Blueberry Clafoutis

One mixing bowl desserts and cakes... you gotta love that, right!?  I came across a recipe via a Facebook ad thrown at my face that sounded sort of souffle-ish, sort of custard-ish, sort of cheesecake-ish... and I thought it sounded pretty good, but would be better with a few adjustments.  Lo and behold, it came out great first time around!  What I didn't know is that there is a name for these sort of dishes - the French call it clafoutis.  This is my version with blueberries... not super sweet, which is the kind of desserts we prefer.  You could most certainly sprinkle the top with powdered sugar or cinnamon-sugar if you wanted.

Had a cover of a Depeche Mode song come on the speakers while I was typing this recipe out and I was like, "Who is this?!  I like this!"  Turns out, it was No Use For A Name doing "Enjoy the Silence".  Give it a go!  -jen

 

BLUEBERRY CLAFOUTIS
Prep Time: 10 minute
Cook Time: 50-55 (with an additional 30 to rest)
Difficulty:  Easy
Serves: 6-8

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1+1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1+1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9" round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray - bottom and up sides.

Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until smooth.  Add melted butter, ricotta, yogurt and vanilla, mixing until smooth.  Add flour, salt and baking powder  - mix until combined.

Pour batter into prepared cake pan.  Sprinkle blueberries over the top.  Bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes.  Edges should turn golden brown and tester inserted in center should come out clean.  Cool in pan on baking rack for 30 minutes.  Serve room temp or chilled.

Lemon Ricotta Cake With Blueberries

What I like about this cake is that it sounds sort of decadent (to me, anyway), but it was solely inspired by the extremely tight budget we're on simply by using what we had in the house.   Had some leftover ricotta from making lasagna, blueberries in the freezer that I'd picked last summer, and we almost always have lemons in the house.  Just had a sweet craving and decided to do something about it!

While baking, we had some Pandora station on that played this song about forty times, and though I tried to think of something cakey or lemony to go with the recipe, I just kept coming up with this song, so I might as well just get it out of my freaking head!!  Dramarama's "Anything Anything".  -jen

 LEMON RICOTTA CAKE WITH BLUEBERRIES

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• zest of 1 large lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 1 cup blueberries**

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Generously coat a bunt pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the egg, 1 at a time.  Then add the Ricotta, milk, lemon zest, and vanilla until combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture until completely blended.  Then add the lemon juice.  Stir in the blueberries by hand.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Remove cake and allow to cool completely.

**Note: I found my blueberries all sunk to the bottom of the pan (top of the cake) and think next time I would spoon 2/3 of the batter into the pan, sprinkle the blueberries on top, and spoon the remainder of the batter over it.  I imagine you'd just get a layer of blueberry still, but they'd sink to the middle rather than all the way down.  Just an idea!


LEMON ICING

• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• zest and juice of 1 large lemon
• 2-3 tablespoons Limoncello (optional)

Whisk to combine sugar and lemon juice.  Use Limoncello liqueur or water in tablespoon increments to thin icing just until it's a consistency that can be drizzled over the cake.  You don't want it too thin, or the cake will just absorb it!