Warmth for a cold Monday: pear, banana and chocolate flognarde

Mondays are drag and I must agree with that cat.

February Mondays in Norway can be the draggiest among the draggiest Mondays. I have mentioned sometimes before how high winter really starts in February and how cold these days can be. Yesterday the beautiful sunny winter day was filled with a cloth of cold air and I needed to find some warmth inside to lift my mood, to cheer me up and nothing can give more joy in winter than a warm dessert.



My first plan was a chocolate petit gateau, a dense chocolate cake to be eaten warm followed by a cup of strong coffee. Then I noticed that I had some extra-ripe fruits in the fruit basket that needed to be eaten immediately to avoid giving them a sad end on the next day. I decided to make flognardes to include the ripe fruits in my dessert.

Flognarde is exactly like clafouti except that while clafoutis are made out of cherries only flognardes can be made with all the other fruits. Both are desserts from the French region Limosin.



Pear, banana and chocolate flognarde

I have published another recipe for chocolate flognarde here

2 ripe pears (I used Conference)
2 ripe bananas
6 tablespoons of sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
100 grams semisweet chocolate at least 57% cocoa solids
1/2 cup (120ml) milk at room temperature
1/2 cup (120ml) sour cream, heavy cream or single cream at room temperature
4 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Mix 1 tablespoon of cocoa with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Butter four ramekins and sprinkle the mixture of chocolate and sugar on the butter layer and set aside.

Melt butter with the chocolate in a double boiler or bain marie and set it aside. Mix milk and cream until well incorporated and homogeneous. Beat eggs with 5 tablespoons sugar and vanilla. Add cream mixture to egg mixture and mix well. Add corn starch to the mixture and mix to incorporate. Finally add the chocolate and mix well to incorporate it completely to the mixture. Batter will be very liquide.

Peel the fruits, cut them in small pieces and divide among the ramekins. Divide the batter among the ramekins and bake at 180C/325F for 40 minutes or until golden.

Sprinkle some confectioners sugar on topo to decorate.
Tastes better served warm.