As you’ll see in the second part of this post, I’ve been dealing with a great crop of apricots this year. Because of a warm spring with no late frost, the apricot trees in the area produced quite heavily. Thanks to my gracious neighbor, I was able to gather enough apricots to jam and freeze, plus try out a couple new recipes – one recipe being this Apricot Clafoutis – a light custard with sweet and tasty apricots. Because of the sweetness of the apricots, this Apricot Clafoutis requires very little sweetener – just a little maple syrup and a sprinkle of brown sugar.
Clafoutis has become one of our favorite breakfasts and light desserts. It is so easy to throw together, requires a quick bake, and is a delightful way to start or end the day. Leftovers can be refrigerated and served cold the next day or heated in the microwave for about 1 minute. Since I first made an apple clafoutis last fall, I’ve made a clafoutis with cherries, blueberries, and now apricot. I can honestly say, we don’t have a favorite. They are all good! We just love the creaminess of the custard and the goodness of fresh fruit.
NOTE – Recently, a reader brought to my attention that “clafoutis” is reserved for cherries only. Any clafoutis made with fruit other than cherries is actually a “Flaugnarde”. I did a little research and she’s right! So this Apricot Clafoutis is technically an Apricot Flaugnarde. 🙂
Apricot Clafoutis
A delightful custard type dish with fresh apricots and a touch of sweetness.
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- 12 – 18 fresh apricots*, cut in half (toss seeds)
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 3 large eggs
- 3 Tbsp. maple syrup
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unbleached flour, sifted
- 3/4 cup milk or milk substitute*
- Preheat oven to 375º F.
- While the oven is preheating, add two, 1 Tbsp. slices of butter to a baking dish and place in oven until melted. (Be careful not to let it burn.) Remove from oven. Set aside.
- While the butter is melting, cut the apricots in half and toss the seeds. Set aside.
- Whisk the eggs. Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt. Whisk.
- Alternately add the milk and the sifted flour into the egg mixture until all has been incorporated and has a smooth consistency.
- Spread the apricot halves, cut side up, across the bottom of the dish with the melted butter. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. brown sugar.
- Pour the egg mixture into the dish with the apricots.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350º F and cook for another 20 minutes. Gently shake the dish. If the center jiggles, bake for another 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.
- If desired, sift powdered sugar on the top before serving.
- If you have leftovers, refrigerate and serve cold or reheat in the microwave for 1 minute.
Apricots – Firm apricots work best; therefore, this is a nice use of those that are a bit under-ripe. The number of apricots varies based on size of the apricots and the size of the dish you use. If your dish holds more than 18 apricots, you should use a smaller dish, otherwise you’ll end up with a very thin custard.
Frozen Apricots – Recently, I discovered that this recipe works great with frozen apricots. Thaw the apricots just enough to separate them and place them in the clafoutis dish. Add 5 minutes to the time @ 375º F. You might need to also add 5 minute to the time at 350º F. If you still have a little jiggle in the middle, cook 5 more minutes. This extra time is due to the added moisture in the frozen fruit.
Milk – I prefer 2% or whole milk, but if you don’t want to use milk, don’t hesitate to substitute with almond or soy milk. Rice milk is too thin and yields a watery custard.
What To Do With A Lot of Apricots
Whenever I have a batch of fresh apricots I think of my granddad Barker. Many years ago when we were relaxing in the backyard, he turned to me and said “Let’s take a walk.” So off we went. Even though he didn’t live here, he seemed to have a specific direction he wanted to go. We walked around the block and after passing a few houses, he stopped and surveyed the location of the house we stood in front of. “Nope, it’s the next one.” We walked to the next house where he preceded up the sidewalk and knocked on the front door. When a woman answered the door, he said “I noticed that your apricots are ripe and falling from the tree. If you don’t have plans for them, WE would love to come over and pick some.” The woman smiled – “Help yourself”. The next morning we went back and picked about a half bushel of apricots which kept us quite busy for the rest of his visit.
Last weekend Bobby and I went around the block to a friend’s house with a tree full of ripened apricots. After picking for about 15 minutes we had quite a few. What did we do with all of these apricots? Needless to say, we ate a lot of them, added a few to a salad here and there, and put some up so we could enjoy them throughout the year.
Apricot Jam – Because it’s Bobby’s favorite jam (and it was his birthday), I made four pints of no pectin apricot jam.
Smoothies – We’ve had a few smoothies with frozen banana and peaches, and fresh apricots. Also made this Thai Tea Apricot Smoothie a couple of times, using fresh apricots and frozen peaches (no mango). Just as good as the original.
Apricot Barbecue Sauce – Made this awesome BBQ sauce using apricots from this batch.
