Cherry buckwheat clafoutis

I had a special request from my friend Judy to post more buckwheat recipes. It seems the least I can do after encouraging her to buy a bag of buckwheat flour to make this and these. So, here we are, with something suitable for dessert, or Sunday breakfast, especially on a cold and rainy day like today. I love clafoutis, as it's like a very thick crepe. I like the custardy, slightly stodgy texture of it, and I like playing with the proportions of the ingredients to make it cakier or eggier. I prefer it on the custardy side.

I usually make this with all-purpose flour, but thought I'd try a few different versions: one with half all-purpose and half buckwheat flour; one with half ground almonds and half buckwheat; and the third with equal measures of all-purpose, buckwheat and almond. The all-purpose and buckwheat combination was the best of the three: a bit heartier than an all-wheat flour clafoutis, but delicious. The versions with almonds were good, but they separated to make a custard layer on top (very good), and a somewhat chewy layer of the buckwheat and almond on the bottom (not so good).

I looked at a variety of recipes before making this, starting with Julia Child's, and cobbled together one that is a bit lighter than I would make for a dessert clafoutis. Feel free to substitute cream for milk and add some melted butter to the batter.

Cherry buckwheat clafoutis
Makes 3 ramekins' worth, but easy to scale up for more. Triple it for a 9" dish.

1 egg
⅓ to ½ cup whole milk, or cream (I used the larger amount of milk)
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon Amaretto or kirsch, or other liqueur, or nothing at all
2 tablespoons buckwheat flour (or use all-purpose)
2 tablespoons all-purpose four
pinch salt
cherries, unpitted, to cover the bottom of each ramekin (6 in each was perfect for me)

Preheat oven to 425℉. Butter 3 shallow ramekins. Scatter unpitted cherries in the bottom. You can pit if you like, but the cherry pits add flavour. Combine flours and salt in a bowl and mix well. Whisk together egg, milk, vanilla, liqueur and sugar. Add to dry ingredients, whisking until smooth. Pour over cherries and bake for about 20 minutes, until the clafoutis is puffed and spotted with brown. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately, or just warm, if you can wait. I couldn't.