fruits of labor: cherry clafouti

this is an amazing little bit of heaven - a traditional french country desert - its made with sweet cherries and a bunch of other goodness - yum! it also makes men do crazy things like buy egg-shaped lamps in exchange for this delicious dessert -

i love old country or "peasant" dishes because they are simple inexpensive, uncomplicated and leave you lots of room for experimenting and substituting, because they are also usually made with things you have around the house -

i am, self-proclaimed - the worlds worst baker - but this is simpler than sunday morning pancakes and similar to create - i didn't even need any fancy kitchen ware!

so here is what worked for me but again - there are many ways to do this - i used these shallow little ramekins because i have them in my house and think they are pretty - but you can also use a cake pan, shallow baking dish, or a small castiron skillet - and im sure that you can come up with a few other things to use as well - just make sure you butter the bottom of what ever you use - and sprinkle a little granular sugar in the bottom if you wish - i forgot until the last one - i dont think i noticed a difference - but i was too busy eating really!

ok so recipe - here goes - traditionally this calls for super fresh cherries - so i had some older darker fruit in the fridge from a produce box last week and some fresher ones from this weeks - i used a mix of both and i honestly like the older fruit better - here is another secrete i learned - and that makes your life so much simpler - dont remove the pits!! yup leave em in there - better flavor!

3 eggs room temp or close enough

1/3 cup of granular white sugar

1 1/3 cup of reduced or fat free milk (or what ever else you have)

4 tbsp of butter

4 3/4 tbsp of flour

2 tbsp of self rising flour (but i just happen to have this in my cabinet and ran out of regular white flour in the middle of this so use whatever you have)

1 tbsp of buckfest (yes i know you all probably just went what the &^%*# is that, its some irish tonic wine my sweetie brought back as a joke - now i use it for cooking - just use brandy or port or sweet sherry or some other syrupy liquor you may have)

2 tsp of real vanilla extract

approx 3 3/4 - 4 cups of cherries depending on what your cooking them in. wash and dry -

preheat oven to 375

mix eggs and sugar together - i used a ghetto hand blender on the lowest speed - you could also whisk it by hand - approx 3 minutes or until it gets frothy and light

in another bowl pour in the melted butter and then slowly whisk in about half the flour - it should look like a rue, because it is, but don't let it get lumpy - when it looks like its about to become wall paper paste whisk in a bit of the milk and continue adding the flour if you haven't gotten it all in at this point until all flour and milk are whisked together

then combine milk and flour mixture buy slowly whisking it into the egg and sugar mixture - then add remaining ingredients to this mixture - once you have everything combined - arrange cherries in your baking implement and pour mixture over them almost all the way to the top - they will boil over so place on a cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes - when they come out i like to sprinkle them with a little bit of granular sugar!

i recommend enjoying the fruits of your labor as soon as they come out of the oven and have cooled a bit - but they are just as good the next day, and the next and the next!