Apple Clafoutis With Caramel Sauce

This custardy one pan apple clafoutis with caramel sauce is the most delicious breakfast treat and a breeze to make. Too easy not to make. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and guess what? Clafoutis counts as breakfast! This classic French dessert is made with fruit that is either covered or topped with batter that consists of eggs, sugar, milk, and flour. It’s a thick custard that has the texture of an oven-baked pancake. Because it’s usually an egg-heavy batter similar to crêpes or Dutch baby pancakes, it can be served either for dessert or as a rich breakfast.

Because of its similarity to a giant pancake, I thought it would be the perfect recipe to make with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix. I just made some savoury scallion blinis with the mix recently and they were so good. It’s a pre-bended Gluten free mix that actually tastes good and I had fun partnering up with Bob’s Red Mill to show you guys just how versatile a good pancake mix is.

Obviously this is not the most traditional clafloutis because it’s made with a pancake mix but for a more tradition clafloutis batter you can check out my Plum Clafoutis. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix is made from whole grain stone ground sorghum brown rice flour. They have all the products you need for your breakfast needs while catering to those in your family who have specific food allergies.

When you bake a clafoutis, it will puff up like a little soufflé, browned on the edges, but creamy custard-like in texture within. It’s traditionally made with cherries but really and truly any fruit could work. It’s the perfect blank canvas for almost any fruit you can think of: from stone fruit to berries to pears and figs and everything under the sun. When it comes to apples and pears - fruit that doesn’t get jammy as quickly as other fruit. I would recommend stewing them in a bit of butter first to allow them to cook down a bit before baking off in the clafloutis. I went a step further and cooked mine in a butter sugar sauce - aka caramel sauce which I reserved for after the apple clafloutis is baked because apples and caramel are just made for each other. I added some spice to the batter along with a touch of booze for a little extra flavour. The bourbon is optional if you want to keep it alcohol free. I serve mine warm with a dollop of whip cream and leftovers are great even cold with a dollop of yoghurt. It’s extra special dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with the caramel sauce. One heavenly breakfast or brunch addition. Enjoy!

I have partnered up with Bob’s Red Mill to bring you this fabulous recipe, but all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Olive & Mango.

Recipe

Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the apples and caramel

• 4 baking apples, (about 2 lbs total)
• 5 tbsp butter
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp water
  

For the clafoutis

• 1 cup of your favourite pancake mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix)
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsps melted butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 tbsp Bourbon
• 5 tbsp granulated sugar
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Peel apples (optional) and core then slice into 1” thick slices.
3. For Clafloutis: Whisk egg, melted butter and granulated sugar together then whisk in the pancake mix and pinch of salt - drizzle in half and half and then whisk in vanilla and bourbon and set aside while making the caramel sauce.
4. For Apples & Caramel sauce: Combine 5 Tbsp. butter, ⅓ cup brown sugar, and 3 Tbsp. water in a large heatproof skillet. Heat over medium, stirring, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil. Cook, without stirring but occasionally swirling skillet, until toffee is thickened and bubbles are slightly slower to pop, about 2 minutes.
5. Add apple slices to skillet and cook, shaking or stirring to toss apples occasionally, until just tender and staring to get golden, 8-10 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and scrape apple toffee mixture into a large bowl.
6. Rinse and dry skillet well, grease well with butter to coat bottom and sides. Dust buttered surfaces with powdered sugar and tap out excess.
7. Mix batter once more, then pour into skillet. Using a slotted spoon, remove apple slices from bowl, leaving sauce behind, and arrange across bottom of skillet.
8. Bake custard until batter is puffed and deep golden brown around the edges and golden in the center, approx 35-40 minutes. Carefully remove from oven (handle will be hot!) and let cool. Custard will look puffy but will fall slightly as it cools.
9. Let rest at least 15 minutes before serving. Dust with more powdered sugar and drizzle with reserved caramel sauce before serving.