Have a bunch of pears (or apples) and don’t know what to do with them? Make this simple yet fancy-sounding Asian pear clafoutis. It’s essentially fruit-filled flan batter cake!
Clafoutis. I had never heard of this until recently. In fact, I didn’t even know how to pronounce it (“cla-foo-tee”). What is it? Clafoutis is a French dessert, usually filled with cherries. It’s baked in a round cake pan with a thick, flan-like batter. It’s not silky smooth like flan or pudding, but the batter is thick before baking.
Our CSA delivered a whole bunch of Asian pears one week, and I didn’t want to eat them plain. So of course I tried to find a dessert to use them up. When I told my husband that I wanted to try making a clafoutis, his response was, “a WHAT?”
The clafoutis was wonderful. The cake was dense and springy and definitely not too sweet. I thought the cake would be more custard-like but still enjoyed the texture. I read online that traditional clafoutis are sprinkled with powdered sugar, but this one didn’t need it because the fruit was already quite sweet. If using tart cherries, then a sprinkling of sugar would be perfect.
Go ahead and impress your friends and bake this. Not only will you sound fancy with your French speaking (“Why, ‘alo! May I serve you some clafoutis?“), but you can add a new cake to your baking repertoire. Don’t have Asian pears? Substitute with apples or regular pears instead.
Asian pear clafoutis
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 3 Tablespoons milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/2 ounces unsalted butter melted
- 2 pounds Asian pears peeled, cored, sliced (do this while the batter rests)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking powder.
- In a small bowl, mix together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour this into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. Add in the melted butter and mix until well incorporated. Allow the batter to rest for about 30 minutes while you prepare the pears.
- Peel, core and slice the pears. I sliced most of them and cubed the rest. Add the cubed pears to your batter and mix well until they are all incorporated.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Generously grease or line a standard 9" round cake pan.
- Arrange your sliced pears on the bottom of your prepared cake pan. Pour the batter on top of the arranged pears and bake in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing and serving.