BANANA CLAFOUTIS (gluten free)

Recently I have had good results with gluten free baking by simply using Dove’s Farm gluten free flour instead of normal flour in the recipe.  I simply substitute one for the other.  A good tip is to add slightly more liquid than given in the basic recipe and so far it seems to work fine.

Clafoutis is basically a pudding made of a layer of fruit with a batter poured over, which is baked and then served warm or cold.  I have made many a clafoutis in the past based on a recipe featured some time ago on my friend Susan’s blog, which was originally for cherries, but I have used apricots, plums and prunes soaked in brandy (delicious!)
Not long ago I saw a comment in another friend’s blog where banana clafoutis was mentioned.  It never occurred to me to make a clafoutis from bananas before and the idea is slightly problematic as Nick does not like cooked bananas at all – he can just about bring himself to eat a fresh one!  This is a shame as I love bananas in any form, but eating a whole banana pudding by myself is not a great idea!

Luckily the need for a gluten free pudding cropped up sooner rather than later so I decided to give the banana clafoutis a try.  I actually made two gluten free desserts, in case anyone else disliked cooked bananas.  The other one was indeed much more popular – details to follow - which in fact left most of the banana clafoutis for me to eat up!  I was sensible and wrapped slices of it to put in the freezer!
I thought it was delicious.  If you like bananas and want to make a really easy pudding that’s a little bit out of the ordinary, this is a recipe worth trying.  You can use normal flour or gluten free flour and of course you can use other fruits than bananas!  In this case, because there is lots of liquid in the batter, I didn’t add any extra and the clafoutis turned out just right I thought, nice and firm and easy to serve in slices, rather than with a spoon.
Recipe for easy clafoutis (huge thanks to Susan for the original idea)
Ingredients
50p gluten free plain flour (or normal flour if you don’t need to be gluten free)
50g ground almonds
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
125ml cream
125ml milk
½tsp vanilla extract
3 large bananas, ripe but not overripe
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Grease a suitable baking dish*.
Put all the ingredients except the fruit into a bowl and mix together using an electric whisk or stick blender, to make a smooth batter.
Peel the bananas and slice thickly, arrange in the bottom of the dish.
Pour the batter over the top and sprinkle with flaked almonds if you like.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until no longer liquid and lightly browned.
Serve warm or at room temperature, by itself or with cream.
Serves 6.
*Also excellent as individual puddings, just grease 6 ramekins and bake for 20-30 mins.