Low Carb Cherry Almond Clafoutis

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Kalyn over at Kalyn’s Kitchen is posting low carb recipes for the month of January. Sam at Becks and Posh has declared January low-sugar month for Sugar High (NOT) Friday #15. So when I found some plump, very purple Bing cherries from Chile the other day, I decided to play with my cherry clafoutis recipe to see if I could lower the carbs by omitting sugar and adding ground almonds in place of some of the flour.

Using Splenda, fat free half & half, almond meal from Trader Joes and Smart Balance , the carbs are very minimal and the protein content has been boosted by the addition of the nut flour. In other iterations of this recipe I have gone so far as to use an egg substitute, which worked surprisingly well, but I decided to use real eggs here as creating food that has cherries, vanilla extract and flour as the only real food items is a bit extreme even for me.

This dessert is very satisfying. I eat low carb and low fat and exercise and, simply put, need more than a piece of fruit at times to satisfy my craving for something substantial and sweet. That said, if omitting so many natural ingredients is too much for you, I’ve included the real thing (in parentheses) in the ingredients list. If you stop to consider, 1/3 cup of sugar in all that batter is not very much for one dessert.) For those wanting to know a bit more about Splenda, there are two web sites you can visit, one pro-Splenda and one, while not anti-Splenda per se, takes a cautious approach. If you want to read about all the Splenda nay-sayers, just Google "Splenda", you'll get all the reading material you could possibly want.

In this go ‘round, the clafoutis batter got a bit discolored by the juicy cherries. I don’t know if it was due to the batch of cherries, being very purple, or if it was a reaction to the almond meal. I’ve never had it happen before. One thing you can do to mitigate some of the purple is to leave the pits in the cherries, as is done in some parts of France. I would imagine it may be a bit daunting to eat though. Enjoy!

Low-Carb Cherry Almond Clafoutis
Christine's Original Recipe
(regular ingredients appear in parentheses)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
1 tablespoon Smart Balance (1 tablespoon butter), liberally butter a 7 ½” x 11” x 2” ceramic dish.
3 cups, packed, Bing cherries, washed and pitted, stems removed
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 cup fat free 1/2 & 1/2 (1 cup whole milk plus 1/4 cup heavy cream)
2 teaspoons good vanilla with no sugar added (read the label!)
1/3 cup Splenda (1/3 cup sugar)
Scant pinch Kosher salt
1/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (2/3 cup flour, omitting the almond meal)

In a bowl, combine eggs, 1/2 & 1/2, vanilla, Splenda and salt and whisk with a hand held mixer until blended. Add the almond meal and the flour and whisk until smooth and lump free.
Pour 1/4 cup of the batter in the buttered dish. Arrange the cherries in a single layer atop the batter. They may be packed together closely. Pour the rest of the batter over the cherries, shaking the dish gently to let the batter settle a bit.
Place in the 350 oven for about 35 – 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool just a bit. This is best when served slightly warm with a bit of fat free 1/2 & 1/2 or lightly whisked, unsweetened heavy cream poured over the top, but it’s also good at room temperature and straight out of the fridge the next day. Although by then it may have become even more purple!