This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Table of Contents
When I walk into my grocery store and see gorgeous, sweet red cherries for $3.99 a pound, I know it's time. It's time to get out my cherry pitter (I think I have one made by OXO brand?), gather together nothing more than a few of my most basic gluten free pantry ingredients, and make a simple gluten free cherry clafoutis. Don't have a cherry pitter? Use a drinking straw to push the pits out of the center of each cherry—or just split each fruit (they're not berries, even though they really really seem like it) in half with a paring knife and work out the pit. Don't be fooled by the fancy-sounding French name; a clafoutis is ridiculously easy to make.
Just place the fruit in the bottom of a greased skillet or cake pan, pour the super simple one-bowl batter on top and bake. That's it.
Like a cross between a custard and a cake, clafoutis almost reminds me of our magic custard cake—but it's even easier to make. Of course, you can make it with cherry-sized bits of any pitted stone fruit (plums, nectarines, peaches, apricots) or any berry (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries (personal fave)). It's traditionally served with powdered sugar on top, but I adore its mild sweetness and prefer not to gild the lily here. I wouldn't argue if you wanted to serve me a slice with a bit of fresh whipped cream, though.
If you're looking to make this gorgeous clafoutis dairy free, I'd try replacing the dairy milk with unsweetened almond milk, and the heavy cream with canned coconut milk. I bet it would work beautifully. If you try it, let us know!
Gluten Free Cherry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 pound sweet fresh cherries
- 3 (150 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) milk, at room temperature (any kind, just not nonfat)
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) (4 fluid ounces) , at room temperature
- ⅝ cup (88 g) basic gum-free gluten free flour blend, (58 g superfine white rice flour + 19 g potato starch + 11 g tapioca starch/flour)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet or 9-inch round cake pan with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter, and set it aside. Remove the stems and pits from the cherries and scatter them evenly in the bottom of the prepared skillet or pan. Set the pan aside.
- In a large bowl, place the eggs, sugar, vanilla, remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter, milk and cream, whisking vigorously after each addition until very well-combined. Add the flour blend and salt, and whisk again until just combined. Pour the batter over the top of the cherries in the prepared pan.
- Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 35 minutes or the clafoutis is puffed and pale golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing into wedges and serving. The cake will fall as it cools.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This inspired me to find a grain free one to use the awesome peaches we picked last week!
I just made this, and it seemed really really eggy. The texture was kind of bouncy, even. Did I do something wrong?
I have made several of your recipes, and this one is both easy and fabulous! Thank you for continuing to make gluten-free painless, and great eating possible.
Just made the peach pie cookies are they really delicious and my house smells heavenly.i I thought they would take longer than they did. Could you make them during the winter with frozen peaches?
Thank you Nicole for the fresh idea! I love to cook in the cast iron skillet and will try it asap.
This reminded me of an old trick we used before the current plethora of kitchen gadgets: a (clean) bobby pin pulled a little open makes a great cherry pitter — just stick the curved end in and pull it out with the pit. ;-)
Anyone tried this w/an egg replacer?
This looks delicious. We like tart cherries at our house but I can completely see this working for a lot of different fruit as you described. Simple recipes are usually the best. Thanks for sharing.
Simple, adaptable recipes that use basic ingredients are some of my absolute favorites, Sheila!
Where is your link to print the recipe? Most of these pages have a print button so we can print the recipe. I tried to copy and paste it into word so I could name it, but I couldn’t even do that. These recipe pages should be totally accessible, particularly one like this that is a recipe that addresses a medical need.
Having to request for the recipe to be delivered to your email inbox is a royal pain. When I see a recipe I want to keep, I want to copy and paste it into Word and save it on my computer right then and right now.
I see a print button at the bottom of the post right next the the share button.
ya right underneath nicole’s PS. there’s the ‘print’ icon.
This is the first time I have ever been on the site, and I can see the print icon right next to the “share” button at the bottom of the recipe. Try looking for things before you criticize, and then have the courtesy to apologize when your error has been pointed out.
I meant that comment for Debbe..not to Young baker2002. It posted incorrectly.
Is this your first time visiting this site? Nicole is very generous with her recipes and posts, and your comment was rude. There is always a print icon at the bottom of the page, next to the share button. Not hard to find if you take the trouble to read the whole post!
Yum, cherry season is long gone here.
Out of the new plantings of trees (35 trees) we lost the whole crop to the Baltimore orioles :( Needless to say there wasn’t many cherries but I could have made a pie or two.
Our orchard has grown and we plan to add apples (ambrosia’s) next spring.
Wonder if fresh peaches would work in this recipe?
The Red haven’s are almost ready to pick, the early Red Haven’s are done for the year.
We had a bumper crop for peaches, we think we’ll be selling next year at the farmers market :)
Pretty much any softer-fleshed fruit works in a clafoutis! I’ve done it with berries, cherries, peaches – it just doesn’t work quite as well with harder fruits like apples and pears :)
Great to know; gonna make me a peach clafoutis! Thanks :)
I’m jealous we have bushy tailed rats aka squirrels that eat just about anything I grow. Blueberries, peaches, tomatoes , squash you name it but they leave the green beans alone.
No squirrels here but the grass hoppers were horrendous!