Double Chocolate Cherry Clafouti

Ontario cherries are in!  Yay!  Now what to do with them!  I need a dessert for dinner tonight since my Compliance lady friends Joanne and Shannon are coming over, so I thought I would combine my love of cherries with the wonder that is chocolate and come up with a Double-Chocolate Cherry Clafouti.  The batter in this clafouti is quite similar to the ones I made with strawberry and rhubarb in June, the only difference really being the fruit and its preparation method, and the addition of wondrous chocolate.  The addition of the cocoa powder did change the consistency of the end product a bit - it was less custardy in the centre - but it was still wonderful and a total keeper for cherry season!

In my previous post about clafoutis, I mentioned that traditionally the French leave the cherries unpitted in the batter to add an almond flavour to the batter, but I just can`t do that.  I don`t really see how you can enjoy your dessert biting into a cherry pit every few seconds.  So I got a cherry pitter and removed my pitts.  Let me say, this task is the pitts!  HaHA! But the result is worth it.  

Double Chocolate Cherry Clafouti

1/2 cup chocolate chunks or semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups fresh cherries, pitted

1/3 cup brandy (optional)

2 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup homo milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pit cherries and place in a medium sized bowl, reserving about 1/2 a cup in a separate smaller bowl.  Add brandy to small bowl of cherries and allow to macerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350º.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla.

Using 1 tablespoon butter, generously butter the inside of a 10" pie plate - a deep dish plate works best. Gently combine the batter ingredients until smooth. You can do this by hand, using a stand mixer or in your food processor.  The batter will resemble a thin pancake batter.

Pour a thin layer of batter (about 1/4") on the bottom of the pie plate or round baking dish. Set in the oven until the thin layer has cooked about 5 minutes.

Arrange the cherries and chocolate in the bottom of the baking dish.  Pour the batter over the cherries and chocolate and bake for about 45 minutes, until the clafouti is puffed and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for at least 15 minutes before serving warm or at room temperature.

Serve with whipped cream, spiked with a little brandy and your reserved macerated boozy cherries.  For mine, I put them in an non-stick pan, added the remaining tablespoon butter, and let it cook for a few minutes.

It was all I could do to hold myself back from setting it aflame but I managed to control myself.  Might get to Cherries Jubilee this season at this rate!