The rustic French dessert that one-ups a pancake - and it's healthful
Like some French-country dishes, a clafoutis (klah-foo-TEE) sounds like something fancy and complicated, but it's actually homey and easy to make. The fruit-laden dessert pancake is elegant in its simplicity - glorious, golden brown and sugar dusted. And nearly all it entails is making a basic pancake batter, pouring it into a pie dish, adding the fruit and baking it.
The accompanying recipe is a more healthful yet equally sumptuous take on the classic, using tender whole-grain pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour, and honey instead of refined sugar. It also calls for low-fat milk to more comfortably allow for some butter in the batter, but if you prefer whole milk to low-fat, that would be fine as well.
The taste of the honey shines through beautifully here, and its flavor is lovely with the fresh raspberries. The French dish was born to make delicious use of whatever fruit is in peak season, so feel free to use what you find to be especially prime at the market or farm stand this spring or at any time of year.
• Ellie Krieger is a registered dietitian, nutritionist and author who hosts public television's "Ellie's Real Good Food." She blogs and offers a weekly newsletter at www.elliekrieger.com.