Cherry Clafoutis

Helloooooo! We're going to go ahead and pretend that I have not been completely absent for the last half a year. Let's, instead, accept the fact that I'm coming late to the party, and embrace the fact that I showed up at all!

I've been living in Washington, DC this summer, interning and generally getting lost way more often than I probably should be. The apartment that I'm living in came furnished with dishes, but they wouldn't tell me what dishes before I moved in... so I did the unthinkable. I LEFT ALL MY BAKING EQUIPMENT IN AKRON! And of course, we don't even have a baking pan other than a casserole dish. I've had to scrape, borrow, and sell my firstborn child to get any baking done here. Hence, this lovely breakfast food... Cherry Clafoutis in a casserole dish!

Kat and I FINALLY had time to talk on the phone about a week ago... and oh, boy, did we talk. I miss her, although I'm really excited that she's moving out West in a little more than a week, I also am jealous and want to be able to visit her a lot! P.S. Kat- I am buying a ticket next week. Thanksgiving for the ages!

Anyway, she point-blank told me to make a clafoutis. And because I respect my elders, I did. And it was delicious. If you don't know what a clafoutis is... I really can't help you out. It's french in origin. But I can't figure out how to explain what it tastes like other than the french like butter a lot, and cherries are delicious this time of year. And now that I'm absolutely pro at clafoutis-ing, I have a killer recipe for raspberry-chocolate clafoutis that I could probably pass off as some semblance of a breakfast food...

Glad to be back. :)

Cherry Clafoutis "Casserole"

Adapted from Sunlight Cafe

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 c ripe cherries, pitted and halved
• 1 1/3 c flour
• 1 1/2 c milk
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• whipped cream

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. While preheating, melt the butter in the bottom of the casserole dish, and allow to spread all over the bottom of the dish. Mix 1 tbsp of flour with the cherries and set aside.
2. Combine milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt and mix until smooth. Pour batter into the casserole dish, and spoon the cherries into the batter, concentrating them near the center.
3. Bake the dish for 35 minutes, until browned around the edges.
4. Top with whipped cream, and serve warm.

Chocolate-Cherry Muffins

These muffins work with a classic fruit and chocolate combination, to very decadent results. The ricotta cheese in the recipe makes these muffins extremely moist, and almost like cheese cake, but doesn't leave any taste. The only problem with these muffins is that they end up on the smaller side, even when filling the muffin tray 5/6th of the way full. I also got to use more of my chocolate chips... on my way to completing The Challenge! :)

On a related note, thank you to my cousin Kat for mentioning me on her blog The Ginger Cook! Hopefully it will help get people reading about my baking endeavors!

p.s. I can't wait to try her recipe for ginger snaps. It looks delicious!

Chocolate-Cherry Muffins

Adapted from Sunlight Cafe

Ingredients:

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1 c. ricotta cheese
• 1 c buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 1.2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 dried cherries

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray about 12 muffins cups with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine in a large bowl the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and sugar.
3. In a medium bowl beat together buttermilk and ricotta. Add eggs one at a team and beat well, then beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add wet mixture, cherries, and butter to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
4. Toss chocolate chips in all-purpose flour to coat. Add to batter and mix to combine. Spoon batter into muffin cups to the top and bake for 20 minutes (until lightly browned on top).

Some Notes:

• I think next time I might use fresh pitted cherries for color and enhanced flavor. The cook time, if you use fresh or frozen cherries, is supposed to be between 25-30 minutes.