Plum Clafoutis

I’m trying my hand at dark photography, or chiaroscuro. Though not too dark! I still want you to be able to see what you’re eating. You know when you’re in a restaurant and it’s so dim you’re just blindly stabbing your fork into the plate? No, we are not doing that here.

Winter is coming, though. The light is steelier, more elusive. To counter a chilly, weeklong drizzle in Boston, I’ve been eating bubbling hot clafoutis every morning for the past 6 days. I also added some booze. Hey, it warms you up! But more than that, it gives a simple custard an incredible depth of flavor.

Clafoutis, to me, is a marriage of custard with a Dutch baby. It puffs up beautifully like a Dutch baby while the center stays silky like a custard, and then there are deliciously chewy bits around the edges. I like to sprinkle a little coarse sugar over the fruit so it caramelizes in the oven. It takes no time to whip up and is ready in 20 minutes. Though it’s meant to be a dessert, I eat it so much for breakfast I make the batter ahead of time and simply pop a ramekin in the toaster oven in the morning. It takes a little longer for the cold batter to cook, maybe 25 minutes, but it is the best hot breakfast ever, especially on Sunday mornings when you can go right back to bed after eating 😀