gluten free plum clafoutis
by Katie Webster
August 19, 2014 (updated 10/7/20) Jump To Recipe
My experience with clafoutis is pretty limited. As far as I can remember, I only had it one time. And that was fifteen years ago when I was in culinary school. It didn’t really stand out as anything particularly amazing. So I haven’t really given it much thought.
But then I had a very strange experience at the grocery store. I suddenly found myself uncontrollably putting a pound of Italian Prune Plums into my cart. It was as if I had no choice in the matter and I was under their spell. Their deep velvety purple-skinned spell.
I can’t say that I was particularly surprised, since stone fruit can do that to me sometimes. But then when I got home I was like, oh I guess I need to do something with these guys.
I didn’t want to make anything fussy. As you know I have been on this minimal ingredient and effort kick this summer (and even though it is really cold here in Vermont today and it feels like fall already) I wanted to make something that wasn’t too involved or complicated. I also wanted to go the gluten-free route since that seems to be the way so many peeps are leaning these days, and I always appreciate a gf option.
That’s when I started thinking about clafoutis. With a name like that, you’d think this was some complicated fancy schmancy twenty step French pastry. But it is kind of the antithesis of that/the most humble easy peasy dessert ever. Clafoutis is made from a custard-like batter and stone fruit, typically cherries. Typically clafoutis recipes are usually not very heavy on flour which means that they end up with a lovely soft texture more like flan than cake. Or at least that’s my recollection of the texture.
So you’re thinking, huh? Why would you want to make that? You have already confessed that you didn’t find it particularly stand-out the one time you had it.
Well here is my reasoning. The plums are so perfect that they really needed nothing to fancy them up at all. The warm mapley custard- pudding-cake that they bake into and surrounds them brings out their sweet tart plum-ness in such a perfect subtle way. We had it while it was still warm, dolloped with plain Greek yogurt to balance out the sweetness. It made me wonder why I waited so long to have it again.
Have you ever had clafoutis before?
Do you find yourself buying stone fruit with out much of a plan for what to do with them?
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gluten free plum clafoutis
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Maple syrup sweetened gluten-gree clafoutis with Italian Prune Plums baked in a cast iron skillet.
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- ½ cup non-fat milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup gluten free all-purpose baking mix
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 pound Italian prune plums, pitted and halved
Instructions
- Place a 9-inch cast iron skillet in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine eggs, maple syrup, milk, vanilla extract and almond extract in a blender and puree to combine. Add baking mix, almond flour and salt and puree until smooth, about 15 seconds.
- Remove hot skillet from the oven. Add butter and oil to the skillet and let butter melt. Brush butter and oil around bottom of the skillet and up sides with a pastry brush. Pour the batter into the hot skillet. Arrange the prune plums on top of the batter. Immediately transfer the skillet back to the oven. (Use caution and avoid touching hot handle.) Bake until the clafoutis is puffed and the prune plums are bubbling and softened, 35 to 40 minutes.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Calories: 433
- Sugar: 57 g
- Sodium: 319 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 81 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
Keywords: gluten free plum clafoutis,plum clafoutis,gluten free clafoutis
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
Can gluten free flour be substituted for the gluten free baking mix?
Thank you for the recipe and the idea of using plums.
Good memories of fresh picked damsons made into clafoutis at my step-son’s home in South East France. Delightful
I love that! Food memories are the sweetest!
Due to covid I E-cart at Bel Air..Would red plums work? If they are out of plums, what other fruit could I substitute?
Also, would regular baking mix work?
By the way, I have been cooking one new recipe of yours each week for my family, ( I live with daughter, son in law and 3 grandchildren). It’s been great to use your suggestions and recipes for the sides… The adults love it… small kiddos, not so much.
Red Plums certainly would, but I would quarter them as they are much larger than prune plums. I think any stone fruit would work just as well. Cherries are classic in clafoutis.
I’ve never had italian plums before but I need to try. Looks amazing!
