Cranberry orange clafoutis

We don't fuss too much over Valentine's Day.  Rather, I should say that I don't fuss too much over V-Day.  I'm a minimal kind of gal when it comes to most holidays.  Tara, on the other hand, is sort of a holiday maniac.  (It has taken us years to find a happy medium.  Compromise is the key to a healthy and long-term relationship folks.) 

Anyway, because of my holiday mentality,  I usually suck at gift-giving, particularly with romantical events.   So, I tend to fall back on the tried-and-true fancied-up homemade dinner and dessert to make it more gift-appropriate.  Dinner was an easy choice of Penne a la Vodka, which is Tara's favorite meal that I make.  For dessert, I had originally thought about doing something strawberry (you know, because it was V-Day), but as soon as I saw the recipe for Cranberry Orange Clafoutis over at BowlLicking, I knew I had to make it. 

I'm so happy that I went with this dessert. Cranberry-orange is one of Tara's favorite flavor combos.  Plus, the preparation was simple and quick (prep was 5 minutes, tops), but it looked elegant in a rustic sort of way.

So often, it's hard to find a high-impact dessert that's easy to make for two.  Inevitably, there's always one ingredient that refuses to be broken down further (I'm talking to you, "one large egg".) or there's an odd fraction of an ingredient (1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon?).  This recipe, however, was pretty reasonable; it was easily halved (or scaled up) and, if you're using an egg replacer, you could break it down even more.

Despite the heavy cream, egg, and sugar, the dish was rather light.  I'd call it a mix of a souffle and a custard (like creme brulee).  Don't skimp on the butter and sugar coating on the dish; it adds a nice caramelized crunch to the edge.

This recipe is extremely flexible, based on the multiple variations I saw when I did a super-quick Google search.  Check below the recipe for gluten-free and dairy-free variations.

Cranberry Orange Clafoutis
Barely adapted from BowlLicking, who adapted it from Martha Stewart

Yield: 4 small servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 tablespoon unsalted butter (or nondairy alternative), melted, for ramekins
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon+ granulated sugar, divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or gluten free alternative)
• heaping 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch ground ginger (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3/8 cup) heavy cream (or non-dairy cream alternative)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (3/8 cup) whole milk (or non-dairy alternative)
• 1/4 teaspoon orange oil (or 1/2 teaspoon orange extract or 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest)
• 3/4 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
• Powdered sugar, to dust

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Brush melted butter all over the bottom and sides of 4 small ramekins; sprinkle 1 tablespoon (or more as needed) sugar all over.

Whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, flour, salt, and ground ginger (if using) in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk together egg, cream, milk and oil (or extract or zest) in a small mixing bowl. In two additions, whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. Scatter cranberries evenly on top. Bake on top of a baking sheet (to catch any overflow) for 15-20 minutes, until puffed, barely set in the center, and light brown around the edges. Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes or so. As you can tell from the pictures above, the mixture will rise pretty high while cooking and then fall while cooling.

Dust with powdered sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Options

Gluten-free:  Use an appropriate flour substitute such as pre-made GF flour or a nut flour.

Dairy-free:   Use whatever non-dairy milk you prefer to replace the milk.  To keep with the richness in this particular recipe, I would substitute the cream with the separated coconut milk from the can (the white-stuff on top after it separates).  Finally, you can use a non-flavored oil or non-dairy, soy-free butter substitute in place of the butter to coat the ramekins (like this Organic Coconut Spread that I talked about in my last post on Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins).