This morning on KLTV‘s Good Morning East Texas I made a simple, lovely French dessert called a flaugnarde. It is simply a custard-like batter poured over some lovely fruit in a tart pan, baked, and served warm topped with a dusting of powdered sugar.  It is basically the very same thing as a clafoutis, which I blogged about here: Simple and Beautiful Clafoutis: A Taste of Summer in France on Your Table. The only difference is that a clafoutis is ONLY made with cherries.  If you change to another fruit, you change the name to flaugnarde.  I guess they love their cherries so much in that region of France that they honor this dessert with its own special name.   🙂

How to pronounce flaugnarde: (audio pronunciation)

The flaugnarde that I made this morning included raspberries and plums.  I sliced thin slices of plum,  lined them up in the pan, sprinkled raspberries all in between the slices, then topped with the batter. It bakes at 350 f0r 45 minutes to an hour.  Easy!

Video of making a Flaugnarde on In the Kitchen W/Mama Steph.

Simple and Beautiful Flaugnarde (French Flan Tart with Fruit)

 Yield : For 6 to 8 people

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 cups fruit (berries and cherries work well)
• 1¼ cups milk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tb vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ½ cup flour (scooped and leveled)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• Powdered sugar in a shaker or small sifter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly butter a baking dish. (I used a 8.5″ round ceramic tart pan)

Place the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, the eggs, vanilla, salt, and flour in your blender jar in the order in which they are listed. Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute.

Pour a ¼-inch layer of batter in the baking dish or pie plate. Set over moderate heat (in heated oven or on warm  burner) for a minute or two until a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish. Remove from heat. Spread the fruit over the batter and sprinkle on 1/3 cup sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

Place in middle position of preheated oven and bake for about an hour.  It  is done when it has puffed and browned, and a needle or knife plunged into its center comes out clean. Sprinkle top of  the flaugnarde  with powdered sugar just before bringing it to the table. (This need not be served hot, but is usually at least still somewhat warm. However, I still think it’s great when cooled. It will sink down slightly as it cools.)

Isn’t that dishtowel adorable? It’s from The Cook’s Nook in Longview, Texas. She has the cutest stuff! You should make the trip over there to check out everything and eat lunch while you’re there; they have a cafe! It’s wonderful!

I hope you’ll try this simple dessert, which really amounts to “peasant food” in the rural French countryside.  Just the kind of French cooking I love! 

Enjoy!