A classic French dessert, this easy Cherry Clafoutis recipe combines ripe cherries with a tender simple batter for a delightful treat. Perfect for any occasion, it impresses with its delicate custardy texture and sweet, tart flavor. Gluten-free adaptable.
Fresh cherry clafoutis recipe (pronounced Kla-foo-tee) is easy and delicious! You don’t need to be an expert baker to make this dessert. It’s perfect when you’re short on time, have unexpected guests, or want a quick treat. Fresh cherries are the traditional choice, but you can also use fresh berries, plums, and other stone fruits. This simple dessert highlights the fruit’s natural flavors and works well for any meal, brunch, or gathering. Its light custardy texture and fresh fruit flavors make it an elegant yet comforting treat!
Traditionally, clafoutis were baked with whole cherries (cherry pits in!) emitting an almond-like flavor during baking. We remove the pits to make eating easier and safer.😊
3 Reasons Why You’ll Love Cherry Clafoutis
- Ease of Preparation! Cherry Clafoutis is incredibly simple to make, requiring minimal ingredients and effort.
- Versatility: While fresh cherries are the traditional choice, this dessert is highly adaptable. Try plums or apricots!
- Delightful Flavor and Texture: The combination of ripe cherries and a tender, custardy batter creates a balanced dessert that’s both sweet and slightly tart.
Ingredients
- Fresh cherries: Use any variety of sweet cherries, preferably from your local farmers market! Pie cherries are fine too, but they are a little more tart.
- Brandy and vanilla extract: Brandy (optional or sub amaretto liqueur or 1/4 teaspoon almond extract) and vanilla extract (or 3/4 teaspoon vanilla paste) are used to soak the cherries, adding sweetness, richness, and complexity!
- For the custard: For unbelievably light, custardy texture, we combine large eggs, sugar, all purpose flour (or use a gluten-free flour blend), salt, half & half (or milk or 1/2 milk and 1/2 heavy cream), and yogurt (or buttermilk). Yogurt gives a nice tang that compliment the sweetness.
- Unsalted butter: Melted and cooled to grease the 9″ or 10″ baking dish or pie dish.
- Almond slices: Toasted, for a crunchy, nutty garnish!
How to Make Cherry Clafoutis
Step 1: Soak the cherries. Pit cherries and toss in a mixing bowl with brandy and vanilla.
Step 2: Blend the custard. With a blender or immersion blender, lightly blend eggs, sugar, flour, salt, half and half, and Greek yogurt just until smooth. Let rest for 30 minutes, allowing gluten to relax. Doing so prevents rubbery texture. Preheat oven to 375F.
Step 3: Grease baking dish. Melt butter and transfer to baking pan, swirling it around to coat all sides.
Step 4: Pour batter into the pan. Then drop the cherries into the batter, then drizzle any remaining cherry juice over top. Avoid mixing cherries into the batter as this can result in a pinkish gray color.
Step 5: Bake. Bake 20-25 minutes, just until it is not jiggly. The center may be a little soft, that is ok! Let cool 10 mins.
Step 6: Serve. Serve warm or at room temperature. Scatter sliced almonds on top with a sprinkle of powdered sugar if desired! For more decadence top with whipped cream or cream fresh. Yum!
Expert Tips
- Cherry substitutions: Swap the cherries for other berries, fresh plums, or other stone fruits.
- Make it gluten-free! Simply use gluten-free flour instead of all purpose flour.
- Use the right baking dish: Use a 9″ or 10″ baking dish or pie dish. Using a different size pan will affect baking time and can result in gooey or rubbery texture.
- Possible garnishes: Serve with sliced almonds, powdered sugar, fresh cherries, whipped cream, or lemon zest!
FAQs
Clafir is a verb which means “to fill” in Occitan, a language that is spoken in parts of France, Catalonia, Italy, and Monaco. It is believed that this is where the word clafoutis comes from.
The light, eggy texture is like an oven-baked pancake or Dutch baby. Each bite has hints of sweetness and tart cherry flavor!
Be sure to let the batter rest especially when using a blender to mix. Don’t overbake! The center can be a little soft when removing from the oven. Using half-and-half or heavy cream (rather than milk) make a more tender texture.
The top should have a golden color and the clafoutis should have just a very slight jiggle. It is okay if the center is a little soft.
Storage
Cherry Clafoutis will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, but it is best enjoyed within a day or two. Serve cold or warm. If reheating, you can warm it in the microwave or cover it with foil and bake at 350F for 5-10 minutes. But honestly, it is good cold!
Hope you enjoy this beautiful Cherry Clafoutis recipe! Happy baking!
xoxo
More Summer Desserts You’ll Love!
Cherry Clafoutis
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 slices 1x
- Category: Dessert, Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: French
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A classic French dessert, this easy Cherry Clafoutis recipe combines ripe cherries with a tender simple batter for a delightful treat. Perfect for any occasion, it impresses with its smooth custardy texture and sweet, tart flavor. Gluten-free adaptable.
