April 13, 2010

Traditional French Clafoutis

Decided to post my original inspiration for the Clafoutis. I pulled it from a French cookbook I bought while living over there, but was a little concerned about my translation skills as they apply to technical baking terms. I think I got it figured out though, and thought I would share in case anyone else wants to try something a little more interesting.



Clafoutis with pears, raspberries, and almonds
from Saveurs Minute Desserts

6-3/4 oz of dry white wine
2-3 lengths of zest from a lemon
The juice of one lemon
2 T. honey
4 cloves
4 large ripe pears, pealed, cut in quarters and seeded
7 T of softened butter
6T of powdered sugar
Grated zest from ½ an orange
3 eggs lightly beaten
3/4 cup almonds chopped into a fine powder
2 T vanilla extract
1 cup of fresh raspberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a bowl, mix the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, and cloves. Bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes and slowly reduce the liquid. Add the pears, cover and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
2. Remove the pears and transfer to a plate to cool. Filter the zest and cloves from the liquid and set aside.
3. Whip the butter, powdered sugar, and orange zest together with a mixer or by hand. When it starts to mousse, slowly add the eggs, almonds, and vanilla. Keep whipping until everything is well mixed.
4. Lay the pears in a ceramic tart pan 9.8 inches in diameter. Add half the raspberries to the eggs and pour into the pan. Spread evenly with a spoon. Bake in the oven 25-30 min.
5. Take the reserved liquid and bring to a boil. Let boil for 5 min, reduce to 3 T. Sprinkle on top of the clafoutis then increase the oven temperature to 450˚F and bake 5 more minutes. Let cool, add the remaining raspberries on top and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar just before serving.

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