Sunday, August 02, 2009

Pear Clafoutis



Clarice at Storybook Woods posted a recipe for Chocolate Cherry Clafoutis. Yum! I decided that I needed to learn more about this exotic sounding food and see if I could find a way to create one that was completely plant-based and gluten free. Clafouti is a custard-like French dessert that is baked and made by adding fresh fruit to a light batter. It is baked in a casserole or stoneware baking dish. Traditionally it is made with cherries, like Clarice made hers. But other versions of this dish are common as well with apricots, peaches, nectarines, pears, prunes, apples, cranberries, blueberries, or figs being used as the fruit ingredient. Most would call this dish made with fruits other than cherries clafloutis still, but technically I guess the name then would be flaugnarde, as purists insist that a clafloutis only contain cherries. Here is my version of this delightful dish --- made completely with plant-based foods and none containing gluten.

Pear Clafoutis

2/3 cup almonds, ground finely
2/3 cup brown sugar or Sucanat
2/3 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt
4 Tbsp. silken tofu, blended until smooth
1 cup soy milk
6 pears, peeled and sliced

Prepare a casserole or stoneware baking dish by coating with a layer of olive oil. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the ground almonds, brown sugar, rice flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Mix together until well blended.

In a blender, whiz the silken tofu until it's a smooth puree. Add a small amount of water if needed to make it blend easier.*

Add the blended silken tofu to the dry ingredients and begin stirring. Slowly add soymilk and mix until batter is blended. Layer sliced pears in baking dish, arranging them evenly. Gently pour the batter over the top of the fruit, making sure it covers well.

Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm or cold. Delicious with soy ice cream or silk creamer on top.

*For ease in preparing the silken tofu, blend the entire box of tofu and then measure out the volume needed for the recipe. Place the rest in a small container and refrigerate until needed for another recipe. The silken tofu acts as a replacement for eggs in this recipe.

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