Ingredients
- 9” or 10” baking dish or pie dish *see notes
- 12 ounces fresh cherries (sweet cherries any variety, pie cherries are fine too just a little more tart!)
- 1 tablespoon brandy (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 3/4 teaspoon vanilla paste)
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (or use gluten-free flour blend)
- 1/4–1/2 teaspoon salt (I like 1/2 teaspoon)
- 3/4 cup half & half (see notes)
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or buttermilk)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled
- 1/4 cup almond slices, toasted, for garnish
Instructions
- Pit the cherries and toss them in a bowl with brandy and vanilla. Let sit while making the custard.
- Using a blender or an immersion blender, lightly blend eggs, sugar, flour, salt, half and half, and Greek yogurt just enough to make the batter smooth. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes, allowing the gluten to relax and preventing a rubbery texture. Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
- Melt butter and put it into the baking pan, swirling around making sure it coats the sides.
- Pour batter into the pan. Drop the cherries into the batter (adding them after keeps the batter from turning pinkish gray) drizzle any remaining juice over the top.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Just until it is not jiggly, the center can be a little soft. Let cool 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Scatter almond slices and a sprinkle of powdered sugar if you like!
Notes
Instead of brandy you can use amaretto, or 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract.
Store leftover cherry clafoutis in a sealed airtight container. Reheat or eat chilled! Good either way.:)
Using a different-sized baking dish will affect how the clafouti bakes and could result in a gooey center or rubbery texture.
You can use milk but half and half will yield a more tender custard, can use half milk and half heavy cream.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 295
- Sugar: 26.8 g
- Sodium: 125.5 mg
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.8 g
- Fiber: 2.2 g
- Protein: 9 g
- Cholesterol: 107.7 mg
I prepared this recipe, before I saw your recipe. It read bake 19 minutes sprinkle sugar on top and bake 25 minutes.
I found this more difficult to reheat the next day. It was no longer custards. Should I reheat w a water bath?
I baked in a cast iron pan
Reheat on low heat, 300F covered in foil for about 5-10 minutes.
OMG wow!!!! 🤩 this is so good, it makes me smile!! lol!! 😀 I ended up buying a pie pan, because there are so many pie and tart recipes on this blog site that I want to try 😇 I just didn’t expect this to be that good, but it totally is!!! The tang of the Greek yogurt plus the sweetness of the custard and the tartness of the cherries, like wow spot on! I also used your tip of half milk and half heavy cream and it works! Thank you thank you thank you!
Thanks Angeli, love hearing your process and thrilled that it worked out!
Can I use frozen cherries instead of fresh? Thanks 🙂
Should work fine. Thaw and drain before using.
Fabulous. So delicious, easy, beautiful and foolproof!
I made this for the first time on the morning of my neighbour’s Bastille Day ‘fête national’ (she asked everyone to bring a French dish) and (to my huge relief ) it was the first dessert dish to disappear from the very fully laden table. The almonds on top are inspired . Thanks so much Sylvia. 😉
So happy to hear this Diane!
Made it with my homemade GF flour blend (no need to rest as there is no gluten) and kefir instead of yogurt/buttermilk. Turned out great!
Thank you
So happy to hear this Stephanie!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Cherries are so good at this time of year.
Awesome Kate!
This was just delish! Wonderfully nuanced layers of flavors. I used the brandy and followed through exactly. Beautiful way to showcase cherries! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Great to hear Michelle!
Do you recommend using a tart pan over a pie pan? Could a cast iron skillet be used?
All of the above will work! Just keep within the 8-10″ size range for proper baking.:)
Oh that is wonderful news! Thank you so much – I will let you know how it goes 🙂
😍
This is excellent. We had everything on hand and no dessert plans, so this was perfect. I used the buttermilk option and it came out great, baking for 25 minutes in a 9” pan. There was only a 3-4 minute difference between being very wet and jiggly in the center to being done (no more jiggle), so watch it carefully! We enjoyed it warm for dessert, and are looking forward to trying cold from the fridge. This will definitely become a favorite dessert during cherry season!
Awesome Mary! So happy to hear this.
Hi Sylvia, love clafoutis and would like to make this for my ‘gluten-light’ and dairyfree friend. Do you think plant based milk/ half&half would work? And, would it work to sub all or some of the flour for almond flour (I normally don’t bake GF, hence don’t have any of the GF flour blends at home). Thank you!
I think plant based milk should work, the richer the better. If going with all almond flour you may need a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to give it some stability- baking time may be longer.
Can I substitute almond flour for all purpose flour?
This is just a guess…If going with all almond flour you may need a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to give it some stability- baking time may be longer.
Can I substitute almond flour for the all purpose flour?
I know a GF flour blend with work but haven’t experimented with almond flour- you may need a couple tablespoons of cornstarch to give it some stability and baking time may be longer.
How about a nut milk substitute?
It should work, though we have not tried it yet.