The word of the day is Clafoutis! It’s a - not quite flan, not quite custard - delightful dessert, packed with fruit. We’ve gone the extra mile and topped it with a boozy crème fraîche because dry January never really happened over here 😁. Why persimmons? I, for one, had never knowingly eaten one until last year. It’s one of those mystery fruits that I’ve always scooted past, not quite sure what to make of it🧐. Now I’m obsessed with this slightly ugly, tomato imposter!
We used @johnbesh’s @epicurious recipe as a guide for the batter, and then added a fresh spin with the persimmons and cinnamon. To finish, we topped it off with a blob of boozy, orange-y crème fraîche, which was a very good move 😋. We made individual ones with our mini flan dishes, but you can also make one big one and serve it in slices.
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 cup (235 ml) whole milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup (95 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup (60 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamonPinch of salt
3 persimmons, sliced crosswise
For the crème fraîche:
1/2 cup (60 g) crème fraîche
1 tbsp bourbon or Grand Marnier
zest of an orange
Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and melted butter until the sugar has dissolved.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon and salt.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into a greased cast iron skillet, pie pan or 4 individual ovenproof dishes.
Place the persimmon slices in the batter and bake until the clafoutis is golden and just set. It will take 30-35 minutes for a large one, and 15-20 minutes for smaller ones.
Whilst the clafoutis is in the oven, combine the crème fraîche, bourbon and orange zest.
Serve warm with a dollop of crème fraîche or eat cold as we did with the leftovers!
