French Plum Clafoutis (Clafoutis aux prunes)

October 28, 2014

French Plum Clafoutis recipe

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.

Plum Clafoutis recipe

If you cut too many plum slices, eat them or make a double fruit-layer towards the outer edge, not the inside like here ;-)

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.

French Plum Clafoutis

Clafoutis, right out of the oven. Let it cool slightly, then dust with confectioners’ sugar.

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 The authentic French Clafoutis is originally made using unpitted cherries, but Clafoutis isn’t picky at all.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 :-).

French plum clafoutis recipe

French Plum Clafoutis

Yield: 4-6 desserts

French Plum Clafoutis

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

  1. Half the plums, pit them and cut them into ¼ inch slices.
  2. Separate the yolks from the egg whites.
  3. In a large bowl beat the yolks together with the sugar (set 1 tablespoon aside) with a mixer until lemon color.
  4. Add yogurt, vanilla and salt and mix until combined.
  5. 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.
  6. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites together with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, using clean and dry beaters until stiff.
  7. Gently fold the stiff egg whites into the batter with a spatula, trying to maintain the batter's volume as much as possible.
  8. Butter the pan and pour in the batter.
  9. 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).
  10. 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.
  11. Take Clafoutis out of the oven and let it cool slightly, then dust with confectioner's sugar.
https://www.lilvienna.com/french-plum-clafoutis/

Did you follow this recipe? You could share your result here. All you need to do is take a picture with your smartphone and send it to [email protected]
French Plum Clafoutis (Clafoutis aux prunes) was last modified: July 6th, 2017 by Ursula

5 thoughts on “French Plum Clafoutis (Clafoutis aux prunes)

  1. Abbie

    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!!

    Reply
    1. Ursula Post author

      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.

      Reply
  2. lagatta à Montréal

    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

    Reply
    1. Ursula Post author

      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 :-)

      Reply
  3. lagatta à Montréal

    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!

    Reply

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