Every July we head to our local U-pick orchard for juicy, sweet cherries. We pick cherries to freeze, can, dry, and make into jam for enjoying the whole year. But we always keep enough out fresh to make into this delicious cherry flan recipe!
Cherry Picking
A trip to pick cherries is one of the old-fashioned summer activities the whole family looks forward to each year! Our outing always starts with finding all the boxes and containers we can for bringing our cherries home in, filling water bottles, and getting everyone out the door and into the car.
The orchard we go to is only about 30 minutes away from us down near the river. We usually try to go in the morning before it gets too hot!
Make it an Outing
It is extra fun to go cherry picking with family or friends. This year we wne t with my sister and her family. Other years we have gone with friends, and often we go with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.
Once at the orchard the friendly owners show us which trees are currently ripe and tell us what varieties are where. The Bing cherries are our favorite. They were very ripe and the trees were loaded. It only took us about an hour to pick enough cherries!
After picking our cherries we love to head to a nearby drive-in and get everyone a soft serve ice cream cone. It is the perfect finish to our outing.
Preserving the Cherries
When we get thome the real work begins! Pitting and proccessing the cherries is messy; juice gets everywhere. I like to do as many as possible out on the front porch so that I can just hose off the juice when we are done.
This year we froze several bags, canned quart jars, and made a delicious cherry vanilla jam.
A Delicious Cherry Flan
It is now a tradition to save out enough cherries for this cherry flan recipe each year.
I first made this recipe years ago before I was even married. It comes from a little cookbook I picked up somewhere call The Best of France.
This flan is something like a cross between a custard and a puffed pancake. It rises up as it bakes then falls quickly when it is removed from the oven. It is a very quick and simple recipe using only a few ingredients.
The main ingredients ar milk, cream, and eggs with bit of sugar and flour. And the cherries of course!
It is easiest to whip up the batter in a blender, but a stick blender works as well.
The 4 Basic Steps Are:
- butter a 10 inch pie pan
- arrange pitted cherries in pie pan
- blend all other ingredients and pour over cherries
- bake
It is such a simple recipe!
Cherry Flan Recipe
Cherry Flan Recipe (Clafoutis aux Cerises)
Course: DessertCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Easy6
servings10
minutes45
minutesIngredients
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cup pitted sweet cherries
powdered sugar for the top
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Butter a 10 inch pie pan. Place cherries in the bottom.
- Add milk, cream, flour, sugar. eggs,egg yolk and vanilla to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour over cherries in the pie pan.
- Bake at 375F for 35- 45 minutes, until puffed and golden. Sift with powdered sugar. Serve warm.
I hope you loved this recipe! Let me know in the comments if you try it!
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