cherry clafouti

For me, summertime is the best season for fruits. Luscious and colorful berries and cherries, refreshing watermelons, sweet and juicy peaches, the list is endless. I made this cherry dessert with this batch of bing cherries (above) which I couldn't resist at the grocery. The first time I saw this particular bing cherry variety was in Hong Kong many years ago. I passed a street vendor selling them right along busy Nathan Road on my way back to my hotel. They were non-existent in Manila then, but now, I heard they're available in bigger supermarkets but not as affordable as the locally grown fruits.

Cherries have been available in the market but the price can sometimes be steep, especially those hard-to-find Rainier variety, so when they put these bing cherries up on sale, I just had to grab some. Cherry clafouti has been on my list of fruit desserts I wanted to try for quite awhile. It wasn't easy to tell from among the many recipe variations I found which one was the best. I just went ahead with one of the easiest recipes for my first try. I was a little disappointed that the cake came out flat & very dense, not as fluffy & light like I was expecting it. The best part, which made a difference, was it was loaded with very juicy & sweet whole pitted cherries. Sprinkle the warm cherry clafouti slice with powdered sugar right before serving.

I couldn't wait to use the OXO brand cherry pitter gadget (shown above) we recently acquired which was very handy and worked really great. It has a protective clear plastic shield which eliminates messy cherry juice splatters.