This Peach Clafoutis is a simple, yet stunning summer dessert made with fresh peaches baked into a lightly sweet, custardy base. It's so easy to throw together, but also impressive enough to serve at your next dinner party. It's also fun to eat for breakfast right out of the fridge!
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Is there a more perfect, yet underrated in the U.S., summer dessert than clafoutis? It's a light and simple dessert that's often made with fresh fruit like cherries, peaches, or berries.
The baked French dessert has a flan-like batter that makes it almost like a cross between a cake and a custard. If you've ever had a German pancake (or Dutch baby), clafoutis are a bit similar in how they puff up at the edges.
I made my first cherry clafoutis back in college and though I've made it a few times over the years since (ahem, I've been out of college for 20 years now), I've never tried it with other fruits.
But if summer is for cherries, it's also very much for peaches and I knew a peach clafoutis would absolutely hit the spot as a summer dessert.
🧡 Why this recipe works
- Peaches are the star of the show: because this recipe is relatively simple in terms of ingredients, the fresh peach flavor truly shines in this dessert.
- You don't have to peel the peaches: you can if you want, but I like leaving the peels on to save time and give the clafoutis a more rustic look. Plus, the skins will soften when the clafoutis is baked.
- You'll coat the peaches in a bit of flour before baking: this helps to absorb excess moisture from the fruit so the custard can set properly and the clafoutis doesn't get soggy.
- The custard base is rich and silky, but not heavy or dense: thanks to a mix of eggs, cream, and milk, the texture of this clafoutis is absolutely delectable.
- The addition of cardamom adds a little warmth: I absolutely love cardamom, but if you don't, you can certainly replace with ground cinnamon instead.
- It's easy and impressive: Clafoutis looks like an impressive (and absolutely delicious) French dessert, but it's deceptively simple to make. It's perfect for serving at fall dinner parties.
🗒 Ingredients
Here's everything you need for this simple peach clafoutis (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Peaches
- Lemon juice
- All-purpose flour
- Large eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Ground cardamom: you can use ground cinnamon if you prefer
- Salt
- Heavy cream
- Whole milk
- Confectioners' sugar: for dusting finished clafoutis
🍑 Recipe tips
Clafoutis is an incredibly easy dessert to make, but I do want to share some tips for how you can get the most perfect peach clafoutis possible:
- The best peaches to use are ripe ones that are still firm. Really soft peaches can fall apart in the batter and make the clafoutis overly wet.
- Slice peaches thinly, about ¼" thick. Leave the skin on for a rustic look.
- Toss peach slices with lemon juice and flour. The lemon juice keeps the peaches from browning and add brightness and the flour lightly coats the peach slices to absorb excess juice as the clafoutis bakes.
- The clafoutis batter consists of eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cardamom, and salt whisked together until combined and frothy. If you don't like the flavor of cardamom, you can use cinnamon instead. Or even a mixture!
- Layer the peaches in the bottom of the pie plate in a criss-cross manner to allow clafoutis batter to weave around the fruit. It doesn't have to be fancy or require too much thought.
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- Save some slices for topping the dessert after you pour the batter in. When you pour the batter in, some peach slices will sink and some will float; just let whatever happens happen. And then top the custard to make a little design if you want.
- Be aware that bake time of the clafoutis may vary. Lots of factors, including the juiciness of the peaches and the depth of your baking dish can affect the bake time. Start checking the clafoutis after it's been in the oven for 45 minutes, but note that it can take up to 65 minutes to fully bake.
- To check if clafoutis is done, insert a knife or skewer about two inches from the center. It should come out mostly clean. T he center should jiggle slightly, but not look wet. You can tent the plate with foil if it needs to bake longer, but you don't want it to continue browning.
- Be sure to let the clafoutis cool a bit before slicing and serving. It will firm up and set as it cools, so give it about 20-30 minutes to cool.
- Once the clafoutis has cooled enough to set the custard, it can be served warm, room temperature, or cold.
- Dust the clafoutis with confectioners' sugar for some extra sweetness and visual appeal.
It's most traditional to serve clafoutis warm, but I absolutely love it chilled right out of the fridge.
Oh, and while it's traditionally a dessert, clafoutis also works as a snack or even a brunch item.
I'm not going to lie; I ate a slice of this peach clafoutis right out of the fridge several times while testing the recipe.
It's mostly eggs, milk, and fruit, so totally fair game, right??
🎉 Flavor variations
I love this peach clafoutis as is; simple and delicious with the peach flavor shining. But there are lots of things you could do change the flavor up a bit. Here are some ideas:
- Instead of ground cardamom or cinnamon, try ground ginger, cloves, or nutmeg to make this an early fall dessert.
- Use light brown sugar instead of granulated sugar for a caramel-like dessert.
- Swap half the milk with coconut milk and add some shredded coconut for a fun tropical flavor.
- Add fresh berries, like blueberries, raspberries, or sliced strawberries. You can even add sliced cherries.
- Add slivered almonds; they go wonderfully with peaches!
- Add chopped fresh herbs, like basil or thyme for a unique flavor twist.
- Add a little bourbon for a boozy flair. Just be sure not to add more than 1-2 tablespoon as too much liquid may prevent the clafoutis from setting properly.
However you make this dessert, it's going to be a hit!
🧁 More peach recipes
I love the peaches can be enjoyed in both sweet and savory recipes. And I'll be eating them and adding them to recipes until they're out of season!
Here are some of my favorite peach recipes:
I'm also obsessed with this delicious peach bread.
If you've never tried making clafoutis before, I hope you'll try my peach clafoutis to see just how easy and delicious it is!
📖 Recipe
Peach Clafoutis
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Ingredients
- 1 lb peaches thinly sliced (about 3-4 peaches)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour divided
- 4 large eggs
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar plus more for sprinkling on dish
- 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom (can use cinnamon instead if preferred)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- Confectioners' sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously butter a pie plate.
- If your peach slices are super juicy, pat them with paper towels to eliminate some of the moisture. Put the slices in a large bowl with lemon juice and 1 tablespoon flour in a bowl and toss to combine.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cardamom (or cinnamon), and salt until combined and frothy.
- Whisk in the remaining ½ cup flour until just combined. Add heavy cream and whole milk to the bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Arrange peaches in prepared pie dish. I layer them over each other several times, making sure not to pack them too tightly, so batter can get through. You can reserve a few to place on top of batter.
- Pour batter over peaches. Some will likely rise up.
- Bake clafoutis for 45-55 minutes, until the custard is puffed, golden around the edges, and just set in the center. A knife inserted about 2 inches from the center should come out mostly clean and the center should jiggle slightly, but not look wet. Note: If your peaches are extra juicy or you're using a deep baking dish, your clafoutis may take up to 65 minutes to fully set. Keep an eye on it and loosely tent with foil if the top starts to brown too quickly.
- Let clafoutis cool for at least 20 minutes, so custard can set.
- Dust your peach clafoutis with confectioners' sugar before serving.
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