This is prime recipe sharing season! It’s probably when we’re thinking about cooking and baking more than any other time of the year. I really appreciate that Thanksgiving is one holiday where commercialism seems to have less of an impact. Tradition has it that lots of people are doing their own cooking and making family recipes, and with food as the focus of this occasion there is less purchasing of other “stuff.” No gifts, costumes, or elaborate paraphernalia. Decorations are minimal. Perhaps the pilgrim salt and pepper shakers from Grandma, or the turkey placemats the kids made in school, but for most, it seems, Thanksgiving is about the food–and I, for one, appreciate that about this holiday.
Most of us will have some of our own traditional dishes to prepare–or maybe the entire meal is prescribed by precedent. My mother’s Thanksgiving meal was the same every year, item by item–from the broccoli casserole and her cornmeal stuffing and the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, to the sweet potato souffle, placed in orange rinds that were cut with pinking shears, and topped with marshmallows broiled to golden brown perfection. And let me tell you that every one of those dishes was anticipated with delight, and every bite cherished for its place in the tableau of the family holiday. God forbid that any one of those recipes was varied or changed in the slightest.
The Thanksgiving recipe I’m sharing with you this month, however, is one from the family I married into 40 years ago. This Sally Lunn Bread is a favorite at Thanksgiving, and this one is straight from the recipe box gifted to us years ago by my mother-in-law, Dorothy. It’s a yeast bread, very slightly sweet and eggy, something like a brioche–just right for a holiday meal. The family tradition is to bake it in a bundt pan, so it’s a lovely addition to the table as well.
And because I’m celebrating a good year for my pear tree, I’m sharing another recipe that comes from our friend Kate Hill, the American chef who has lived in the Gascony region of France for the past thirty years. You can hear her story on Episode #55 of The Good Dirt (add link) –and you might remember that I shared her tomato tart in August. Anyway, this recipe is a clafoutis, or a French custard cake with fruit. You can make it with all different kinds of fruits, but the pears were SO good this year, such a nice texture and SO juicy, that I wanted to do something a little bit special with them.
Sally Lunn Bread
Ingredients
- 1 pkg active dry yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup warm water (not hot)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup warm milk
- 4-⅓ cups sifted flour
- ½ cup shortening
- 1-¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast in warm water; add warm milk and set aside.
- Cream shortening and sugar.
- Add eggs and mix well.
- Sift flour and salt and add to shortening mixture alternately with yeast mixture.
- Knead lightly and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.
- Punch down, knead lightly again and put into a well greased bundt cake pan.
- Let rise for about 1 hour. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour.
Note: a 9-inch angel food pan or a 10-inch ring mold work as well
Clafoutis aux Fruits: custard-cake with fruit
From Kate Hill
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Both custard and cake, this eggy dessert is a favorite in France, especially throughout the Gascon countryside. In the north of France, clafoutis is made with cherries in season, pears, or other fruit. But in Gascony, where succulent preserved plums abound year-round, the jam-like texture of slow-baked prunes steeped in Armagnac adds a chewy richness to this homey dessert. In mid-summer, I’ll choose ripe apricots over prunes.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 lb (225 g) soft pitted prunes, or other ripe fruit (plums, cherries, figs, peaches, apricots)
- 1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) Armagnac, rum or brandy
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups (24 fl oz/720 ml) milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a shallow one and a 1/2-quart baking dish and powder with sugar or flour.
- Prepare fruit—halve, remove pits, peel as necessary, and sprinkle with the armagnac, brandy, or rum.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar. Beat the eggs in another bowl. Pour the beaten eggs into the flour and sugar and, with a whisk, add the milk little by little until all is well mixed.
- Arrange the ripe fruit in the pan in an even layer. Pour any leftover Armagnac into the batter and mix.
- Pour the batter carefully around and over the fruit without disturbing them.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until just set. A knife inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool completely and serve from the pan or unmold on a serving platter. This will be just as delicious served the next day as the fruit continues to perfume the “cake.”
FAQs
Clafoutis is most perfectly delicious when it's a bit warm or at room temperature, best eaten within an hour of coming out of the oven. Leftovers should be refrigerated, and they can for sure be enjoyed cold.
