Back in 2007, we discovered a recipe for Chia Clafouti posted by Hanna Kaminsky.
(NOTE: Clafouti is a French fruity dessert, based on an eggy custard. Julia Child's recipe is posted here.)
Hanna's clafouti substituted chia gel for the eggs, resulting in a dessert suitable for a vegan diet.
In our controlled experiment, we made two clafoutis, #1: a traditional clafouti with eggs, and #2: the same recipe with chia gel replacing the eggs.
Our recipe(s)
Prepare the fruit: Mix 1 melted stick of real butter and 1/2 cup of sugar, pour it over 6 peeled and sliced apples and bake in a shallow pan at 375 for 25 minutes. Soak some raisins in dark rum. Yum.
Prepare the batter(s): Traditional clafouti-Beat 3 eggs with 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup white flour and 1/2 cup milk. For the Chia Gel Clafouti make the same batter using 3 ounces of chia gel instead of the eggs.
Remove the fruit from the oven, stir in the raisins. Pour the batter over the apples and return to the oven for 25 minutes until the batter is golden brown.
The result:
Both desserts were delicious, warm, sweet and satisfying. We enjoyed them equally.
However, only clafouti #1 puffed up, golden, rich and eggy. This was the real "clafouti."
The other dessert, the one with chia seed, reminded us a little of oatmeal, it was mushy, heavy and a rather depressing shade of gray. We think there are better ways to use chia seeds.
In these photos, the chia gel clafouti is on the right:
Our conclusion: Chia is delicious, but you can't make a real clafouti (nor an omelette nor a souffle) without breaking some eggs.
(Edited and re-posted from 5/4/2008)