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Clafouti

Oven baked, fruit and custard pancake, gluten free or with wheat flour. Generous 2 portions, will serve 3 or 4 if served with bacon, sausages, fruit, juices, coffee etc.
Servings: 2 generous portions
Author: Oonagh Williams, “Gluten Free Cooking with Oonagh”, used with permission

Equipment

  • 2 KitchenAid metal 5x7 inch oval shallow pans or 2 ovenproof wide cereal bowls.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp (1 oz, 30 ml) butter divided between the 2 baking dishes.
  • ¼ cup (2 oz, 55 g) sugar
  • ¼ cup (60ml, 1 oz) my gluten free flour mix (Probably any gluten free or wheat flour or gluten free blend, by WEIGHT, that doesn’t have baking powder. If you use Bisquick (wheat or gluten free version) it will puff more because of baking powder. Not bad, just different. Gluten Free bisquick or mixes already contain xanthan gum, so don’t add my 1/8 tsp. Xanthan gum -- not necessary for wheat flours.)
  • 2 large eggs
  • ⅛ tsp xanthan gum (see above)
  • ½ cup (120 ml, 4 fl oz) milk (Fat free is fine, or coffee creamer, egg nog, almond milk etc.)
  • ¼ tsp gluten free vanilla or almond extract or zest of ¼ lemon depending on fruit you choose

Fruit alternatives, so far:

  • 1 banana sliced and mixed with 1 tsp light brown sugar and 1 tsp rum, OR
  • ½ cup fresh blueberries mixed with 1 tsp sugar add lemon zest to batter, OR
  • 1 large fresh nectarine or peach peeled, sliced and mixed with 1 tsp brown sugar and 1 tsp amaretto. (A celiac bar tender said the original Amaretto Disaronno is gluten free), OR
  • ½ cup fresh cherries pitted and mixed with 1 tsp light brown sugar and 1 tsp brandy, OR
  • ½ cup fresh sweet seedless grapes halved, I added zest of orange since I had some.

Note: all the fruit must be sweet and tasty, otherwise don’t use them.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C
  • Put the 2 small dishes and butter on a cookie sheet and place in oven when temperature has reached about 300°F/150°C. Butter should have melted and just be sizzling as temperature reaches 400°F. You don’t want to overheat butter as it can become too brown, or worse, burn.
  • In 2 cup (16 oz, 500 ml) bowl or jug put sugar, flour, eggs, xanthan gum, milk and vanilla and mix with electric hand mixer until smooth.
  • Once oven has reached temperature and butter has melted, pour butter into batter mix and mix again quickly. Don’t scrape out butter from dishes, just pour out liquid butter.
  • Quickly divide chosen fruit between 2 dishes and pour batter on top. Place on cookie sheet in 400°F oven for 25 minutes or until outside edge of each dish has puffed right up around the edges, is a good golden brown, fruit is nestled in custard type base. Sometimes I cook dish for a few more minutes, it all depends on dish and your oven. This cooks to be like a custard in the middle, not dry and fluffy like a popover. Using too much fruit makes batter wetter and falls apart a bit more, but still delicious.
  • Remove from oven, dust with powdered sugar for visual effect and immediately serve. Puffy edges will deflate rapidly, so people need to be at the table before you remove dishes from oven.

Notes

Since it was just my husband and I, the recipe had to be made for just 2 people not the normal 9” (23 cm ) pie plate version. It does become a problem decreasing recipes for either empty nesters or young couples, plus you want gluten free to taste good enough to entice everyone.