Not long ago, P. asked me whether the verb clafoutir existed in French. I smiled—such a sweet question that, for a day or two, I pretended it did. Imagining its conjugation made me laugh: “je clafoutis, tu clafoutis, il clafoutis, nous clafoutissons, vous clafoutissez, ils clafoutissent.”
Wouldn’t that be amusing? Languages evolve in curious ways. English often feels more flexible than stubborn old French; words come and go with surprising ease.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking: yet another clafoutis! I apologize, but it’s what we’ve been having for dessert lately, and it’s doing the job beautifully. We’re enjoying it. In the midst of long hours hunched over the computer finishing the cookbook, a simple dessert that brings the needed sweet touch after dinner is a small, comforting victory.
I’ve made this clafoutis several times over the last few weeks, varying the fruit. In this version I combined fresh strawberries with rhubarb stewed with orange zest—a seasonal and reliably delicious pairing. The batter is a straightforward mix of eggs, sugar, milk and coconut milk, almond flour and cornstarch. After a 25-minute bake, the clafoutis are best served lukewarm, lightly dusted with confectioner’s sugar.
It’s a lovely everyday dessert: simple, honest, and satisfying.
Little Lulu will have to learn to love clafoutis as much as her papa and maman—otherwise! For now, she’s all about carrots and sweet potatoes, which is a fine place to start.
On another note, I’ll be speaking this coming Sunday at a Food Styling and Photography Conference at Boston University. I hope to meet some of you and that everything goes well—wish me luck!
You need:
For the batter:
- Butter, for the ramekins
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup blond cane sugar
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
- Zest, finely grated, of 1 orange
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- Confectioner’s sugar, to serve
For the fruit:
- 7 oz strawberries
Rhubarb compote (you’ll have leftovers, lovely stirred into plain yogurt)
- 14 oz young rhubarb sticks, diced
- 1/2 cup blond cane sugar
- Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
Steps:
- To make the rhubarb compote, combine the diced rhubarb, sugar and orange zest in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rhubarb is soft. Let cool.
- Hull and quarter the strawberries; set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter four 1-cup ramekins and set them aside.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in a portion of the milk, whisking until smooth. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla seeds, orange zest and almond flour. Add the milk/cornstarch mixture and the coconut milk, mixing until homogeneous.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared ramekins.
- Place about 2 tablespoons of rhubarb compote into each ramekin, then tuck in the strawberry pieces.
- Bake for approximately 25 minutes, until the edges are set and the center is just firm. Let the clafoutis cool to room temperature and serve them lukewarm, dusted with confectioner’s sugar and garnished with extra strawberry slices if you like.