Easy Gooseberry Clafoutis Recipe (A Seasonal Summer Dessert)
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Love gooseberries? Try a tasty seasonal twist on the classic French dessert with this easy gooseberry clafoutis recipe made with fresh summer fruit.
In season from late June into early August, gooseberries are one of my absolute favourite summer fruits. I find they are a great choice if you’re trying to eat more seasonally. Often grown right here in the UK, they tend to have a lower environmental footprint than imported fruits.
Growing up, we had a gooseberry bush at the bottom of our garden. It was always such a treat, mid-summer, to venture down and eat gooseberries straight from the bush, still hot from the summer sun. While I still enjoy eating gooseberries straight up, I’m always on the lookout for good gooseberry recipes.
Recently, while watching TV, I saw one of my favourite chefs, Nigel Slater, cook cherry clafoutis. It looked absolutely amazing, and I made a mental note to myself that it would also be good made with gooseberries.
I completely forgot about that thought until the other day when, on a whim, I bought some cheap Scottish gooseberries from a market stand in Edinburgh. I was going to eat them raw, but then, just in the nick of time, both Nigel’s cherry clafoutis and my hunch about gooseberries came right back to me.
I’m pleased to say my hunch was right, and my partner has requested that I make more and more clafoutis. Coming from him, this is definitely a sign of a good clafoutis! So you can enjoy it too, today, here’s my delicious gooseberry clafoutis recipe:
How To Make Gooseberry Clafoutis
Here’s my gooseberry clafoutis recipe, which I adapted from Nigel Slater. It takes around 45 minutes to make, from start to finish, and is a light, custardy bake that perfectly balances sweet batter with the tartness of seasonal gooseberries:
Ingredients
- 400 g gooseberries
- 30 g butter (plus extra to grease your baking dish)
- 2 eggs
- 150 ml milk
- 90 g granulated sugar
- 90 g flour (sifted)
- 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
- 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Equipment Required
- A sharp knife
- A 20 cm pie dish or baking tin
- Small pan
- A bowl
- A sieve
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180°C or gas mark four.
- Cut the tops and stalks off of your gooseberries, and give them a good wash.
- Butter your pie dish or baking tin, and then lightly sprinkle it with a little bit of icing sugar, before placing your gooseberries in the dish or tin.
- In a separate bowl, beat your eggs and sugar together until creamy. Then add your flour, vanilla extract and milk and mix well until you have a smooth, pourable batter.
- Melt your butter in a small pan and add it to the batter, stirring well.
- Pour the batter over the gooseberries, and place your tin or dish in the oven for around 35 minutes, or until your clafoutis is puffed and golden brown and a skewer or knife comes out clean. The finished texture should be softly set, somewhere between a custard and a light sponge. I had to place some baking parchment over my clafoutis at around the 20 minute mark to stop it burning, so keep an eye out!
How To Serve
Traditionally, clafouti is served warm with a little dusting of icing sugar. It tastes very good.
However, if you want to break with tradition (I already have, by using gooseberries!), then try a dollop of cream or a little Greek yoghurt on the side.
For the photos, I garnished my gooseberry clafoutis with some elderflower. Don’t eat them though – the raw flowers can be mildly toxic in large amounts. It was just for show!
Other Useful Information
If you’re wondering whether you can use frozen gooseberries, the answer is yes. Just thaw them first and drain off any excess liquid to avoid watering down the batter.
This clafoutis is best enjoyed fresh, but leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days and gently reheated. It’s also surprisingly good cold, with the texture becoming a little firmer.
What Is Clafoutis?
Want to know more about clafoutis? Clafoutis is a classic French dessert, typically made with cherries in a thick silky batter.
It’s similar to a flan, with a custard base. Originating from the Limousin region of France, the name comes from the local word claufir, meaning to cover. After all, the classic version sees fresh cherries being covered in batter. In my seasonal version, we’re covering gooseberries in batter instead.
It makes for a fantastic summer dessert, made at the height of the soft fruit season. The sweetness of the batter combined with the sharpness of the gooseberries just hits the spot!
Printer-Friendly Version
Need a printer-friendly version? Here you go:
Gooseberry Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 400 g gooseberries
- 30 g butter plus extra to grease your baking dish
- 2 eggs
- 150 ml milk
- 90 g granulated sugar
- 90 g flour
- 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
- 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C or gas mark four.
- Cut the tops and stalks off of your gooseberries, and give them a good wash.
- Butter your pie dish or baking tin, and then lightly sprinkle it with a little bit of icing sugar, before placing your gooseberries in the dish or tin.
- In a separate bowl, beat your eggs and sugar together until creamy. Then add your flour, vanilla extract and milk and mix well until combined.
- Melt your butter in a small pan and add to the batter, stirring well.
- Pour the batter over the gooseberries, and place your dish or tin in the oven for around 35 minutes, or until your clafoutis is puffed and golden brown and a skewer or knife comes out clean. I had to place some baking parchment over my clafoutis at around the 20 minute mark to stop it burning, so keep an eye out!
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gooseberry jam is really yummy
I’ve never actually tried it before! Do you buy it or do you have a favourite recipe?
Does the icing sugar go into the dough?
Hi Auguste, no, use a little icing sugar to dust the buttered dish, before you add the gooseberries and the batter, and then use the rest to dust the finished dish.
This is delicious! I left it cooking for longer, with a piece of baking parchment over it, but it was worth the wait! Even my gooseberry-disliking family love it!
Thanks Samantha, so glad to hear your family loved it! I’ve got a craving to make it again today!!
Is it possible to make gooseberry clafoutis the day before and reheat it the next day?
Hi Joan, it’s fine to eat cold the next day!
I tried this recipe on Sunday (with some gooseberry-cross fruit we have in the garden) and it was delicious – thanks! :)
My pleasure! We need to thank Nigel for the initial cherry recipe!
i haven’t had gooseberries–only in jam. it looks great!
It’s so tasty, I promise you won’t be disappointed Dina!
I’ve actually never tried gooseberry jam before – will need to try my hand at making some!