Mesdames et messieurs… Cherry clafoutis

The short (maybe too short) cherry season, that red and juicy fruit that we let go with considerable difficulties (raise your hand if you have never really thought that one cherry leads to the other!), is about to end, and it deserve, as a requiem, a tasty recipe that values ​​its harsh sweetness (I love oxymoron).

Therefore, I chose the par excellence dessert that can be prepared with cherries, so that this dessert change its name depending on whether you prepare it with cherries or with other fresh fruits. In fact, while this dessert is called clafoutis, if you prepare it with the same procedure, but with different fruit, is called flognarde, instead.

This is a French recipe, especially typical of the Limousin region (before this dessert, I knew this region for enamels and miniatures … professional bias), and its preparation is easy and fast. The name comes from the dialectal clafir , which means garnish, fill, because to prepare this dessert you fill a cake mold with cherries and then cover them with a soft batter, similar to the one you use to make crêpes or flapjacks . This is a traditional and poor dessert, which farmers brought with them in their working days, and it was prepared with wild cherries deprived of the pit and the stem, even if they said that with these parts the dessert became tastier (because in this way cherries release less water). For the the eaters' comfort, I wasn't faithful to this ancient tradition.

CHERRY CLAFOUTIS

Ingredients

* 600 g cherries, washed and deprived of the pit and the stem

* 3 big eggs

* 100 g sugar

* a pinch of salt

* 10 g vanillin (optional; I didn't use it)

* 200 ml milk

* 2 tbsp Brandy, Kirsch o Rum (I used Rum)

* 90 g all-purpose flour

* butter (to grease)

* granulated sugar or powdered sugar (to garnish)

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 356° F (180 °C).

Lightly butter a low-edges cake mold (about 1-1,5 liters capacity) and sprinkle it with sugar. In a bowl, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and with sugar using electric whisks, until mixture is fluffy and doubles its volume. Add the vanillin (optional) and flour, incorporating it with a wooden spoon or a spatula. Then gradually add the milk and the liqueur (Brandy, Kirsch or Rum), stirring gently.

Take cherries, already washed and deprived of the pit and the stem, and arrange them evenly at the bottom of the cake mold; then pour the batter over them.

Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the clafoutis is soft and golden brown.

Remove the clafoutis from the oven, sprinkle it with sugar or powdered sugar and serve warm. I turned upside down the cake, because I assumed that it was the right thing to do, but now I think that the correct way is leaving it in the mold where you cooked it, although it could be more difficult to serve. One way to overcome this problem would be to make little clafoutis, as mono portions.

On a different topic … It's time for awards, again!

In fact, this weekend I received this stack of awards

from Manuela from Manu's Menu: I want to thank her for her constant attention to my little blog and for her big support. I strongly suggest you to take a look at her blog, full of wonderful Italian recipes translated in English!

I also received this award

from Katherine Martinelli, a New Yorker who moved to Israel: she has the wonderful chance to write for a living, and she also does it very well! Thank you, Katherine!

The rules for accepting the awards are always the same, so I reel off seven things that you might not know about me:

1. I am fond of reading and I love traditional book (the ones paper-made), but ever since I received an e-book reader, I can't read without it … it's addictive!
2. Until a few years ago I had an insane passion for Winnie the Pooh: I had its cuddly toys on my bed and my friends made me a lot of gifts Winnie-related. Then, almost overnight, I put everything in a box and I never looked back.
3. Nowadays I watch more TV series episodes than movies, but I love cinematography and its history. And tonight I'll watch a movie!
4. Soon my dog ​​will turn 10 years old, and today I actually thought about baking (dog) cookies for its birthday. Perhaps I'm going crazy.
5. I never watch TV except to watch the news (and sometimes not even that, and I read the news online or I listen to them via radio).
6. Last week I was convinced I had lost both my pen-drive, containing a lot of study material, and then I found them hanging at my desk, where they were for months now. Thinking back to point 4, maybe I'm really going crazy.
7. I'm not a big fan of video games, but I really enjoy playing Guitar Hero (and similar games) or platform games, like Super Mario or, I admit it, Diner Dash.

And now it's time to pass all these awards to 15 food bloggers, authors of English food blogs (I organized them alphabetically by blog name):

1. Meagan from A zesty bite
2. Pola from An Italian cooking in the Midwest
3. Jenny e Shilpa from Baking Devils
4. Heater from Basilmommy
5. Cooking Rookie
6. Mary from Delightful Bitefuls
7. Shannen from Fish and Melons
8. Adriana from Great Food 360°
9. Beth from Of Muses and Meringues
10. Mary from One Perfect Bite
11. Sarah from Pearl and Pine
12. Sandra from Sandra's easy cooking
13. Lyndsey from Vanilla Clouds and Lemon drops
14. Lin Ann from Vittles and Committals
15. Sissi from With a glass

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