Freezing Apricots – A few cups of apricots ended up in the freezer for future cobblers and smoothies. To freeze apricots, cut in half and discard the seeds. If you have a big enough freezer, place on a sheet pan in a single layer and freeze. Transfer to a large ziplock and place in freezer. If you can’t pre-freeze, then fill ziplock sandwich bags, packing loosely. Two sandwich bags of 2 cups of apricot halves, fit nicely in a quart size freezer bag. For both methods, remove as much air as possible. Press out the air and seal, leaving a small opening in the seal. Suck out as much air as possible, then close the seal. The bag should form around and against the fruit.
Apricot Clafoutis – Need I say more. 🙂
A huge thanks to my friend and neighbor for her labors in keeping her tree healthy so that it continues to produce such tasty fruit!
I didn’t know you could only call cherry clafoutis clafoutis and had never heard of Flaugnarde…whatever you call this lovely dessert it looks delicious! Sharing on the Hearth and Soul Facebook page later today. Love all your other apricot recipes too, MJ, especially the lovely jam. Thank you so much for sharing, and for being a part of Hearth and Soul.
I had never heard of Flaugnarde either, but some of the feedback I’m getting implies that maybe clafoutis is still more commonly used. Thanks for stopping by and sharing!
This looks like such a lovely summer breakfast! I love apricots and I’m looking very forward to your bbq sauce recipe.
Thanks so much Amy!
Clafoutis is such a delicious dessert and using your own apricots makes it even more special!
Thanks so much Katerina!
Oh, I wish I had this “problem” with a great crop of apricots too 😉 I also love clafoutis and seeing your beautiful slices I’ll probably make one in a very near future! (If I remember well, you like almonds; have you ever tried sprinkling some finely sliced on top of your beautiful clafoutis?).
I know… clafoutis is traditionally with cherries only…. Even the French call this batter+different fruits a clafoutis…. I’ve seen savoury cherry tomato clafoutis too… (The term “flognarde”/”flaugnarde” is much less popular and many French people have no idea what it is, while everyone knows clafoutis). Anyway, the most important is the taste and I’m sure your clafoutis tastes fantastic!
Chilli & apricot jelly? I haven’t made it for ages actually… but have it somewhere on my blog.
Another thing I do with apricots (apart from upside-down tarts) is this Polish easiest “cake” on the earth:
http://www.withaglass.com/?p=14721
It’s usually made with grated apples, but it’s at least equally good with apricots. I say it’s a cake, but it’s very very creamy and soft…
Thanks Sissi! No, I haven’t tried the almonds slices but that sounds good. Thanks for the info on clafoutis vs. flaugnarde. I just learned how to pronounce clafoutis so I’m thrilled that I don’t really have to learn how to pronounce flaugnarde. 🙂
I actually have an apricot chile jam on my things to make list. Just didn’t get around to it this year. I’m going to try making it with some of the frozen apricots and so how that goes. Have never used frozen fruit for jam so it will be a good test for that as well.
THANKS for the link to your apricot tart!!!! I forgot all about it. Need to go gather a few more apricots. I love creamy and soft.
I have a few apricot preserve recipes I want to make but it’s hard for us to get good ones here for some reason. I am envious!
I’m surprised how well apricots do here and I not complaining. 🙂
MJ,
Your Apricot Clafoutis ~ Flaugnarde looks SO delicious, I’ve got to make one for next weekend’s Independence Day Celebration. Yet I’d like to substitute almond flour for the unbleached flour so as to stay grainless. If you know this is a bad idea, either from your own or someone else’s experience, please let me know. Otherwise . . . I’m going for it! 🙂
Hey Melodie, This would be a great dish for the 4th! I have made this with apples and almond flour before and I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan. If you go to the Apple Clafoutis that I made in the fall, go to Kitchen Notes and you can see the result of using almond flour. The flavor was fine, but we didn’t like the texture. But as one of my gluten-free friends said, She’s gotten use to the texture of GF products, so such things don’t bother her. Maybe combine it with a little coconut flour? Not sure what to suggest since I don’t do a lot of GF baking. But please let me know if you find something that works. Thanks!
Excited about baking this, MJ, bought my apricots yesterday! Yes, thank you, a blend of two or three flours might do the trick. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
So did you make it? How did it turn out?
I so envy it, with apricots I can only buy it. But who knows, maybe it will be easier on a way, I’ll take a few jars just in case. The recipe looks delicious!
Thanks Marta! Happy travels!
This goes well with a great tea or coffee, looks like the texture is quite smooth. Love it
Thanks Raymund! I do like a slice with my morning tea.
Oh my, what a good problem to have!!! Love each of your ideas. Especially partial to apricot jam. Wishing you a super summer MJ!
