Blueberry Clafouti and Raspberry "Pudding"

Hello, Blueberry, my old friend. 


Here in Vermont, Sam, Ethan and I recently enjoyed a lovely afternoon picking the most luscious blueberries right down the road from our house. Adam's Berry Farm is an organic farm located in Burlington's intervale, a nice patch of fertile land along the Winooski River right in the heart of Burlington. We pick there every year because produce does not get any more local than this and because they don't use icky pesticides that make you feel bad about your kids eating handfuls of the sweet berries as you pick. This year has yielded a tremendous crop of extra sweet and big berries. We ate many, many handfuls. 

What a beautiful pie I made!

Of course, I made a pie right away and today I made a clafouti (see recipe below). Clafouti is a dessert from the countryside of France—usually cherries topped with an eggy batter, but sometimes a more cakey topping.  I had to try it because it reminds me of a dessert my mother's (LaPierre) family has enjoyed for the past 3-4 generations, at least. We call it Raspberry Pudding, but it is more like an upside down cake. Nowadays, my mom and sisters cheat and use a yellow cake mix instead of from-scratch batter, but I always used Memere's recipe, a simple batter that takes only minutes to prepare. I included the recipe below.


Anyhoo, I was checking the internet for recipe ideas, thinking I might make a trifle with the remaining blueberries, some left over angel food cake, and some lemony whipped mascarpone. I stumbled upon a recipe for Old Fashioned Blackberry Pudding at the One Perfect Bite blog, which reminded me of Memere's pudding, which led me to try to figure out why the heck it is called pudding, which lead me to clafouti, of course. It just seemed prudent to try it out so I found a recipe that looked excellent at The Curvy Carrot (the recipe was originally from Sur la Table).  I will go back and try the blueberry pudding after my next round of blueberry picking.


The dessert, which I ate a little warmer than room temperature, was custardy and delicious—not too sweet, a silky texture, and bursting with berries. Not at all like my family's pudding, actually. I think I might even like it better. From what I read, there are other versions of clafouti that are cakier, which may be the origin of Memere's pudding. Or, perhaps it is from the British tradition of calling cakey things puddings. Or, perhaps it is related to summer berry puddings (another French creation, I think), which combine juicy berries and stale bread in a molded treat. Maybe I'll never know for sure, but so far it has been tasty trying to find out.

Blueberry Clafouti 

(originally from Sur la Table)

Doesn't look good? It was soooo good.

Servings: 6

1 tsp. unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup, plus 1 Tbs. granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

3 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Pinch of sea salt

1/4 cup almonds, toasted, and coarsely chopped 

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Using the butter, grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 2-inch round baking dish, or another low-sided baking dish with a 1½-quart capacity. Sprinkle the bottom and sides with the 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Put the blueberries in the prepared dish in an even layer.

Put the eggs, milk, flour, vanilla and almond extracts, salt, and the remaining ⅓ cup granulated sugar in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour carefully over the berries so as not to dislodge them. Scatter the almonds over the surface.

Bake until the clafouti is puffed and firm to the touch, about 35 minutes. Cool on a rack for about 20 minutes, then dust thickly with confectioners' sugar. The clafouti is best when served warm.

My modifications: I left out the almond extract and the toasted almonds and added a little lemon extract and zest instead. Since I had only lowfat milk, I added a Tbs. of melted butter to the batter.


Here's the family recipe, which would also work well with blueberries or vice versa. You can decide which one you like best.

Memere LaPierre's Raspberry Pudding
serves 8-12


2 eggs, beaten
1 full cup sugar
3 Tbs.  Crisco (I use butter)
2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 quart  basket of fresh raspberries (4 cups)
1 1/2 c. sugar (this can be halved, otherwise it is quite sweet)

Cream together eggs, 1 c. sugar, and Crisco.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and add into cream along with 1/2 c. milk.  Beat, adding remaining 1/2 c. milk and vanilla.

Grease 9x13” baking pan and line with half of batter.  Top evenly with raspberries; pour 1 1/2 c. sugar over berries; then top with remaining batter.  Bake at 375° for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350° and bake for another 40 minutes.  

Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.