True confession; I am not a big dessert person. In fact, I rarely indulge in dessert! (Though, I make up for the calories in bourbon consumption, so there’s that.) Sweet tooth or not, desserts are lovely additions to any meal and most people like to cap off the evening with a pleasurable nibble.

Clafoutis is a French dessert made up of an eggy batter and traditionally cherries, though I see no good reason to stick that that fruity formula. Rhubarb is in season now, and offers a tangy edge to sweet desserts that is perfectly delicious, allowing for a few bites of satiating sweetness after a meal. I added this humble dessert to the Rhubarb line up in my recently released eBook Fresh Pantry: Rhubarb.

Here, eggs are cooked into a thick, custard-like tart along with bits of rhubarb and sugar making this a super easy dessert to make. In essence, rhubarb is tossed with sugar and placed on the bottom of a baking tin. From there, eggs are whipped together with some flour and cream and poured over the rhubarb, then baked. VOILA – dessert is done!

The extra bonus with rhubarb clafoutis comes not only in its ease, but also in the low cost of ingredients needed. Check with friends to see if anyone has a rhubarb plant growing – I bet you’d be surprised! A few notes for party planning – this dessert can be assembled and baked before guests arrive – either the morning of your party or the night before. That moist, rich pudding-like center allows for an extended stay at room temperature without any of the usual staleness associated with baked goods.

Warm the clafoutis slightly in the oven before serving. And, I know I’m going to sound like an old lady here, but please trust me (because both of these beverages offer a floral note that play off the rhubarb for a fabulous pairing) when I say to serve the clafoutis along with a cup of hot herbal tea OR a small nip of sherry. So good!

Rhubarb Clafoutis // makes one 8-inch tart

• 5 ounces rhubarb (about 1 thin stalk), trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• ¾ cup sugar, divided
• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Add the rhubarb and ¼ cup of the sugar to the bottom of an 8-inch tart pan and toss until evenly distributed. Set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggsuntil well beaten. Sift the flour into the bowl and whisk to combine well. (Sifting flour minimizes the occurrence of lumps in the batter.) Add the remaining ½ cup of the sugar, milk, heavy cream, and the vanilla bean seeds to the bowl, whisking until well combined and thickened.

Pour the batter over the rhubarb-sugar mixture and place the tart pan in the oven. Bake until the edges pull away from sides of the tart pan and the top is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Pantry Note: Leftover clafoutis can be stored in the fridge, well covered,  for up to three days. Save the vanilla bean pod for making vanilla sugar, or if you can’t find a vanilla pod, add a spoonful of vanilla extract to the batter, instead.

Excerpted from Fresh Pantry: Rhubarb – Cook Seasonally, Eat Smart & Learn to Love Your Rhubarb, Skipstone Books 2013