Baking Can Help You Get Your Fruit Servings

Did you know that you should have 2 to 4 servings of fruit every day?  In the Food Guide Pyramid, the fruit and vegetable sections are right on top of the grain foods section.  This means that fruits and veggies should be a pretty big part of your diet.

To be a good fruit eater, you can drink 3/4 cup of juice any time of day.  For breakfast, lunch or dinner, have a medium-sized fruit, like an apple, orange or banana or have 1/2 cup of chopped fruit.  When you want a snack, eat whole pieces or chopped bits of dried fruit.  Drink fruit juice instead of soda or pop.  Citrus fruits are one of the best sources of vitamin C, so have citrus fruits – like oranges, melons or berries – or citrus juices often.  You have a better chance of getting all the nutrients you need from fruits, though, if you eat a good variety of them.   So, it’s a good idea to have many other fruits, too.  

You can also get fruits in some baked goods, like a cake that French people call a clafouti (kla foo TEE).   We call it Flash-in-the-Pan Cake because it’s so easy to make.

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The clafouti originated in the countryside of a French region called Limousin and there are various recipes for it.  Some are more cake-like and others are more pudding-like.  All are made by pouring a batter over fresh fruit and baking.  A clafouti is usually served hot from the oven, with or without cream.

The most traditional French clafouti is made with cherries, but you can use almost any fruit.  Instead of the blueberries in this recipe, you might want to try plums, peaches or pears.  Plums, in fact, are particularly good if you flavor the recipe with pumpkin pie spice instead of the lemon juice and nutmeg that spark the berries in this recipe.  If you choose a different fruit, use about 1 1/2 cups of diced fruit – about 8 ounces – in place of the pint of berries.

As long as it’s 9 inches in diameter and at least 1 1/2 inches high, you can bake the cake in a cake pan, a quiche pan or even a skillet.  If  you use a skillet, ovenproof the handle by wrapping it completely with aluminum foil.  If the skillet is especially heavy, such as an enameled iron pan, allow more baking time.

Hints

Some recipes call for folding ingredients together rather than stirring them.  Usually, the folding is to help preserve air bubbles that have been beaten into eggs, especially egg whites.  In this clafouti recipe, the folding is not so much to preserve air bubbles as it is to keep from crushing and breaking the berries.  If overeager helpers do crush the berries, though, you’ll simply have a blue cake!

Use the clafouti recipe to start a family discussion about healthful eating, including having enough fruit servings.  Visit www.about produce.com.  Find the Produce Marketing Association chart of “Fresh Produce Availability – Fruits”.  Based on the seasons for different fruits, make a list of different fresh fruits that you can use to make clafouti and other recipes each month of the year.  Search to see if your local supermarket has a site or visit the supermarket itself.  From the store’s site or in a search of the store aisles, make a list of canned, dried and frozen fruits.  Add them to the list.

Divide your list into fruits that family members like to eat and fruits that family members have never tried.  Using your lists, search cookbooks, magazines and/or the Internet to find new ways your family might enjoy eating both favorite fruits and fruits they haven’t yet tried.  As a family, make some of the new recipes together.  Rate the recipes for appealing taste, ease of preparation and other qualities that are important to you and your family.  Have the recipes helped you learn to like new fruits?  Will you make the recipes again?  If you didn’t like some fruits the first time, try them in a new way to see if the recipe makes a difference.  Make a resolution (a promise to yourself) that you’ll keep trying to eat enough fruits every day. 

Blueberry Clafouti (Flash-In-The-Pan Cake)
	•	1/2 cup butter, softened
	•	2/3 cup sugar
	•	4 eggs
	•	1 cup all-purpose flour
	•	1 tablespoon lemon juice
	•	1 teaspoon vanilla
	•	1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
	•	1/8 teaspoon salt
	•	1 pint blueberries
	•	Whipped cream, optional

In large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs until thoroughly blended.  Add flour, lemon juice, vanilla, nutmeg and salt.  Beat until smooth.  Reserve 8 blueberries for garnish, if desired.  Fold remaining blueberries into batter.  Pour into lightly greased 9-inch cake pan or quiche pan.

Bake in preheated 375° F oven until lightly browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Cut into wedges.  Serve warm or cool.  Garnish with whipped cream and reserved blueberries, if desired.