Strawberry Clafouti

Last weekend I made strawberry clafouti. I was inspired by Kelly at Make Grow Gather, and her lovely looking confection. She recommends using this recipe, so that's what I did. While mine didn't turn out quite as nicely as hers, it sure was tasty! I served it with some vanilla ice cream on Sunday night when my brother in law came over for dinner.

I had never heard of a clafouti before, so I did a little research on good ole wikipedia and found out that a Clafouti is a version of a Flaugnarde made in the Limousin region of France. It usually uses black cherries with the pits still in, because, apparently, this enhances the flavor. I will definitely test out this theory later in the summer when cherries are in season.

I love this dessert because it is so easy! It took me about 10 minutes to prepare, you can't beat that with baked goods! It comes out of the oven all puffy like a soufle, with the gooey strawberries popping up here and there, very satisfying looking. I tried this twice, the first time I did the recipe as is, and the second time I added lemon zest. I must say, the zest really brought it to a whole new level for me! The texture is very similar to bread pudding, so I served it warm with some vanilla ice cream, very delicious!

Strawberry Lemon Clafouti
(From here, with slight modification by me)

Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon butter
8 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 2-qt. baking or gratin dish with the butter (or use bakers spray with flour, worked fin for me). Toss strawberry halves with cornstarch until evenly coated, then arrange berries, cut side down, in bottom of dish and set aside. In a blender, whirl eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and salt 15 seconds. Pour batter over strawberries. Bake until puffed, golden brown, and set in the center, about 50 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

This weekend, my little sister is moving back to Colorado, so I am flying out to San Francisco tomorrow to help her get packed up. Then we are driving like mad to get back here by Monday so I don't miss any more work! It will be a crazy.ass.weekend that's for sure. While I am there, I only have one goal, and that is to finally try a Parisian Macaron. I have seen pictures of these little delicacies all over the internet, and I have even tried to make them. Unfortunately, I failed, and there is no place in the whole state of Colorado (that I have found) that sells these little guys. So please, wish me luck in my pursuit of the most yummy looking colorful cookies!

*sigh* soon we will be together my loves!