Simone Van Den Berg discovers Clafoutis, and decides it might just be the ultimate dessert.
By Simone Van Den Berg
It must be one of the best things about being involved in the foodie world; it gives you the chance to discover entirely new dishes, hear about exiting places you must visit or foods you must try. One of the best finds for me has been an exciting dessert with the name ‘Clafoutis’. The first time I heard the term was during a cooking class I attended a couple of years ago and our group had to prepare clafoutis. No one knew what it was or had even heard of the term before and 
quite frankly; I don’t think our instructor knew any better then we did. The end result was something resembling a sweet omelet but in no way tasted like a dessert you would want to make again. Still… I was intrigued and I started searching the internet and found beautiful looking dishes with vibrant fruits. Now that was something I was willing to try for sure.
My first clafoutis was with the traditional cherries and I immediately fell in love… It was light, tasty and I could see endless possibilities to vary this simple and quick dish with various other flavors. And so I started experimenting… I will not give you all my failures (there were a few…) but I will share with you the recipe for a wonderful plum clafoutis. There are about as many different recipes for clafoutis as there are types of desserts, but this is one I have used since the beginning and has so far never failed me.
PLUM CLAFOUTIS (makes 4 small dishes)
- 8 plums. Not too ripe.
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (100 gr) blond cane sugar
- 1 oz (16 gr) cornstarch
- 1 oz (16 gr) all purpose flour
- 1,1 cup (250 ml) whole milk, cold
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) vanilla quark
- ground cinnamon
- zest of 1 lime
1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
2. Clean the plums, remove the stone and cut them into slices or quarts, whichever you prefer and what is best fitting to your ovendish size.
3. Beat the eggs together with the cane sugar. Dilute the cornstarch in the cold milk. Add the flour and cornstarch to the previous preparation adding the quark to it. You can also use heavy cream instead of the quark but for a leaner option the quark works perfect. If you cannot find vanilla quark you can also add the seeds of one vanillapod and use regular quark. Check if you need to add a bit more sugar. Vanillaquark tends to be sweetened, but regular quark is not.
4. Mix everything until well combined and add cinnamon to your liking.
5. Grease small ramekins (it should make 4 or 5) or use one larger dish. Sprinkle the buttered ramekins with sugar and remove the excess.
6. Divide the slices of plum between the different ramekins and don’t be too shy with filling them. Pour the eggmixture over the fruit.
7. Place in the oven for 40-45 minutes until golden. Remove and eat lukewarm or cold. Sprinkle with icing sugar (optional).
I personally like to eat clafoutis when lukewarm. It’s also good when cold but I find the flavors are better when eaten slightly warm.
I must say I’ve never made clafoutis before, but your great recipe+photos and lovely post are so tempting :)
Thanks Tamara! You should really give it a go… You’ll be hooked!
wonderful little pots of deliciousness. I like that your recipe has been tested over the years many times (somehow I have yet to find one that I really liked, so I gave up). Can’t wait to try yours! Have you experimented with savory clafoutis?
Hey Amelia! I have yet to try a savoury version of the clafoutis but was thinking of doing that shortly. I would think it must be delicious too. Hope you like my recipe!
A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I were trying to find out what quark was because we had never heard of it before. We were told it was either a physics term that means a tiny particle of matter or a fresh cheese from Europe. I am intrigued and would love to try it. I am going to keep an eye out for it and if I find it, your recipes looks like a delicious way to try it!
Hey Julie,I have to tell you that this probably made my Valentine’s night. She was iiencdrbly surprised. I had put it in the fridge earlier that day and popped it out when we got home that night.I don’t cook much, so I didn’t have any cool toppings I ended up drizzling a little Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, lol.Keep up the awesome stuff. It’s a great collection of recipes and you may have turned me on to cooking from this one.
Simone your clafoutis are beautiful! I have not made one for years, but this definitely inspires me. Here in Santa Fe there are gorgeous plums at the end of summer so I will definitely keep this recipe in mind for when the abundance of plums arrive.
These look so cozy and delicious. I was looking for things to bake with plums. Now I have found it. Thank you!