Cherry clafouti

For the last few weeks now I have been eying the cherries that finally showed up in the stores. At first they cost an arm and a leg, of course, but now they are larger, riper and cheaper! I could not resist any more. I bought a big bag of them, we ate half of it upon my arrival home, and then I proceeded to remove the pits from the rest of it and use them for a nice batch of clafouti.



Today is the first day that it is not so hot and/or humid, yet by the evening it did get humid again and it looks like it is going to rain. Although it was really nice in the afternoon, I still decided to do the baking on the back porch, using our large toaster oven that has a convection mode, too.



It turned out very yummy! This is the recipe I used:

1 1/4 c. milk
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. flour
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 lb. cherries, pitted (drained, if using canned)
2 tbsp confectioners' sugar

To make batter, put the milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and flour with 1 tbsp butter in a food processor or blender and process until smooth, about 1 minute. Brush an 8-inch baking dish with the remaining butter and pour a very thin layer of batter into the dish. Put in a preheated 350 oven to bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, arrange the cherries over the top and cover with remaining batter. Return the clafouti to the oven for 30 minutes, until it is firm and golden. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve warm.

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It is a neat idea to half-bake half of the batter before adding the cherries. I did not bother with this two stage version, though. I poured all the batter in at once and just scattered the cherries on top. Instead, I used an old family trick to keep the cherries from sinking. I sprinkled a spoonful of flour on them before spreading them on top of the batter.