Day 211. Claire Craves Plum Clafouti

One of my favorite desserts is the French-inspired plum clafouti.  I also make them with Bing cherries (which I just saw at the grocery store for $8.88 a bag and which prompted this post) too, but there's something about the plum one.  I always made the full-fat version with heavy cream, but about 15 years ago I found a lightened version made with yogurt in Martha Rose Shulman's book, "Provencal Light."  It became my go-to recipe not for its lessened calories, but rather because it had this thick, baked consistency that permitted the juice from those luscious plums to bubble and burp their sweet purple liquid all over the golden custard they're encased in.  Yum!  Throw in seeds from a real vanilla bean, and you'll look at this dessert with the same crazed eyes as Claire!

I'm still going to give you the full-fat version here, because it's always important to start with the classic so you can compare variations against the original.  Besides, you might be in the mood for full-blown indulgence. (-:

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/plum-clafoutis.aspx

One last note, unless you live on an orchard or the south of France, the only plums you have access to may be the rock-hard variety in the grocery store.  When you're in the mood to make this, you can't wait for a week to pass as your plums ripen in a brown paper bag.  Instead, use the canned brand OREGON fruits in light syrup.  It's located by the pie filling.  Do not use pie filling for any version of this clafouti, though.  Yuck!  And finally, if you can find a good plum liqueur or plum brandy, use that to replace the brandy and amaretto.  Isn't this recipe getting more enticing by the second?! (-;