Clafoutis Blueberry
Prep Time 15 minutes 
Cook Time 35 minutes 
Total Time 50 minutes 
Servings 6Ingredients
- 200 gr blueberries or wild blueberries
- 3 egg
- 200 gr plain flour
- 30 gr unsalted butter melted
- 3 gr baking powder
- 50 gr sugar
- 60 ml whole milk
- 1 pinch salt
Equipment
Instructions
1. Prepare the batter
- Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat them until smooth and frothy. This will create a light, airy base for your Clafoutis.Gradually add the flour and sugar to the eggs, stirring steadily to combine into a silky batter without lumps.Mix in the melted butter, baking powder, and a pinch of salt to add depth and a gentle rise to your Clafoutis.Slowly pour in the cold milk, whisking continuously until you achieve a flowing but thick batter. Add a splash more if it feels too dense.
2. Mix the blueberries with the batter
- Scatter a generous handful of fresh (wild) blueberries evenly across the dish, then gently pour the batter over them to cover completely.
3. Bake
- Bake in a moderately heated oven (around 180°C/350°F) for about 35-40 minutes, until the Clafoutis is puffed, golden, and just set in the middle.
4. Serve
- Let it cool slightly before serving, it’s delightful warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- If fresh myrtilles aren’t available, frozen will work well too, just don’t thaw them completely to avoid sogginess.
- For a touch of warmth, sprinkle a little cinnamon or vanilla into the batter.
About this recipe
This summer, our neighbour Michèle and her husband André spoiled us with the juiciest, plumpest cherries straight from their garden. As if that wasn’t enough, they sent us home with two slices of her homemade clafoutis, made with cherries from a tree that grows deliberately more acidic fruit. I was blown away by how good it was. I obviously had to ask for her recipe. The one here is hers, with one small twist: swapping the cherries for blueberries, which are easier to find year-round and just as delicious in this clafoutis recipe. But if you want the real clafoutis experience, it has to be black cherries. Michèle would insist on that.
Where clafoutis comes from
Clafoutis comes from the Limousin region in the heart of France and it started life as a very simple peasant dessert in the 19th century. Eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and whatever cherries were ripe in the garden. The name comes from the Occitan word “clafotís,” which just means “filled,” which makes sense because that’s exactly what you’re doing: filling a dish with fruit and pouring batter around it, it’s that simple and delicious.
In some parts of the Limousin they still call it “millard” or “milliard,” and the recipe was passed down for generations without ever being written down, just mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter, with every family having their own version. Some added more sugar, some made the batter thicker.
But they all agreed on one thing: you leave the stones in the cherries which I thought was a mistake the first time I had it! The idea was that the stones release a faint almond-like flavour during baking, and it turns out that’s actually true, flavour specialists have confirmed it. Michèle’s version was exactly that, and although the flavour is phenomenal, it’s not a dessert for a first dates given the stone-spitting involved!
Officially this is a “Flognarde”
Even though most people in France would call this recipe a clafoutis, strictly speaking it is actually called a flognarde, which is another regional speciality that is much less well known. The only one you can call a clafoutis is the one made with the acidic cherries I told you about. I thought I’ll share that extra information not to angry anyone in the Limousin.
This blueberry clafoutis
I love using blueberries for a clafoutis for practical reasons. Black cherries are seasonal, regional, and not always easy to find outside France. Blueberries are widely available, hold their shape well during baking, and their slight tartness works really well against the sweet eggy batter. Plums, apricots, raspberries, and pears all work well in this clafoutis recipe too, so go wild and experiment! The principle is the same whatever fruit you use: you need something with enough flavour and a bit of acidity to stand up to the richness of the batter.
Another thing is that this clafoutis recipe works well with frozen fruit too. Obviously, fresh will taste nicer in my opinion, but comes winter, it’s not always easy to find fresh berries or plums.
The key with frozen blueberries especially, is not to defrost them before they go into the batter. Frozen berries added directly hold their shape better during baking and release less liquid into the batter than defrosted ones, which can make the clafoutis blueberry watery.
The batter
The batter for a clafoutis sits somewhere between a crêpe batter and a custard, and that’s exactly what gives it that characteristic soft, flan-like addictive texture. The proportion of flour is lower than a cake batter, so don’t be tempted to add more. Beat it until smooth and let it rest for ten minutes before pouring it over the fruit. That short rest lets the flour hydrate fully and gives you a more consistent result in the oven. And if you want to make it real French, you can use some cultured French butter from Normandy!
And don’t overbake it! A clafoutis should wobble slightly at the centre when you take it out. It will finish setting as it cools. Overbaked clafoutis turns rubbery and dry, and you lose the custardy texture that makes it worth making.
How to bake a clafoutis
Clafoutis bakes best in a dish that distributes heat evenly and holds it steadily throughout. I use my beloved ceramic baking dish for this. It goes straight from oven to table. But you could also bake it in a glass loaf pan, or an aluminum steel lined loaf pan. A clafoutis is very forgiving.
How to eat clafoutis
Warm, straight from the dish it was baked in is the traditional way with a light dusting of icing sugar on top, which I personally don’t do, I’m not a fan of adding sugar to a perfectly sweet treat! And clafoutis doesn’t need cream or ice cream alongside it, the batter is already nicely rich and custardy enough. If you want to add something, a small spoonful of crème fraîche, at most.
It’s also very good at room temperature if you’re making it ahead, and surprisingly good cold the next day straight from the fridge, when the texture firms up slightly and the fruit flavour seems to concentrate. It keeps well for two to three days covered in the fridge, so there’s no pressure to finish it in one sitting, though in our house that’s never been a problem!
Share your feedback and spread the love!
If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turns out! Leave a ★★★★★ rating and your thoughts in the comments, it helps fellow French foodies discover this recipe too. Snap a photo and tag @obviously.french on Instagram. Come talk about it in our Facebook group. And don’t forget to save this recipe to Pinterest so you’ll always have it handy for your next French-inspired meal!
Disclosure: Just so you know, this post contains sponsored content and/or affiliate links, If you make a purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission. Doesn’t cost you anything extra. I only link to things that are actually worth your time. All opinions are my own!
