12.04.2005

Pear and Dried Cherry Clafouti

1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 large Anjou pear, peeled, halved lengthwise and cored (***I used a can of pear slices and they worked just fine***)
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9.5” pie plate. Dust with flour. (***I use the Pam Spray: Butter with Flour.***) Put dried cherries in medium bowl and cover with boiling water by 1”. Let stand until plump, about 10 minutes.

Cut pear lengthwise into 1/8” slices; fan over bottom of dish. (***If you are using canned pear slices, just drain the slices well.***) Blend milk, eggs, cream, vanilla, sugar, flour and salt in blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour batter over pear slices.

Drain cherries; sprinkle into batter. Bake until golden and set, about 25 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes. Cut into wedges. Clafouti can be refrigerated up to one day.

(***After cooling the clafouti, I turned it over, as if it were an upside-down cake. It sank a bit but overall, it held up just fine and was even prettier from the bottom.***)