How do you know when clafoutis is cooked? ›
How Do I Know When My Clafoutis Is Done Baking? Once your clafoutis has turned golden brown on the top, you can test for its doneness. Insert a toothpick in the middle of the clafoutis, avoiding any cherries. If it comes out clean, you can take it out of the oven.
What does clafoutis taste like? ›
How does clafoutis taste? Clafoutis has the texture of an oven-baked pancaked. It is sweet, but not terribly so, and the chunks of fresh fruit are enjoyable to the palate.
What is the history of clafoutis? ›
Clafoutis originated in a region in south-central France called Limousin. Its name comes from the Occitan word “clafir,” meaning “to fill.” So popular was it “to fill” a dish with fruit and batter, that by the 19th century, clafoutis' renown had spread from Limousin to other regions of France and bordering countries.
Why is clafoutis rubbery? ›
Make sure the eggs are the right size as too much egg white to flour will make a more rubbery texture. As my editors keep telling me: "You don't want to overegg the pudding".
What is a clafoutis in English? ›
noun. cla·fou·ti ˌklä-fü-ˈtē variants or less commonly clafoutis. : a dessert consisting of a layer of fruit (such as cherries) topped with batter and baked.
Why is it called clafoutis? ›
One reported derivation of dish's name is from Occitan clafotís, from the verb clafir, meaning "to fill" (implied: "the batter with cherries"). Another reported derivation is that clafir comes from old French claufir, meaning "to fix with nails," explained as the cherries having the appearance of nail heads.
When should I eat clafoutis? ›
A cherry clafoutis is never served hot, straight out of the oven. First leave to cool and either serve slightly warmed, at room temperature or chilled. Serve slices directly from the dish. Although served for dessert or teatime, we also love this chilled for breakfast or brunch on the weekends.
What is the difference between clafoutis and cobbler? ›
Contrary to clafoutis, the fruit needs to be cooked down, which lends the dish more malleability in the integrated flavors. As a result, cobblers are more compote-like in palate, as opposed to clafoutis's more natural fruit taste.
Why is my clafoutis runny? ›
It'll be moist, but the center shouldn't be liquid or runny. Too much fruit can cause runny clafoutis, so if the center of your clafoutis is uncooked after baking, you may want to use less fruit in the future.
What is Yorkshire pudding? If you are American the closet it tastes to is like a popover but with a greasier base, often based on beef fat. But it is very light and airy.
What can I do with cherries that aren't sweet? ›
What can you do with cherries that are not sweet? If you have tart cherries, they make good pie filling, jam and juice, but sugar should be added. If you have a sweet cherry tree but the cherries on it are unripe, net the tree so the birds do not get the fruit, and pick the cherries when they are ripe.
What is cherry clafoutis made of? ›
The basic ingredients are sugar, eggs, flour, and fruit. Easy! For this cherry clafoutis, we've also included some vanilla extract, almond extract, and blanched almonds. Right out of the oven, this clafoutis looks a little like a battlefield of cherries.
Where does egg pudding come from? ›
Food historians generally agree that the origins of the egg-based sweet puddings known as custard probably date to the Middle Ages. Basic custard is a cooked mixture of eggs and milk (or cream). Much like the sausage puddings, these dishes could also include solids, such as meat, fish, vegetables or fruit.
What is clafoutis made of? ›
Clafoutis is a French dessert made with fruit covered in a batter that consists of eggs, sugar, milk, and flour. It's a thick custard that is similar to flan in texture. It is usually made with cherries, but other fruits can be used as well.
What desserts can be served both hot or cold? ›
Tag Archives: Hot & cold desserts
- Topdeck Pudding. This dessert is a combination of two of South Africa's most popular puddings – milk tart and malva pudding. ...
- Irish Coffee Dessert. ...
- Floating Islands. ...
- Raspberry Clafoutis. ...
- Poached Meringue on Golden Gooseberry Custard. ...
- Mango Ice-cream. ...
- Blueberry Buttermilk Bake. ...
- Milk Jelly.
Creamy puddings are typically served chilled, but a few, such as zabaglione and rice pudding, may be served warm. Instant puddings do not require boiling and can therefore be prepared more quickly.
Can chocolate pudding be eaten cold? ›
I serve this pudding warm, y'all, but it's also super delicious served cold.
