Nothing like a tasty French dessert with plenty of cerises (cherries) and amandes (almonds) to kickstart the Summer!

Here’s how to prepare it, mes amis:

Put a rack in the middle of an oven and heat it up to 350°F.

Put in a large bowl 3 cups of small fresh sweet or sour cherries with 1/2 Tbs. cherry syrup. Set aside while tossing periodically, for about half an hour.

At the same time, scatter 1/3 cup of sliced almonds on a baking sheet and toast until light golden, turning from time to time, for about 4 minutes, then set aside.

Now, back to the oven, increase the temperature up to 400°F.

Grease a gratin dish with 1/2 Tbs. of unsalted butter.

Mix the following in a bowl:

• a cup of whole milk
• 2/3 cup of flour,
• 1/4 cup plus 1 to 2 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup for sweet cherries; 5 Tbs. for sour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 eggs
• 1/8 tsp. pure almond extract
• 1/8 tsp. table salt

To allow air in, mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.

Drain the cherries then stir the liquid into the batter.

Sprinkle the cherries in the dish and pour the batter on top.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle the toasted almonds and one Tbs. of sugar on top

Dot the surface with pieces of one Tbs. of butter.

Bake it until you obtain a golden-brown, which will take about 40 minutes.

Then put into a rack, and let it cool for half an hour.

Serve warm or at room temperature, and announce:

BonAppetemptShow gave it a good try, check it out here.
The bonne vivante lady also noted that the name of Judi Dench (the actress who plays “M”, James Bond‘s grumpy boss) rhymes with French.
007 would probably prefer “wench” 🙂

And by the way, it’s un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq… six