Thanks! We’re partial to the jam as well. 🙂
Wow that is a lot of apricots, I am so envious. Lots of Austrian swets are made wit them so if you have some left look those up. And I love a clafoutis, looks really good. But did you know that a clfoutis is exclusively for cherries? If you use another fruit it is then called a Flaugnarde. At least that is what some purists say lol.
Thanks you so much Evelyne! I had never hear of a Flaugnarde, but just looked it up. You’re so right! My bad! I will be correcting this. Now I just need to learn how to pronouce it. 🙂
Your apricot jam is a beauty! Stone fruit doesn’t thrive in our coastal climate, so I’m planning on driving inland this weekend for…. apricots! The lush clafoutis may land right in the middle of my apricot plans.
Thanks so much Deb! I’m surprised we can grow stone fruit in the high dessert, but it seems to work. YAY! Hope you find some apricots.
This looks perfect, I would love a large portion right now. So great to have your own apricots, I wish I did but they don’t grow here, it is just too cold for them. Still I buy lots and lots of them as long they are in season, although I have to say they are rarely so delicious as they used to be during my childhood and youth in Romania, where they grow just about anywhere. I would love to try that apricot smoothie as well.
Thanks so much Adina! You know, for me it’s watermelon that has changed. They aren’t near as sweet as they were when I was a kid. I still love them, but wish they were sweeter.
wow That clafoutis looks so amazing! I just dried some apricots with thyme…great for afternoon snack :-)) Going to get some more!
Dried apricots with thyme sounds awesome! Will you be posting that because I’d love to try it. Thanks Angie!
I have memories of the apricot tree we used to have in our front yard growing up, boy oh boy did we eat a lot of apricots. So much so that I won’t touch them now as an adult. 🙂 But I love your clafoutis, so perhaps I could use peach or nectarine in the ol apricots place.
Granddad Barker sounds amazing. Wish I had a granddad Barker to remember fondly like you do.
Thanks Anna! Oh I can’t imagine having too many apricots and so many that you won’t eat them anymore. 🙂 Actually, that happen to me with cantaloupe. At A LOT as a kid, but then didn’t eat them for about 20 years. Now I’m back to loving them. Yes, I was lucky to have such a great granddad.
Lucky you, with your abundance of apricots! Clafoutis is a great destination for fruit, and we’ve made them using a bunch of different fruits over the years. Never apricots, though! Really need to try this. And make a claufoutis for breakfast is a wonderful idea! We make them for dessert, and I’ve eaten the leftover for breakfast. But making them special for breakfast sounds SO GOOD! Looking forward to the apricot BBQ sauce!
Thanks John! I use to make clafoutis for dessert but then we realized what a great breakfast they make, so they have moved into that position. 🙂
All of these recipes look fantastic but the clafoutis looks sensational!! What a great alternative to cobbler, not saying there is anything better than cobbler. I’m assuming it is less sweet since it is more eggs and less flour and sugar. We should all have the problem of too many apricots! Apricots are one of my favorite things. I will look for some at the market but in the mean time I will definitely try it with other fruit. I have lots in the fridge that need to be used. Can’t wait to dig in!
Thanks Nadalyn! Yes, the clafoutis is a lot less sweet than a cobbler, our cobblers especially. Because of the eggs it’s more of a custard which makes a great breakfast or dessert. You all would love it. Do try it with any fruit you want. Love your new site BTW!
Wait! I still haven’t made your peach cobbler 🙂 (ton of peaches on the way… but not quite ready yet). Happy Birthday Bobby! So funny, my husband loves apricot jam too – sadly our apricot tree didn’t make it and got replaced by patio furniture ;o). Love the story of granddad Barker – that’s the way to do it, very clever (and courteous). Your clafoutis looks wonderful and I’m also drawn to the idea of apricot bbq sauce – bring it on! :d
Thanks so much Kelly! You could always have the apricot clafoutis for breakfast and the cobbler for dessert. 🙂 Sorry the apricot tree didn’t make it, but doesn’t everyone need patio furniture? We use ours all of the time. 🙂 Granddad Barker was a wonderful man. He was actually Bobby’s grandfather but was so loving to his grandaughters-in-law.
Oh, my goodness, that looks like a wonderful dilemma, too many apricots. I volunteer to help and eat any and all of what you have pictured.
Blueberries, strawberries and apples are the fruits of Maine. I know we can grow peaches here, but they have the thickest, woolest skin and are tiny, tiny.
It all looks yummy, enjoy!
Thanks for the offer Susan. I could have used the help. 🙂 Next time. Just a few more left. I used to have a bunch of peach trees here, of three different varieties and all were awesome! Of course, we run into the same problem as the apricots – a late freeze and no fruit. With climate change we’re getting more and more years of fruits.