Quince Clafoutis

One of my all-time favourite desserts is Clafoutis.  You can take any fruit, add some booze, top with batter, and it will inevitably turn into a delicious dessert that doesn’t leave you feeling weighed down.  It’s the perfect dessert for a dinner party because it can be assembled ahead of time, and then popped in the oven while you’re having dinner.

Traditional clafoutis is often made with plums, cherries, pears, berries, or apples.  I usually make apple clafoutis, but was inspired by my favourite fruit: quince.  Quince are fruits that look like apples, but taste more floral.  Lucky for me, my dear friend Louise (of the gorgeous food blog Pâté chinois et Cie) has a quince tree in her backyard!  Inspiration indeed!

And quince is one of my favourite fruits – like a flower-perfumed apple, I thought that because of its similarities to apple it could work well in a Clafoutis.  And indeed it did.

Quince Clafoutis

Adapted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Boozy-Fruit:

• 3 c. quince, sliced (I didn’t peel the quince for extra fibre) – you can substitute 3 c. of any fruit
• 1/3 c. sugar
• ¼c. liqueur (I often use calvados or cointreau)

Batter:

• Juice drained from quince, plus skim milk to make 1/4 c. liquid
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten lightly
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• pinch salt
• 2/3 c. flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Mix “boozy-fruit” ingredients together, and let stand for 30 minutes.  Drain the liquid from the “boozy-fruit” mixture, and use in batter.

Combine batter ingredients in a blender, and blend for 1 minute.  (This also can be done by hand, if you don’t have a blender).

Grease an 8×8″ baking dish.  Place “boozy-fruit” into dish, and top with batter.  Bake at 350° F for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, dust with icing sugar, and serve.  Delicious topped with maple syrup, or served with vanilla ice cream.