Clafouti is a eggy French custard that is usually served as a dessert, and is most often made with cherries. While looking for something unique to bring to a potluck brunch, I happened across a recipe on Serious Eats for a “Brunch Clafouti“, which is really no different from any other clafouti recipe. Even traditional dessert clafoutis fit in well for breakfast with their eggy, fruity flavors. It’s sweet but not too sweet, and it need no other adornment than a dusting of powdered sugar. While I considered going with the traditional cherries, or other berries which are also popular, I’ve been really taken lately with fresh figs, which have shown up in the grocery store in the last few weeks. The figs wouldn’t really work with the recipe from Serious Eats, but I found a recipe as part of an NPR story from last year for just the thing I was looking for. It happens to be based on the clafouti from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which is experiencing a great upswing in popularity thanks to the movie Julie and Julia. My selection of this had nothing to do with this revival, but you can consider this my obligatory food blog contribution.

Clafouti batter is very thin, composed of milk, sugar, eggs, and a bit of flour. The one thing I added to this recipe that I took from the Serious Eats recipe was a little almond extract, which added a subtle almond flavor to the final project as well as the standard vanilla extract.

I don’t have a very functional blender, so instead of whirling the batter in that to blend it smoothly I used my hand mixer and beaters on a high setting. It worked sufficiently well, and though I could still see a few tiny clumps of flour left, it was not a big deal.

Mmmm, fresh ripe figs. They get quartered for this recipe. They do not need to be peeled, just washed; the skin is perfectly edible and part of their delicious flavor and texture.

The batter goes in the well greased pie pan, then the figs are placed fairly evenly around. French cooking has this reputation for being complicated, but this is one of the simplest recipes ever.

It inflates in the oven, and when you first take it out it’s still pretty puffy, but you can see it’s already starting to sink a bit.

Here it’s pretty much fallen completely. This is how clafoutis are: browned and slightly chewy on the perimeter and eggy, fluffy and custardy in the center.

It looks pretty dusted with powdered sugar. It is usually served warm, but it would probably be pretty tasty cold as well. As long as you greased the pan well enough, the slices should come right out. The taste of the figs and how they meld with the custard is probably pretty different from the berries or cherries in the original, but I think they make a great breakfast with their light, fresh flavor. I’d definitely make this again, for a dessert or a breakfast.

Fresh Fig Clafouti (adapted from NPR, adapted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup milk (low-fat or regular)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 figs, trimmed and quartered
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar such as turbinado (granulated may be substituted)
• Powdered sugar, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF and coat a 9-inch cast iron skillet or pie plate generously with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Add the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, almond, salt and flour to a blender in that order so the flour does not cake onto the blade. Blend on high for 30 seconds. Scrape down any flour adhering to the sides and blend for 30 seconds more, or until smooth. Pour into the skillet.
3. Scatter the figs over the batter and sprinkle the raw sugar (or granulated, if substituting) on top.
4. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until clafouti is puffed and edges are golden brown. A thin knife inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes (clafouti will collapse), sift powdered sugar over the top and serve warm.

When the weekend rolls around, I want relatively quick, tasty and filling meal in the morning. We usually get up late enough that we don’t eat both breakfast and lunch, instead relying on our brunch to fill us up until dinner. But we’re also more inclined to go for a traditional breakfast food instead of something more lunchy. Thus, we fall back on pancakes a lot. The batter goes together in a flash, and the whole batch cooks up in less than 20 minutes usually. Normally we go for Alton Brown’s standard buttermilk pancakes, which is our favorite recipe, but last weekend I wanted to mix it up a bit to keep us from getting bored. Flipping through AB’s book I’m Just Here for More Food, I decided to go for the whole wheat pancakes, which are almost identical to the regular pancakes, they just use whole wheat flour instead.

Alton Brown mixes his pancakes in what he calls the “Muffin Method.” Like many of his methods, it starts by combining all the dry ingredients together and all the wet ingredients together first, making sure they are well combined. One thing I should mention is that I never have buttermilk around the house, so I always substitute a little less than 2 cups of milk plus two tablespoons of lemon juice. I actually prefer this combination to the buttermilk because it makes the batter more liquid and the pancakes spread better on the griddle.

The dry and wet ingredients are then combined; more precisely, the wet ingredients are always added to the dry, which makes it easier to mix without overmixing.

See the lumps peeking out? It is important to not try to get the batter smooth, which will result in flat pancakes. Just make sure it’s all combined, and that all the flour has been mixed in from the sides and bottom of the bowl. At this point, the batter rests for 5 minutes.

