Berry Clafouti

Clafouti. I had this for the first time last year when my roommate made it with pears and thought it was delicious. I thought she was messing me when she told me it was called clafouti...I know French is supposed to be a beautiful language and all, but whenever I hear the word I imagine Celine Dion saying it with her crazy Quebec accent and can't stop from smirking.

Anyway, it's basically a custard with whatever fruit you want to add. I finally made my first clafouti (hehe) today even though I should have been studying for my test tomorrow. Most recipes I saw called for cherries or apricots, but I used berries since our fridge is filled with them (I hate how you have to buy two to get the deal at Harris Teeter).



I found the recipe on Recipezaar and made a couple tweaks, but it still needs a few more adjustments and I need to be more careful when I make it again.

Berry Clafouti


1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cold water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 to 1 1/4 cups fresh berries (I used strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries but add whatever fruit you want--apples, pears, blackberries...)

1. Combine flour and salt. Add eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and cold water, beat until smooth. Stir the sugar into the batter. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. Cover and put the batter in the refrigerator at least 1/2 hour. You can leave the batter overnight in the refrigerator. If it is too thick when you take it out, mix in a couple drops of cold water.

3. While the oven is heating and the batter is in the fridge, rinse berries and pat dry with a paper towel. Place berries in fridge.

4. Add oil to 9" pie pan or 9" square/round baking dish and coat evenly. Place pan in oven for 5 minutes and allow oil to get hot.

5. Remove batter from fridge, gently stir in berries. Open oven and quickly pour batter into hot pan. Make sure that the batter is evenly distributed.

6. Push back the shelf and close oven door as soon as possible. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden-brown. Set on a wire rack to cool, then cover and store in refrigerator to chill.

7. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with chocolate syrup when serving, or eat by itself!

Notes: 450F was kind of high since part of it turned brown sooner than it should have, so I think next time I'll turn it down to 375F and leave it in longer to get a more uniform, golden-brown crust. Pouring in the batter quickly with the oven door open was awkward...I think I'll just take out the heated pan so I can pour the batter more carefully even if the pan is exposed to the lower temp momentarily. It's low in sugar; I think you could add another tablespoon at most if you want it to be sweeter. I think it will taste better if you let it chill overnight rather than eating it immediately so that the flavors/sugars of the fruit can settle.

Lemon Bars

None of us were sure about what to make on Easter. My contribution was dessert. Carrot cake? No carrots. Hot cross buns? Except for the frosting on top, not enough sugar for us. We were sick of all the foil-wrapped Easter chocolates so I settled on lemon bars. They're bright and pastel and a break from chocolate. I selected this recipe because it had the highest reviews.



The base was like a giant shortbread cookie (yum). While it tasted great, I was disappointed by the filling's consistency. It was more gooey/liquid than I preferred, I expected something thicker and little more cake-like. Even though I was making it, I'm a huge germaphobe and was not big on hand mixing the dough. Nonetheless, they had a refreshing lemon flavor and an ample amount of crust. I made them yesterday and only about 10% of the tray remains.



If you're not a big fan of crust, then don't use all the crust mixture when you press it into the pan. Using all of it in a 9x13 resulted in a good centimeter of crust. In addition, if you're looking for a more lemon taste, add extra drops of lemon juice. They were very sweet, so you can lower the sugar in the filling to avoid going into hyperglycemia.

Lemon Bars
Recipe from here



Crust
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened

Filling*
4 large eggs
2 cups white sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. For the base, mix the butter into the flour and sugar. Mix with hands until it clings together. Press into 13x9x2-inch pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

2. For the filling, beat together eggs, sugar and lemon juice. Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into egg mixture.

3. Pour filling over baked, cooled crust. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.

4. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

*I suggest taking a small taste of the filling and adjusting the lemon juice/sugar as needed before you commit to pouring it over the crust. You don't have to add all the sugar that the recipe calls for.