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Clafoutis cerises.jpg
Course Dessert
Place of origin France
Region or state Limousin
Serving temperature Warm
Main ingredients Flan batter, black cherries, powdered sugar
Variations Flaugnarde
Other information It can also be made with apples, pears, etc.
Cookbook: Clafoutis  Media: Clafoutis

Clafoutis (French pronunciation: ​[klafuti]; Occitan: clafotís [klafuˈtis] or [kʎafuˈtiː]), sometimes in Anglophonic countries spelled clafouti, is a baked French dessert of fruit, traditionally black cherries,[1] arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm, sometimes with cream.

A traditional Limousin clafoutis contains pits of the cherries.[2] The pits contain amygdalin, the active chemical in almond extract, so during baking a small amount of amygdalin from the pits is released into the clafoutis, adding a complementary note to its flavor.[3]


The clafoutis comes from the Limousin region of France, and while black cherries are traditional, there are numerous variations using other fruits, including red cherries, plums, prunes, apples, pears, cranberries or blackberries.[4] When other kinds of fruit are used instead of cherries, the dish is properly called a flaugnarde.

The dish's name derives from Occitan clafotís, from the verb clafir, meaning "to fill" (implied: "the batter with cherries").[citation needed] Clafoutis apparently spread throughout France during the 19th century.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Wells, Patricia (1991). Simply French. New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, Inc. p. 276. 
  2. ^ The Concise Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest Cookery Encyclopedia (Revised ed.). London: Hamlyn, a division of Octopus Publishing Group. 2003-04-15 [1998]. p. 311. ISBN 978-0600608639. 
  3. ^ Preston, Katherine. "The Botanist in the Kitchen - The Stone fruits of summer". Retrieved 9 November 2013. 
  4. ^ Larousse Gastronomique, Clarkson Potter Publishers

External links[edit]