Raspberry and White Chocolate Clafoutis

A delicious twist on this classic French dish

I have to say that I've really been inspired by Rachel Khoo's 'The Little Paris Kitchen', and PB believes it is his right to choose whatever he fancies from it for me to make him because he bought it me as a gift! Naturally I give in, as all of the recipes look so delicious.

The pictures of the soft fruit bleeding into crisp but moist, almondy batter were more than PB could resist, and he requested his own personal recipe. With raspberries and white chocolate bought from the market, I was ready to make PB's take on this traditional dessert.

Having buttered and floured my dish, I made neat little rows of raspberry and small chunks of white chocolate to ensure an even distribution in the final bake. The recipe specifies 350g of soft fruit/chocolate for the filling, however, with 250g of raspberries and 50g of chocolate, there was physically no more room left in my dish, and it certainly did not lack a fruity punch when we came to eat it last night!

After aligning my fruit in military fashion, I whisked up Rachel Khoo's recipe for the clafoutis batter which includes ground almonds for added lightness and creme fraiche for a little more 'tang'.

In a similar fashion to 'Toad in the Hole', the silky batter is poured over the fruit and chocolate mixture and placed straight into a preheated oven until golden and relatively firm to the touch, to ensure that the batter is cooked all the way through. Rachel Khoo suggests between 30 and 40 minutes in the oven, and, having checked at 30 minutes and found the top a little too gelatinous, I added 4 minutes to the timer, and it was perfect.  The batter had domed beautifully and I called PB up to take a look at my creation. He wanted to dive straight in, but I knew that it would taste all the better for a few minutes standing.

After about 10 minutes, the dome had deflated slightly and I served up two generous portions. With the raspberries being very early in the season they had a delicious sharpness which cut through the batter and sweetness of the white chocolate. The white chocolate had melted and gave bursts of sugary sweetness without overpowering the fruit flavour. I know that the purists amongst you will disapprove of the straying from tradition (including my mother, no doubt!) but, if you fancy something a little different why don't you give it a go? It's super easy to make and you can have fun thinking up your own take on this tasty treat.