Gourmets 50 Most Influential Women in Food #27 Anne Willan-Clafoutis Limousin

One delicious and easy dessert!

This weeks one of 50 is Anne Willan. She is #27 on Gourmets list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Food. She was born in Newcastle, England in 1938, and is the founder of the prestigious Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne cooking school, in Burgundy France.  Anne was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's "Who's Who in Food and Beverage" in America in 1986.  She is an authority on French cooking, with more than 35 years of experience as a cooking teacher, cookbook author and food columnist. Her book "The Country Cooking of France" won two James Beard Foundation book awards in 2008. One for best international cookbook and one for best cookbook photography. Anne was also named by Bon Appetit magazine as Cooking Teacher of the Year in 2000. She was an associate editor of Gourmet magazine and food editor of the Washington Star before moving to Paris, where she started La Varenne cooking school.
I decided to make Anne's Clafoutis Limosin ( Cherry Batter Pudding ). I chose this because I love custard puddings and this has a custard base. I know cherries are out of season but when I saw this recipe I had to make it. I used canned tart cherries packed in water. I'm sure this would have been better with fresh cherries but this was really delicious. It was such a nice easy  dessert for a very crazy week of decorating and shopping. I will be putting this Clafoutis on my "goto" list for quick desserts. 

Place cherries into baking dish that has been buttered and sugered

Pour the batter over the cherries

Bake at 375〫for 1 hour

This is so luscious  

Cherry Batter Pudding
Clafoutis Limousin

Serves 6 to 8 1 pound/450 grams tart cherries, rinsed and dried Butter and sugar for the dish 3 tablespoons/45 milliliters/1 1/2 fluid ounces kirsch or Cognac, for sprinkling Confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling                                                                                                                Batter: 1/4 cup/60 grams/2 ounces sugar 4 eggs 1/4 cup/30 grams/1 ounce flour Pinch of salt 2 cups/500 milliliters/16 fluid ounces milk 1 1/2-quart/1.5-liter / 11/4-quart baking dish Butter the baking dish, and sprinkle it with sugar, turning and tilting until the dish is evenly coated. Spread the cherries in the dish. For the batter, put the sugar in a medium bowl, add the eggs, and whisk until light and frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the flour and salt and stir just until smooth. Do not overbeat or the pudding will be tough. Stir in the milk. The cherries and batter can be prepared an hour or two before baking and kept covered at room temperature. Heat the oven to 375˚F/190˚C/Gas 5. The batter may have separated slightly, so stir to mix it, and strain it over the cherries. Bake the pudding until browned and just set, 50 to 60 minutes.  Let it cool 5 to 10 minutes, then sprinkle it with the kirsch (the aroma from the alcohol is a treat in itself.) Dust it generously with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm. Excerpted from THE COUNTRY COOKING OF FRANCE by Anne Willan, Chronicle Books, 2007.

Thanks to Mary of One Perfect Bite for this wonderful challenge. These are the other bloggers who are also featuring the recipes of Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray. Hope you'll check them out. They are all very talented ladies.


Val - More Than Burnt Toast 
Joanne - Eats Well With Others 
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey 
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney 
Jeanette - Healthy Living
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen 
Sue - The View from Great Island 
Barbara - Movable Feasts
Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds 
Amy - Beloved Green 
Linda A - There and Back Again 
Martha - Lines from Linderhof 
Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits 
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen
Annie - Most Lovely Things
Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook