Clafoutis is an under-appreciated French dessert, in my humble opinion. Maybe it’s appreciated more in France but in America, it doesn’t always get the face time it deserves. People are distracted by more popular French pastries like macarons and croissants.

Admittedly, it took me a while to come around to clafoutis. When I first moved to France, I went to a big concert near town square. They were handing out free dessert and even though I wanted a slice of tarte aux pommes, or apple tart, I ended up with a piece of clafoutis. It was still good, but it wasn’t the tarte aux pommes that my heart desired.

Flash forward to about a month ago when I went to get dessert at a French bakery that just opened in St. Louis, Comme À La Maison. I was trying to decide what to order and I deliberated between a madeleine, or sponge cake, and a slice of berry clafoutis. “Personally, I think you should get the clafoutis,” the French cashier told me. I took her advice and I wasn’t disappointed. Madeleines are relatively easy to find in America–clafoutis is not.

I decided to make a blueberry clafoutis to take to my boss’s holiday party on Saturday. Even though it seems like it would be difficult to make, it really is not. All you have to do is vigorously whisk (or blend) some eggs, milk, flour, and sugar, spread it into a greased baking dish, pile on some berries, and fill up the rest of the dish with batter.

I described the dish to people at the party as a French custard pie, which seems pretty accurate. I dusted the top of the clafoutis with powdered sugar once it cooled. It was the closest thing I had to snow over the weekend (I’m jealous of my friends on the East Coast and the South who already got snow).

I’d highly recommend making this clafoutis, if not to bring to a party then just for your own enjoyment. It’s so easy to make but deceptively impressive. It looks like you spent three hours on it but really, it comes together in less than an hour.

Here’s a song that reminds me of this clafoutis. It’s also good for Monday mornings when you don’t want to get out of bed so you slide all the way under the covers to pretend like you don’t have to.

Blueberry Clafoutis 

Ingredients

Butter for pan
1 and 1/4 cups whole milk
⅔ cup granulated sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 pint blueberries, rinsed and well drained
Powdered sugar for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a medium-sized baking dish that’s at least 1 and 1/2 inches deep. Set aside.

Blend the milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, salt, and flour in a blender on high until smooth and slightly frothy.

Pour 1/4 of the batter into the prepared baking dish. Place the dish on a stove burner on low heat and cook until the batter is set on the bottom. Remove the dish from heat.

Sprinkle berries and 1/3 cup sugar on the batter and then pour the remaining batter on top. Smooth the top with a spatula as needed.

Place the dish in the center of the oven and bake for about 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a tester inserted into the middle of the clafoutis comes out clean.

Remove the dish from the oven and let cool. Once it’s room temperature, sprinkle on some powdered sugar. Enjoy!