My Fresh Cherry Clafoutis

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Celebrate cherry season with a light and tasty dessert featuring fresh cherries and almonds in a base that’s a cross between custard and bread pudding. My Fresh Cherry Clafoutis is easy to make, and the perfect summer dessert for a family or company dinner.

Fresh Cherry Clafoutis – Light and Easy

Cherry season is here!

And while there’s nothing quite as tasty as a handful of fresh, sweet cherries eaten as is, I love enjoying “pick of the season” fruit in baked goods and desserts. Of course, cherry pie is a classic. But it’s also a lot of work and packs a lot of calories.

We’re getting ready to move out of state, so I invited our neighbors over for a farewell dinner last weekend. Since I’m pretty busy with the move and also trying to shed my post-Covid pounds, I wanted to find a quick to make a dessert featuring fresh cherries that wasn’t going to use up all my WW points.

My Fresh Cherry Clafoutis, a classic French country dessert, ticked off all the boxes for me. 

Clafoutis is basically a thick, somewhat custard-like batter that’s poured over fresh cherries and slivered almonds and baked, so it’s very simple to make. And since much of the sweetness comes from the fresh cherries and the main ingredient of the batter is eggs – both of which are zero points on WW – it fits well into my eating plan.

I did the math and it came out to 6 WW Blue points. Pretty terrific for a dessert, especially one that tastes this good!

What’s In My Fresh Cherry Calfoutis?

Many of the ingredients for cherry clafoutis are items you probably have on hand already…

• Eggs
• Flour
• Sugar – white, brown, and powdered
• Milk
• Vanilla extract
• Salt
• Slivered almonds
• Liqueur or almond extract
• Fresh cherries

So, about those fresh cherries. You’re going to want to pit them before you make the clafoutis. But unless you bake a lot of cherry pies or make cherry preserves, chances are that you don’t have a cherry pitter.

Here’s an easy method for pitting cherries without a pitter. Just make a small, crossways cut (in the shape of a plus sign) in the bottom of the cherry.  Then shove a blunt-ended utensil into the top stem-side of the cherry. The pit should pop out or come loose fairly easily. 

A chopstick will work for this but I ended up using the end of one of my electric beaters. Really, just about anything with a blunt, somewhat wide end will work.

How Do You Make My Fresh Cherry Clafoutis?

Making Fresh Cherry Clafoutis couldn’t be easier.

You just place scatter the cherries and almonds into the bottom of a baking dish and set them aside. Then you’ll whisk the eggs, sugar, milk, and flavorings together, and then add the flour and beat to create a thick, custard-like batter. Then you’ll pour the batter over the cherries and almonds and bake, and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar.

The texture of clafoutis is a little rubbery, like a cross between a custard and a bread pudding. It’s a homey, comforting sort of dessert, and not overly sweet.

Most of the flavor will come from the cherries, but the vanilla and almond will come through
as well – but won’t be as strong. I like to add some liqueur for additional flavor. I had some Grand Marnier on hand and found that the subtle orange notes paired nicely with the cherry and almond. Amaretto or Cointreau would work well too. If you don’t have any liqueur on hand, you can use almond extract.

My Fresh Cherry Clafoutis is a delicious, light, and easy-to-make dessert that your family and friends will love.

Give it a try soon and make the most of cherry season!