Pear, Date and Chocolate Clafoutis

Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8 – 10 People

Can be parev
Can be prepared in advance
Pesach friendly

I love this fudge like chocolate and date pudding and it never fails to impress your guests. It is also ideal all year round as it can be made during Pesach as well as parev.

Dates are the fruit of the date palm tree with firm sweet flesh and a long inedible stone. Fresh dates should be plump and shiny, with smooth golden brown skins. Use a sharp knife to slit the date open to remove the stone.

Ingredients

• 2 pears – peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 4 ounces Dark plain chocolate
• 2 ½ ounces Margarine / unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• 4 ½ ounces sugar
• 3 ounces plain all purpose flour or potato flour for Passover
• 2 cups milk or non dairy cream
• 3 tablespoons Carmel Chocolate liqueur
• 150g Dates – roughly chopped

For Garnish: Confectioner’s sugar – for dusting

Method

1) Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.
2) Soak the dates in the chocolate liqueur for 10 minutes.
3) Grease a shallow round 10 inch ovenproof dish with 1 tablespoon of butter/ margarine. Spread the chopped pear on the bottom.
4) Place the chocolate and remaining margarine in a saucepan with a double boiler and melt together gently. Set aside.
5) In a food mixer beat the eggs and sugar together until pale and light. Add the melted butter and chocolate, sift in the flour and milk and continue to mix so that the batter is smooth.
6) Add the dates and chocolate liqueur to the batter and pour this over the pears.
7) Cook in the pre-heated oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the clafoutis is golden and lightly set.

To serve the stylish way

Serve warm or cold with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

For more details about my recipes or my cookery book, The Book of Jewish Cooking published by Salamander Books ($12.00) please log in to www.jewishcookery.com