It’s still plum season, and since they are easier to carry than pumpkins, I recently bought a couple of them. Back home I thought about what to do with them and suddenly the Clafoutis idea popped into my mind.
Since I haven’t had this typical French dessert for quite some time, I went for it – with a few tweaks to the original recipe of course.
I substituted yogurt for milk and plums for cherries. The yogurt gives this (pan)cake-like dessert a nicer flavor. In the recipe below I used 2 huge black plums, about ½ lb in total, but you can also bake Clafoutis with every other type of plum or even other fruits. If your plums are rather tart than sweet, add a little more sugar. The authentic French Clafoutis is originally made using unpitted cherries, but Clafoutis isn’t picky at all.
I also added some vanilla extract, a pinch of baking powder, and folded in beaten egg whites for a nice fluffy batter, almost soufflé-like in texture. But other than that, the rest of the recipe is really authentic :-).
Ingredients
- 2 big firm black plums or 3-4 smaller plums (½ lb)
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 5 tablespoons sugar (65 g / 2 ¼ oz), for a moderate sweetened dessert
- ½ cup plain yogurt; I used non-fat (100 g / 3 ½ oz)
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
- ½ cup all purpose flour (70 g / 2 ½ oz)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
- Butter for greasing the pan
- In addition: Ovenproof dish (at least 8 x 11 inch) or several individual ramekins
Instructions
- Half the plums, pit them and cut them into ¼ inch slices.
- Separate the yolks from the egg whites.
- In a large bowl beat the yolks together with the sugar (set 1 tablespoon aside) with a mixer until lemon color.
- Add yogurt, vanilla and salt and mix until combined.
- Mix flour and baking powder. Add the flour to the batter and mix for a few seconds until just incorporated. Do not overmix the batter.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg whites together with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, using clean and dry beaters until stiff.
- Gently fold the stiff egg whites into the batter with a spatula, trying to maintain the batter's volume as much as possible.
- Butter the pan and pour in the batter.
- Arrange the plum slices on top of the batter. If you do a double-layer of fruit, put the second layer rather on the outer edge than the center (the center will be moist anyway, even too moist if there is a double layer of fruit).
- Bake in the 375°F (190°C) preheated oven (middle rack) until lightly browned on top, about 30 to 40 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Take Clafoutis out of the oven and let it cool slightly, then dust with confectioner's sugar.
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Hello, I recently made a clafouti and it came out beautifully but was traditionally custardy and not Fluffy. I wanted to experiment with either baking powder or whipped egg whites but wasn’t sure if the clafouti would remain custard-like inside. Was yours? Also, you mentioned putting in a bit of baking powder but it’s not on the recipe. If you used both, I’m interested to know how it changes the texture of a traditional clafouti. Thanks!!
Hi Abbie,
Thanks for noticing the missing baking powder, I added it to the recipe. I used 1 teaspoon. This clafoutis is more on the fluffy side – because of the baking powder and folded in whipped egg whites. In the center it was still a little custardy, but it depends on how long you bake it (test with a skewer) and which/how many fruits you place on top. If you scatter a lot of (heavy) fruit atop, the clafouti won’t rise well. Hope that answers your question.
I rarely make desserts as I strictly limit sugar, but this is an exception, and not very sweet. I use the little dark Italian plums called susini in Italian; I wouldn’t be surprised if you also have them in Austria.
Understand wanting to eat “light”, but I’d never use non-fat yoghourt in such a dish.
ciao!
lagatta à montréal
Hi,
I just googled the ‘susini’ plums and they really do look a lot like the ones that grow in my parents garden in Austria. So maybe it is the same type. I usually eat whole milk yogurt but for this clafoutis, I had some non-fat on hand (don’t ask me why), so I put it into the note. I am with you on this ;-)
Cheers and all the best to Montreal, Ursula
PS: I’ve always wanted to go there since it’s only a few hours from Boston. Maybe I’ll do it some day :-)
Yes, I think they are exactly the same. A lot of fruit that grows in northern Italy also grows in Austria, definitely in Alsace, probably also Bavaria. And in Slovenia, I suppose…
Yes, the sad thing is tat between Boston and Montréal, there is no longer a railway link. There used to be. Both hockey teams and scholars rode back and forth, between the metropoli of New England and New France. It is a very pretty drive through northern New England – NH and Vermont, up by Lake Champlain.
Hope the rail link will return!