★★★★★
I plan to try this tomorrow. I have an abundance of yellow plums from my CSA this week and I am always looking for a GF option, so I can’t wait to try this.
need to modify the recipe a bit more- I am also allergic to nuts. May I substitute Coconut flour for the 1/4 cup of almond flour? I use Namaste GF flour blend for the greater amount of flour.
Hope it turns out ok.
Hi Anne, I hope I caught you in time. The coconut flour is not a great 1:1 sub for almond flour because it is very absorbent. I would instead use more of the GF mix or try rice flour instead. Please let me know how it goes.
I hate the word NOM but I am going to go ahead and say it because this recipe calls for it. Nomomom I made clafouti once a few years ago following Julia Child’s recipe and it was soooo good! Yours looks marvelous and beautiful <3
Love, love, love this recipe – thank you so much for publishing it! A few weeks ago we were given some plums, and had a house guest who’s avoiding gluten, so I went on the hunt for a gluten-free plum clafoutis recipe. Mind you, I had no idea, really, what a clafoutis was. I think I’d seen a picture and a recipe at some point, and for some reason it stuck in my mind. I found your recipe and decided to give it a try. Oh my goodness, it’s so simple, and the result is so good! I’ve three others since that first one, about one per week, using apricot, cherries, blueberries – whatever mixture I had on hand. This is the perfect recipe to have on hand when when you have an abundance of summer fruit. By the way, for some reason I made the first few in a springform pan. I started to use the springform pan for the most recent one, but when I realized it was leaking badly, I quickly greased a cast iron pan and just poured the batter, fruit and all, in. It didn’t look quite as grand but other than that it came out fine, so that’s what I’ll be using for the next one. Thanks again for a terrific recipe!
That is so great to hear. I love hearing about how a recipe turns into a keeper! Thank you so much for reporting back Sylvia.
I’m loving your easy recipes this summer. I’m a big fan of plums but I usually just eat them plain. This recipe sounds so delicious and I’m putting it on my to-do list!
I made clafoutis once, maybe twice…but none of them looked as good as this. I would love some with my afternoon tea now.
Thank you so much and that sounds like a lovely afternoon combo Angie.
Clafoutis are such a fantastic way to use up extra fruit and those plums look very happy to be nestled in that gorgeous dessert!
Now that you say that, I think I’ll have to try other stone fruit in this recipe, or even bananas would be good. Thanks for visiting Dara!
These photos! these photos! They are gorgeous! I have actually never had a clafoutis, but anything that pretty I will gladly eat! Pinned!
Oh shucks Taylor. That is a big compliment considering your gorgeous photography! Thank you so much.
The maple syrup sounds delish. I have only had cherry clafoutis and a savory one. I have to put this on my to-do list.
Madonna
MakeMineLemon
I am so intrigued about going savory with clafoutis. Roasted garlic with grilled zucchini or feta, hmmmm. You’ve got me thinking! Yes, maple is our fave here, and I love the way it tastes in this recipe. Thank you so much for visiting Madonna.
I’m pretending you made this especially for me. 🙂 Clafoutis is one of my very favorite desserts and this version looks and sounds like perfection. I can’t wait to make it.
Thank you so much and I have to say I am not surprised that you love clafoutis Alanna!
this looks SO rustic and beautiful Katie, a perfect use of delicious plums!! which, by the way, are one of my favorite fruits – I’m always grabbing one at a fruit cart and eating them while I walk around NYC 🙂
Thank you Christine. I love when stone fruit is in season. It is irresistible!
I’ve never had clafoutis before, but I’m loving the sound of its texture. It’s still very very hot here in Texas…we are talking triple digits so this sounds perfect. Tim told me specifically to bring home some Vermont maple syrup in September, and I’m thinking that’s what you used in this recipe? Perfect ;).
Yes I used our home-made maple syrup. It is our sweetener of choice. Try to find the dark kind, it has the best flavor. Thank you Min.