Quick Summary: A French custard dessert made with almond flour, eggs, and fresh cherries. Lower in carbs than traditional clafoutis. Includes a guide to which fruits are lowest and highest in sugar for low carb and slow carb lifestyles. Prep: 15 min | Cook: 35 min | Serves: 8
Jump to: RECIPE | Why is Fruit Limited on Slow Carb? | Tips for Sugar on Slow Carb Diet | Fruits Ranked on Sugar Amounts | How to Make Clafoutis | FAQ
Fruit can be tricky on a slow carb diet because of the fructose content, but some fruits fit better than others. This cherry clafoutis uses almond flour instead of wheat flour and a sugar substitute instead of regular sugar, making it a dessert you can enjoy without derailing your progress.
Cherries are on the higher end of the fruit sugar scale, so if you want to lower the sugar content even further, swap in blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries, all of which are lower in fructose and work beautifully in this recipe.
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Why Fruit Is Limited on Slow Carb Diets
A lot of people have trouble with the idea that fruit is to be avoided on a low carb, slow carb or ketogenic diet.
There are a lot of variables to consider before excluding all fruit entirely however.
Some of the key questions to ask yourself with respect to fruit include:
- Is your goal weight loss or maintenance?
- Does your diet regimen include a cheat day?
- Which specific fruits do you want to include?
The main reason fruit is not considered compliant with low carb lifestyles is the amount of sugar that is found in most fruit (in the form of fructose) and how it can impact weight loss.
While fruit sugars may impact weight loss, there is a big difference between the sugar in whole fruit and processed sugar in terms of “health”.
Fruit definitely has some antioxidants and nutritional benefits that are healthy in a diet. Certain whole fruits (not fruit juice) can also help curb the carb load due to the added fiber that is processed differently in the body.
How to Include Fruit on a Slow Carb Diet
My recommendations on incorporating fruit into a low carb diet are as follows:
- when you are trying to lose weight include fruit on your cheat day ( or once a week) but exclude it during the other 6 days;
- berries are the least problematic with respect to weight gain;
- learn the hierarchy of which fruits are best and worst in terms of fructose and glucose responses.
- Below is a very simple list of fruits and their “relative” amounts of sugar compared to each other:
Fruits Ranked by Sugar Content
Fruits Lowest in Sugar:
- Lemons or limes
- Rhubarb
- Blackberries
- Cranberries
Fruits Low to Medium in Sugar
- Strawberries
- Casaba Melon
- Papaya
- Watermelon
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Blueberries
- Cantaloupes
- Honeydew
- Apples
- Guavas
- Apricots
- Grapefruit
Fruits Fairly High in Sugar
- Plums
- Oranges
- Kiwifruit
- Pears
- Pineapple
Fruits Very High in Sugar:
- Tangerines
- Cherries
- Grapes
- Pomegranates
- Mangos
- Figs
- Bananas
- Dried Fruit
The cherry clafoutis below is a dessert made with cherries, but on a relative scale it is lower in carbs than most fruit desserts. Custards, like this rhubarb custard and flans like this Mexican orange flan are great options for including fruit on a low carb lifestyle.
Also be sure and try this strawberry balsamic panna cotta for an exceptional Summer low carb dessert. If fruit salads are more to your liking try this Spicy Mexican Fruit Salad.
How to Make Low Carb Clafoutis
The ingredient and recipe details are listed in the recipe card below. In short:
- Blend almond flour, eggs, unsweetened almond milk, heavy cream, sweetener, salt, vanilla, lemon zest, and optional amaretto until smooth.
- Pour into a greased baking dish, drop in halved pitted cherries, and bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
- The clafoutis will puff up while baking and deflate slightly as it cools. Serve warm or at room temperature.
FAQ
A traditional French dessert, essentially a baked custard studded with fruit, usually cherries. It’s somewhere between a custard and a thick pancake.
Yes. Blueberries are lower in sugar than cherries and work beautifully. Blackberries and strawberries also work well.
The recipe uses Truvia, but any granulated sugar substitute works. Adjust quantity based on the sweetener’s conversion ratio.
Yes, but it won’t be low carb. Use 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup granulated sugar for a traditional version.
Interested in the Slow Carb Diet? Check out this comprehensive E-Guide on Fat Loss through a Slow Carb Diet.
Low Carb Cherry Clafoutis
Equipment
- baking dish 9” round or comparable
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cup almond milk, unsweetened
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 Tbsp Truvia modify for other sweeteners
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon zest zest of 1 lemon
- 2 Tbsp Amaretto optional
- 2 cups pitted cherries halved
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use butter to grease a 9″ round baking dish or several smaller dishes or ramekins
- In a blender add all ingredients except cherries and blend to mix thoroughly1 cup almond flour, 4 large eggs, 3/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened, 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 3 Tbsp Truvia, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon zest, 2 Tbsp Amaretto
- Pour mixture into the baking dish(s) and drop in halved cherries to cover (they will sink a bit)2 cups pitted cherries
- Place in middle rack of oven and bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove and let cool in dish. It will puff up while baking and deflate in the middle upon cooling. That’s OK…it still looks and tastes great.
Thank you for this! We are in San Diego and there are many fresh cherries to work with!
Wonderful! California is so lush with produce and fruit. I love their farmers’ markets!
Hi, the prep time says over 9 hours. Is that correct?
Whoa, I don’t know how that 9 hours got in there? Thank you for the comment and yes the prep time should be 15 minutes, not 9 hours and 15 minutes lol.