Strawberry Clafouti

Part custard, part pancake, this fruit-filled dessert is easy to whip up. It makes a great, lightly sweet treat for summer evenings when fresh fruit is in season and at its best.

But let’s not put limits on this delicious dessert! You can enjoy it any time of year with fruit that you find at the grocery store, or even frozen fruit.

Ingredients for your Strawberry Clafouti

1. Eggs: Clafouti is a custard-style dessert with a hint of pancake in its soul. The eggs form the base of the clafouti, so it’s really not possible to leave them out or replace them with a substitute. I haven’t tried an all-egg-white version, so if you do, let me know in the comments!
2. Sugar: At less than half a cup of sugar, this is truly a lightly sweet dessert, with the fruit being the star of the show.
3. Vanilla Extract: The vanilla adds depth of flavor to the custard. For elevated flavor, use pure vanilla extract rather than imitation vanilla (unless your grocery budget is stretched thin like mine, in which case imitation vanilla will work just fine).
4. Salt: Brings out all the other flavors.
5. All-purpose flour: This is the pancake soul of the clafouti. It adds substance, binding, and smoothness to the egg base so that you don’t end up with a slightly sweet fruit quiche. Since you really want a smooth, silky texture, I wouldn’t try to substitute whole wheat flour.
6. Heavy cream: The cream adds richness to the batter for a melt-in-your-mouth dessert. Cream always goes fantastically well with fruit, and that still goes when it’s baked in. I use raw milk, so I simply skim off the cream from the top of the milk that’s been allowed to rest for a day or two in the fridge. You could do the same with pasteurized, non-homogenized milk.
7. Whole milk: This also adds to the overall richness of the dessert. If needed, you could substitute with part-skim or skim milk, but since we’re going for a creamy result, why would you?
8. Strawberries: Fresh strawberries will work best, but frozen is also acceptable. We always pick numerous quarts of strawberries in season and put a lot in the freezer, so that’s what we’re most likely to have on hand unless it’s strawberry season. Defrost the berries before adding to the batter for a faster baking time.
9. Alternative fruit: Other types of berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc., will work well, as will cherries, peaches, apricots, and other soft-fleshed fruits. In fact, clafoutis are most traditionally made with cherries.

Step-by-step: How to make Strawberry Clafouti

Preheat the oven and grease the pie dish. You can use your fingers to spread the butter, or open up the paper from the butter on one end and hold onto the paper covered side while rubbing the butter around the dish.

Set the pie dish on a rimmed baking sheet. This will make it much easier to move the dish in and out of the oven without sticking your oven mitts in the batter. It will also catch any chance drips so they don’t burn on the bottom of the oven.

Use a large mixing bowl to whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. No need to use an electric mixer – a hand whisk will do it, or if you don’t have one, just use a fork. Whisk together for about 30 seconds until well mixed.

Add the cream and milk and whisk until combined, about another 30 seconds. In this photo, you can see how I scoop the cream layer off the top of the settled raw milk. If you’re using a container of cream, you’ll just measure it out.

Pour the batter into the prepared pie dish, then arrange the strawberries evenly around the dish on top of the batter. The berries will mostly sink in, but may float just a bit.

Place the pie dish in the oven in the middle to lower portion of the oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges of the clafouti turn a dark golden brown. The center will be light golden brown and set (no longer liquid).

Note: If you use frozen fruit, the baking time will increase significantly. Just watch for “crust” color and a set middle to know when it’s done baking. See baking notes below.

When it’s fully baked, remove the clafouti from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. If you try to cut and serve it before it’s cooled, the knife will tear rather than slice, and you won’t be able to lift out neat slices.

Once the clafouti has cooled and finished setting, dust with confectioners’ sugar, slice into wedges and serve.

Baking Notes

Frozen fruit: If you’re going to use frozen berries (which totally works!), I strongly recommend defrosting them before placing them into the custard mixture on the pie dish. If the berries are still frozen or partially frozen, it will drastically increase the cooking time (up to 30-40 minutes of total bake time). The frozen, defrosted berries may also take just a bit longer than the 20-minute recommended bake time, as they will have more released liquid.

Variations: Clafouti is traditionally made with cherries, and also works equally well with raspberries, peaches, blueberries or other soft fruits. You may need to adjust baking times slightly based on the size of you fruit pieces and the moisture content of the fruit.

Dusting with Confectioners’ Sugar: To dust on confectioners’ sugar, place 1 to 2 teaspoons into a fine mesh strainer and gently tap the sides of the strainer while holding it over the dessert.

Leftovers: Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator. We thought it tasted just as good cold as warm.

Inspiration: This recipe was adapted from The Complete Baking Book for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen.