B is for Bison, C is for Clafoutis

by Jan Drexler

This is an exciting time of year in the Black Hills! 

Not only are we enjoying the annual influx of bikers for the Sturgis Rally, but it's rut season for the bison.

What is rut season?

Well, it's when these ladies with babies in tow...

...look awfully good to these gents...

The bull is on the left, and the cow he is "tending" is on the right.

...who have every intention of making sure we have more cinnamon babies next April and May!

Would you believe this little guy is one of this year's babies? He is already losing his cinnamon coloring - his fur/hair/whatever has gradually been getting darker over the last four months, and his little nubby horns are already growing!

But give him five or six years, and he'll look like this:

That is one big bull! And you can see his scars - you don't get to be the father of cinnamon babies without pushing around the other bulls. When they fight...well, you don't want to get too close anywhere near!

But in another month, the cows will be in their herds and the bulls will go off alone, or in pairs. The younger ones gather in groups of four or five. Best buddies spending the winter together. All animosity is forgotten...until next July!

Now on to the next letter of the alphabet - C!

I've shared the recipe for clafoutis here on the blog before, with pears one time, and with apricots the other. But when I was looking for a way to use some sweet cherries I found at the grocery store, I learned that they are the fruit used in traditional clafoutis!

Sweet Cherry Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a French dessert. It is a thick custard with fruit.

Does that sound hard? It isn't! This is one of the easiest recipes ever!

ingredients:

1 cup pitted sweet cherries

3 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First, pit your cherries. This is much easier if you have a cherry pitter - I put one on my wish list after doing these!

Preheat your oven to 350°, and butter and lightly flour a 9" pie plate. Spread your pitted cherries over the bottom.

Whisk the eggs and sugars together, then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix until the batter is smooth.

Next, pour the batter carefully over the cherries. If you pour it in too fast, the cherries end up in a big pile.

Don't ask me how I know that!

Bake at 350° for 35 to 45 minutes. Mine took 45 minutes to get done - I live at 4000 ft altitude, and things take longer to bake up here.

How do you know if it's done?

As it bakes, the clafouti gets puffy, starting at the edges and going in to the center. It isn't done until the middle is just as puffy as the outside edges. If it starts getting too brown before it's done, you can tent a piece of aluminum foil over it.

As it cools, the clafouti collapses. Don't worry - it's supposed to do that!

You can sprinkle some powdered sugar on top, but I like it just the way it is.

In the traditional clafoutis, the cherries are cooked with the pits inside. This would make for difficult eating, I think, but it also added an almond flavor to the dish. If you want to, you can add 1/4 teaspoon of almond flavoring along with the vanilla to give it a more authentic flavor.

After trying the cherry clafoutis, I think I might try it with sour cherries next time - or go back to apricots. Or maybe peach...

That's one thing about clafoutis! You can use almost any fruit!

What fruit do you think you'll try?

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.