Honey Apricot Clafoutis

Who is this lady? First rhubars, then drupe, now clafoutis? There sure are some strange words getting thrown around on this blog and I'm fully aware of it. Fun fact about me: I was an English major in college. I asked for a Writers' Thesaurus for my 17th birthday. I won third place in the 2nd grade spelling bee; I lost to "parallel." In short, I love words, especially the weird ones.

Another fun fact: I studied and learned and lived the French language for a time, and there even came a time after living with a host family for 4 months that I became very comfortable with the language, although now I can't watch a French movie without subtitles and my ear to the speaker. Clafoutis is a wildly underrated French dessert -- maybe because people are intimidated by pronouncing it -- and it's even more wildly simple to put together. It's a quick and easy fruit flan, of sorts. It's most often made using cherries, but any fruit will do (really, any fruit at all), and it's like the chocolate chip cookie of French baked goods: versatile, simple, customizable, and whipped up in a flash when need be. Just like savory crêpes are the French spaghetti of a family dinner.

Anywho, there should be nothing stopping you from making a clafoutis, and you'd be surprised to see how surprised people are when they take a bite: "Oh, this is actually really good!"

INGREDIENTS

9 apricots, pitted and thinly sliced, or halved

3/4 cup heavy cream

7 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon honey

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

Get ready for the easiest recipe, ever. Ready? Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch pie plate and line apricots, sliced or halved, along the bottom. Combine all remaining ingredients and whisk vigorously until you have a smooth, pourable batter. Slowly pour batter over apricots. Bake clafoutis in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the center is set and the edges are slightly browned. Let cool completely, generously dust with powdered sugar and serve!