clafoutis

Or cla·fou·ti

[klah-foo-tee]

noun

plural

clafoutis 

1. a tart made of fruit, especially cherries, baked in a thick, sweet batter.

Word History and Origins

Origin of clafoutis¹

First recorded in 1925-30; from French dialect (central) clafoutis, clafouti ; further origin uncertain; perhaps a blend of dialectal clafir, claufir “to cover, fill, scatter, strew or decorate with ornaments,” from Old French “to nail, fix with nails,” from Latin clāvō figere “to fasten with a nail” (equivalent to clāvō, ablative singular of clāvus + figere ) and foutis, noun use of foutis, simple past of foutre “to have intercourse (with)”; fouter ( def. )

Example Sentences

And summer — summer has always belonged to clafoutis.

From Salon

Clafoutis, if you haven’t met it before, is a French country dessert that’s somehow both rustic and elegant: fruit scattered in a shallow dish, covered with a thin pancake-like batter, and baked until the edges puff and the center sets into something custardy and tender.

From Salon

One late August evening about seven years ago, Stephen arrived at my door carrying a clafoutis.

From Salon

Since then, it’s been clafoutis summers in our house every year.

From Salon

But on the first official day of fall this year, when the thermometer still lingered well above 80 degrees, I realized I wasn’t ready to retire clafoutis for the season, as though it were a pair of beach towels or swim goggles bound for the storage bin.

From Salon