Clafoutis: a delicious dessert (with a cherry on top)

My boyfriend arrived home with cherries at the weekend.  Lots and lots of cherries.  So many cherries that even after we had gorged on them, we still had lots left over.

So, I decided to make cherry clafoutis.  I used to love eating this simple dessert in France but what I didn't realise was just how simple it was to make.

I started with a recipe from Kerstin Rodger's Supper Club, added in some modifications from Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' and came up with a dessert of custardy deliciousness that was perfect served with some cream and a drizzle of leftover juices.

Here's what you need to make it:
500g cherries, stalks removed. (Traditionalists leave the pits in the cherries for extra flavour. I didn't but the choice is yours.)
60ml kirsch or brandy
40g caster sugar

4 eggs
60g caster sugar
300ml milk
300ml cream
50g plain flour
A 25cm (10in) square ovenproof dish (or a dish of equivalent size)
Butter to grease the dish

• Place the cherries in a bowl.  Sprinkle over the 40g of caster sugar.  Pour over the alcohol and mix. Leave to sit for one hour. 

• When the hour is almost up, preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/350F/Gas Mark 4.  
• Grease your ovenproof dish with butter.
• Strain your fruit, reserving the liquid, and lay it in the bottom of the dish. 

• Whisk the eggs and add the remaining 60g of caster sugar.  Once mixed, slowly stir in the flour.
• Finally, add the milk and cream and whisk again.
• Pour the batter over the cherries. 

• Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the batter has set.  Check by shaking the dish a little.  It should wobble but hold its shape. 
• If you want, you can brush the top with the leftover Kirsh when it leaves the oven. And now comes the hard bit: allow your clafoutis to rest for 30 minutes before serving it still slightly warm. 

I had mine with a little cream with some of the leftover Kirsh drizzled over it.  Sweet cherries, custardy batter, softly whipped cream and the decadent booziness of the cherry brandy: just as with the cherries themselves, I couldn't stop eating it.