You can cook the pancakes in a frying pan or sauté pan, but a non-stick griddle pan is the best. No oil or butter needed!

They were definitely tasty, with more body than the regular pancakes. The 100% whole wheat did give the pancakes somewhat of a coarser texture, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I think in the future I might go for the best of both worlds and do 1/2 all-purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat. Regardless, I know they’ll be on our plates again.

Whole Wheat Pancakes (adapted from Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here for More Food)

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• slightly less than 2 cups milk, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well. In a medium-sized bowl whisk the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined
2. Stir wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and mix until the batter just comes together. Do not overmix; there should be lumps left in the batter. Allow the batter to rest for 5 minutes.
3. While the batter is resting, preheat a griddle pan over medium-low heat. If the pan isn’t nonstick, rub it down with a little butter. The griddle is ready when water dances across the surface.
4. Ladle 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle and cook until bubbles form in the batter and the bottom is golden, approximately 3 minutes. Flip and cook until the second side is golden, about 2 minutes.
5. Serve right away or keep the pancakes warm in an oven set to “warm”, or the lowest heat setting.

A friend was having a birthday brunch potluck, so I was looking for a recipe that I could quickly make the morning of, would travel well, and of course be a tasty addition. I considered recipes I’d already made and were thus proven, and I considered sweeter items like muffins or scones, but I ultimately settled on these cheddar paprika drop biscuits from Joy the Baker. I think I’ve only ever made roll-out biscuits before, and the drop kind were definitely simple and delicious.

First the dry ingredients, including the paprika, go in the bowl and get mixed together.

Like a good biscuit, the cold butter is cut in with a pastry cutter (or forks or the end of a whisk) so that it is crumbly. It was pretty warm in my kitchen the morning I made these, so I definitely had to put the mix back in the fridge for a bit to keep the butter from getting too melty. I took the opportunity to prepare my baking sheets with parchment paper.

I finely shredded about 6 ounces worth of extra sharp cheddar and mixed it well with the flour and butter mixture, making sure it got pretty well coated and most of the big clumps of cheese got broken up.

The wet ingredients: only heavy cream, which is mixed well enough so that all of the flour mixture is incorporated, but isn’t overmixed.

The original recipe called for using a half cup measure for giant biscuits, or a 1/4 cup measure for smaller ones but as I attempted to use a 1/4 cup and was winding up with huge biscuits even then, I downgraded to a couple of tablespoons. These got sprinkled with paprika before going in the oven.

The biscuits spread out into little mounds. The cheese was present, but they didn’t have an overly cheesy flavor, nor was the paprika very distinct. All of the flavors kind of melded together for a delicious addition to a pot luck brunch!

Cheddar Paprika Drop Biscuits (from Joy the Baker, adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika, plus more for dusting
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
• 6 ounces cheddar, finely grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and paprika.
3. Using a pastry cutter, fork or the end of a wire whisk, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles course meal with a few larger clumps remaining. Stir in the cheese with a fork.   
4. Add the cream and stir until the dough just comes together. The dough will be sticky; don’t over mix.
5. Scoop 1–2 tablespoons of dough about 1 1/2-inches apart of the prepared baking sheet. Lightly dust with paprika.
6. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool biscuits on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I’ve never made a full size Dutch Baby aka Dutch Baby Bunny aka German Pancake, but I was intrigued by these small ones that are baked in muffin tins from Make and Takes. The unlike some recipes, this batter doesn’t include any sugar and isn’t inherently sweet, which apparently makes it equivalent to Yorkshire Puddings. For me, however, it will become sweet, eggy, Dutch baby pancakes.

I neglected to take any pictures of the batter before it was mixed together, but given the small number of ingredients it’s pretty straightforward. There are 6 eggs in this batter, which makes it supremely eggy, but when combined with flour and butter, the reaction is like magic…

Pop up! When they first came out of the oven they were really high, but then they sank down a little as they cooled.

This recipe makes enough to fill more than one 12-muffin pan, and the only other muffin pan I have makes gigantic muffins. I got three more out of the batter after filling the wells of standard muffin pan about half full, and those did some serious popping.

Doused with maple syrup and dusted with powdered sugar, these little Dutch baby pancakes were very tasty and made a great alternative to the same old buttermilk pancakes. As I mentioned, there’s actually no sugar in the batter, so these could even be used in a savory dish (which is after all what they are used for as Yorkshire Puddings).

Baby Dutch Baby Pancakes (courtesy of Make and Takes)

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• dash salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine.
3. Fill wells in a greased standard muffin pan about half full. You’ll likely have more than what will fill in one muffin pan, so have a second one ready for overflow.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until puffy and golden on top.