Summer Strawberry Clafoutis
If you’ve never made a clafoutis, now is the time. This strawberry clafoutis is a twist on a french classic. It looks impressive, tastes delicious and only takes a few minutes to make. Serve with breakfast, brunch or even for dessert.
Sometimes I want dessert that’s not super sweet, or I just want to serve something for breakfast or brunch that’s sweet but light. A clafoutis is usually perfect for that. It’s very lightly sweet and not too rich. It’s a little puffy like a pancake around the edges and sort of like an eggy custard in the middle.
Can we just talk about how gorgeous this is? It’s really a thing of beauty. The image doesn’t capture how impressive it is when it comes out of the oven. While cooking, a clafoutis will puff up quite a bit. Don’t worry if you see that, it’s normal and just looks really cool. Within seconds of coming out of the oven, it settles.
Check out the Banana Clafoutis. It’s even faster to make than this one because bananas don’t have juice that needs to be reduced and it’s just so delicious. Someone suggested sprinkling a little cinnamon on top. I still haven’t tried it, but I might just do that soon.
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Ingredients
Fruit
Clafoutis are fun to make because you can change the fruit that you put in them or even add nuts or chocolate chips. A classic clafoutis is made with fresh pitted cherries. With a small adjustment here or there, you can use just about anything you want.
With a classic clafoutis made with cherries, you don’t have any juice that needs to be reduced. My Banana Clafoutis recipe is the same way.
Strawberries, however, have a lot of liquid that needs to be reduced so your clafoutis will set and not turn into a sloppy mess. It just takes a few extra minutes to do, and trust me, it’s worth the extra step. I recommend using fresh strawberries, not frozen.
Maple Syrup
I’m not talking typical American pancake syrup here. What you want to use is real maple syrup. I use it as a natural sweetener for a lot of things, so I buy the big jugs of organic maple syrup at Costco. Yes, it’s still a source of sugar, but your body metabolizes it slightly differently than processed white sugar. It’s just a little easier on your body and if you want something sweet, it’s a better option.
Making the Strawberry Clafoutis
You can do this two ways. The first is to warm the strawberries, add the batter and bake it all in the same oven-safe skillet. The second is to transfer the strawberries into a 9×9 glass baking dish, add the batter to that and then bake it in the dish. If you don’t have an oven safe skillet, using a baking dish is just fine.
Sauté the Strawberries
Warm the skillet over medium-low heat and add some butter. Add the strawberries and maple syrup and toss them around. Stir them frequently to help them cook down evenly and prevent the syrup from burning.
Make the Batter
While the strawberries are warming up, make the batter.
It’s pretty easy. Just mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Then, in a separate bowl, you’ll mix together all the wet ingredients except for the maple syrup. Just make sure your melted butter isn’t too hot and stir it in slowly so it doesn’t cook the egg.
Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until it’s smooth. It will be pretty runny. Set it aside.
As the strawberries start to cook down, they’ll release quite a bit of liquid. Once the strawberries are nice and soft, scoot them off to the side and slide your pan over so the strawberries are off the heat and only the juice and syrup are right over the eye of the stove.
Keep simmering the strawberry juice and syrup so it can reduce. We want it to turn into a sort of thin jam. Boiling off the liquid along with the sugar in the syrup will help that happen.
When it starts to thicken and doesn’t cover the bottom of the pan anymore, you’ll know it’s ready. It sort of bubble slowly. Just make sure you keep stirring the liquid around so it doesn’t burn.
Once it’s reduced, remove the skillet from the heat and stir the strawberries back in.
Give your batter a quick stir and then slowly pour it into the strawberries in the skillet. Move the bowl around as you pour, so you don’t pour it all into one spot. With a spoon or rubber spatula, move the strawberries around to distribute them evenly.
You don’t want to fully mix in the strawberries and the juice into the batter. You just want to swirl them around a bit.
If you’re using a baking dish instead of the skillet, just pour the strawberries into the greased dish, spread them around, then pour in the batter and swirl it in the same way.
Pop it in the oven and bake for about 18-22 minutes. It may take a bit longer if you’re using a baking dish, as the clafoutis will be thicker. The top should be nice and golden and a knife inserted in the center should come out clean.
Strawberry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups fresh strawberries - cored and quartered
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups coconut milk - or any prefered type of milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp butter - melted, plant based or regular
- 2 tbsp butter - for cooking the fruit
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
- If using a square baking dish, butter the bottom and sides or spray with flavorless cooking spray. If using an oven safe skillet, omit this step.
- Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Add butter and spread it around as it melts.
- Add strawberries and maple syrup and stir them together. Move them around every couple of minutes as they start to soften.
- As the strawberries are warming up, start making the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Whisk together thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter.
- Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and gently whisk together until smooth. Set aside.
- Once the strawberries are soft, you should still have quite a bit of juice left in the pan. Push the strawberries off to one side, and slide that part of the pan off the eye of the stove, leaving the part with the juice and maple syrup over the heat.
- Continue cooking the juice of the strawberries, stirring frequently to prevent burning. The sugar in the maple syrup will help it thicken as the liquid is reduced.
- Once the juice has reduced and thickened and no longer covers the bottom of the pan, take the pan off the heat and stir the strawberries back in with the juice.
- If using an oven safe skillet, spread the strawberries back out evenly across the bottom of the pan.
OR
- If using a baking dish, pour strawberries and juice into dish and spread them out evenly.
- Give the batter a quick stir and then pour it into the strawberries, moving the bowl around as you pour. You don't want to just pour it all in the center. The idea is to pour it in a swirling motion all around the pan.
- With a rubber spatula or spoon, scrape the remaining batter out of the bowl and then gently swirl the batter around the pan, making sure strawberries are evenly distributed.
- Do not fully mix strawberries into the batter. You want them to have a separated and swirled look.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes until top is golden and puffy and a butter knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Serve immediately or let cool completely, then store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
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