Well if you follow me on Instagram {@thecuratedhouse}, you’ll know that our backyard cherry tree has offered up an abundant harvest this year. We picked two massive bowls of ruby red gorgeousness the other day and we still haven’t made a dent in the fruit on our tree! If only it would stop raining, we could gather the rest!

Last year for cherry season I was inspired to make Braised Lamb with Bing Cherry Sauce as well as this gorgeous summer salad: Chèvre Chaud with Fennel and Bing Cherries. This year I decided to start with dessert and make something I’ve never made before: Cherry Clafoutis.

A classic French Clafoutis is typically more like a custard than my version, but given that I’m allergic to eggs, custard is…well…tricky. So while there is still a creamy edge to it thanks to the heavy cream, my Clafoutis is more flan-esque.

I started by sorting and bathing our cherry harvest in a 10 minute soak of 10 parts water to one part apple cider vinegar. I did this because, with all of the moisture we’ve had {read: too much rain!}, the cherries are prone to going mouldy quickly.

I then laid them all out on tea towels to dry. You may be wondering if the apple cider vinegar leaves a film or taste on the cherries, and the answer is not a trace! Just mould-free fruit that will last longer in the fridge.

Next step? Pit the cherries I need for the recipe.

I then cut the cherries in half and macerated them in brandy and coconut sugar for just over an hour {fear not: quantities will all be revealed in the recipe below}.

I used white chia for binding in this recipe, and quickly ground it to a fine flour-like texture in my newly acquired and much loved Blendtech. {They are as cheap as it gets at Costco right now!}

The only other photo-worthy step was the gorgeous Tahitian vanilla bean, which I cut in half, split open and scraped to harvest all the rich vanilla flavour encapsulated within. So aromatic. So delicious!

And now, here’s the recipe! I do hope you’ll try it and let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups Bing cherries, pitted and halved
1/4 c. brandy
1/2 c. coconut sugar

* Macerate the above ingredients for 1hr+ *

4 tbsp white chia, finely ground
4 tbsp boiling water
1 1/2 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. coconut sugar
1/2 c. maple syrup
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
Tiny pinch of good sea salt {I used Maldon}
1/2 c. Coconut flour

METHOD:

Once you have your cherries pitted, halved and macerating with the brandy and coconut sugar, set the oven to 350°F. In a stand mixer, combine chia and boiling water. Allow to set for a couple of minutes and gently add in whipping cream, coconut sugar, maple syrup, vanilla bean, salt and coconut flour. Mix until well combined but not at too high a speed so as not to turn the whipping cream into butter.

Drain off the liquid from the cherries. Butter the bottom and sides of a flan pan {mine was a bit too big for this recipe at 14″ diameter. 9-12″ would work nicely}. Line the bottom of the flan dish with the cherries and then pour the batter over top to cover. If your flan pan has a separate base {as does mine}, you will want to place a cookie sheet underneath it in the oven to prevent cherry juices from running onto the bottom of your oven and burning.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

Serve with a dollop of maple syrup whipped cream and enjoy with good company! {Insider tip: the caramelized edges are particularly delectable, so even though I served it in bowls and it looks like a crumble, I cut the servings in pie shaped pieces to ensure that everyone got some of the caramelized golden deliciousness.}

Happy weekend!

xo
s.