Strawberry Clafoutis with Almond Flour

What is a Clafoutis?

The French Clafoutis (pronounced 'kla-foo-tee') or Clafouti is a speciality of the Limousin region in France. It's a light, set eggy custard that's traditionally made with cherries and flour.

For the traditional French classic dessert, see my classic Cherry Clafoutis Recipe. However, I find some clafoutis recipes have too much flour, resembling a stick-to-the-top-of-your-mouth heavy cake-like dessert which can become a bit rubbery.

So, I omitted the flour and replaced it with ground almonds or pistachios, making this a gluten free strawberry clafoutis. It's also a delicious way of enjoying a clafoutis in Spring, before the cherries arrive in early summer.

This recipe is so versatile during Summer made with mirabelle plums and apricots too! See ideal fruit combinations below.

Use fresh strawberries rather than frozen for this recipe if you can, so that all the flavours are at their best.

What Can I do with a Lot of Strawberries?

It happens often when throwing them on maple granola isn't enough. At our local French market in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris, the sellers tend to sell boxes of them towards the end of the morning for a special price. Well, tell a Scot there's a promotion and it's a deal! We add them to:

• Strawberry mousse
• Rhubarb compote - this recipe works well just with strawberries, based on the same quantities
• Rhubarb and rose jam
• Topped on French salted butter biscuits, Palets Bretons
• Rhubarb and strawberry crumbles with rose and white chocolate mousse.

What To Do When Stawberries are Starting to Wilt

However, the result of buying many strawberries in bulk means that there are a few that are already a bit fatigué or tired and starting to wilt. So this clafoutis recipe is ideal if your strobs are a bit on the tired side, as they're brought back to life!

Are Strawberries Good for Baking?

Absolutely! As baking strawberries intensifies their naturally sweet flavours, this is utterly delicious. It's the strawberries that dominate in this dessert. The ground pistachios or almond flour are quite subtle but adds that extra intrigue to the fruit, plus helps to soak up the juices.

As well as this strawberry clafoutis, we love them baked in this strawberry and elderflower gratin - either just with strawberries or with other berries added too.

Easy Strawberry Clafoutis (Gluten Free)

This gluten free recipe couldn't be easier:

• First butter a gratin ovenproof dish then scatter over the fresh fruit on one single layer
• In a bowl, mix together the eggs, yolk, ground almonds/pistachios, cream, little sugar and some vanilla extract
• Pour over the strawberries. Scatter over some slivered almonds and bake for about 30 minutes.

Add Wild Strawberries (Fraises des Bois)

We've been blessed by the birds spreading a carpet of wild strawberries (fraises des bois) in the garden. 
I thought that mint in the herb garden took over the other plants, but I'm surprised to now see strawberries popping up in all nooks and crannies, as we say in Scotland. They taste like voilet candy (bonbons).

Can You Eat Clafoutis Cold?

The French normally serve a Clafoutis dessert still slightly warm from the oven or serve it at room temperature - NEVER hot. So this also makes it an ideal addition to your picnic basket.

However, my (French/Corsican) husband adores a chilled Clafoutis for breakfast. Try it - you'll discover just how delicious it is cold vs warm.

Almond Flour Clafoutis with Alcohol

Want to add that extra clafouti oh-là-là? Then pick a fruity liqueur that matches the fruit used: e.g. Chambord liqueur with raspberries, Kirsch for cherries - although Kirsch is great with all fruits!

Don't want to add any alcohol? Then simply omit it, as it's entirely optional.

Strawberry Clafoutis Recipe - Quick Tip

For the amount of fruit used, my general rule of thumb is to lay just enough fruit in a single layer in the pie dish. Then just pour over the batter.

Strawberry Clafoutis and More Fruit Custards

What we love about this fresh strawberry clafoutis recipe is that it's so versatile. By replacing the fruit, this ends up having many delicious variations on a Clafoutis theme all throughout the spring and summer.

So here are some ideas using the same recipe batter (gluten free) using ground almonds instead of pistachios.

• Blueberry and Lemon Clafoutis
• Apricot & Lavender Clafoutis (chop up 3-4 apricots & add ¼ teaspoon dried lavender)
• Raspberry Clafoutis
• Mirabelle Plum & Almond Clafoutis
• The French classic, Cherry Clafoutis (this recipe is not gluten free, but traditional using flour)
• You've now a rhubarb clafoutis and more flavour variations in my e-book,
  Master Crème Caramel: Secrets to Lighter French Custard Desserts from Paris. Plus join the French custard e-mail list for a free guide to custard recipes.