very inspirational.
Chef Dennis says
oh what a sweet clafoutis! those gorgeous yellow plums....I just saw some yellow plums at the farmers market today....now I wish I had grabbed some!
thanks for a great recipe!
Rochelle says
I agree with the awesomeness that is the plum, clafouti, however I have only heard about but it looks great! Love the addition of the brandy and hazelnut oil flavors. I definitely need to give this one a try :D
Daniel - TheTeenCook says
Never tried this, will keep an eye out!
yummy supper says
This looks delectable. We have those little golden beauties growing all around Berkeley. We often end up with baskets full after a little urban foraging;)
I am so happy to be able to put the golden plums to a new delicious use, thanks to you. And all the nutty flavors sound irresistible!
Cheers,
E
Isabelle says
Kathy, I'm so jealous of your plum trees! I'd probably overdose on plums if I could just walk outside and pick them right off the tree, though, so it's probably for the best.
Belinda, that's what I call determination! :) One of my friends has a similar problem with raw pineapple and kiwi, but not with cooked... something to do with one of the enzymes in the fruit, I think?
Peggy, good luck finding plums! If you can't get any nice ones, though, just use whatever fruit looks good... that's the best part about clafouti.
Peggy says
I must get my hands on these bright yellow plums so I can make this! Yours looks magnificent!
Belinda @zomppa says
I love clafouti...and love plums though they make my lips swell (care I not...I still eat them).
Kathy Gori says
I've got a ton of these on my property! The colors is brighter red, here in Sonoma we call them cherry plums. I'm going to give this a whirl!