Recipe Revisit: Cherry Plum Crisp

Even though I haven’t been posting here as often as often as I would like, I still love to try out new things in the kitchen. The curse that accompanies this passion is that I don’t find myself repeating good recipes as often as they deserve.

Take this lovely Cherry Plum Crisp, for example. I don’t remember that I ever made it again after I posted it (many years ago!). Even though the dessert was delicious, I wasn’t perfectly satisfied with it. I remember the fruit being a little undercooked for my taste, so when I revisited the recipe recently, it was with the very simple idea of baking it a little longer. (And possibly getting some better photos. These aren’t great, but they’ll do.)

I also didn’t have any whole wheat pastry flour, which was in the topping mixture in the originally posted recipe. I’ve been making some version of this topping for quite a while, however, (usually in this apple-cranberry version) and have come to the conclusion that just about any kind of flour will work. I’ve used unbleached all-purpose, whole wheat, whole wheat pastry, and oat flour with great success and very little difference in the results. The recipe below reflects that.

This dessert did come out a little better with the extended oven time. The chopped plums, which were small and sweet and juicy, broke down into an almost sauce-like consistency. The Bing cherries, which I pitted but left whole, stayed intact, plump bursts of fruitiness nestled in the stewy plums. I think you could use other stone fruits in this recipe, although you might want to adjust the sugar to taste.

I love this basic formula for fruit crisp topping. It’s nutty and sweet, and I like it best with some kind of whole grain flour. I really recommend almonds in the mix with stone fruits in the filling, although walnuts or pecans work well, too. I also love this fruit filling to topping ratio. The topping stays crunchy on top, but there’s a lovely zone in which it comes into contact with the filling. It’s a little gooey there, and the flavors of the bright summer fruits mixed with the oats and nuts and brown sugar…that’s what fruit crisp is all about! Add a dollop of vanilla ice cream, to a serving of warm Cherry Plum Crisp and summer is complete!

Cherry Plum Crisp

filling
2 cups pitted dark sweet cherries
3 cups coarsely chopped pitted plums
2 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

topping
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup flour, preferably whole wheat or oat flour
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup chopped almonds
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, combine the cherries and plums. Add the cornstarch, granulated sugar and almond extract. Gently stir together to combine well.

2. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray or grease it with oil or butter. Pour in the cherry and plum mixture. Set aside

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar and almonds and stir to combine. Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir together until the dry ingredients are well-moistened by the butter.

3. Cover the fruit filling mixture with the topping mixture, spreading it evenly over the top. Bake at 350 F for 45 to 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Cover the dish with foil if the topping is over-browning.

4. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack 20 minutes or more. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Makes about 6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Apricot and Raspberry Tart with Crumble Topping, Apricot Strawberry Tart, Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Graham Cracker Topping, Pear Apple Crumble Pie, Apple and Cranberry Crisp

One year ago: Recipes with Blueberries

Plum and Grape Galette

This is going to be a post that depends on a little bit of trust. Not because I’m asking you to enjoy weird foods or unusual flavor combinations. Not because I didn’t make or eat this delicious rustic pie made with tiny locally-grown plums and itsy-bitsy locally-grown grapes, myself. Not because I goofed it up but I’m going to confidently tell you how you should do it right. Well, maybe it is a little of that last one.

You see, this Plum and Grape Galette should be pretty much the same as this Berry and Rhubarb Galette, in theory and practice, anyway. I somehow failed to use that berry-rhubarb recipe as a template, however, and baked my plum-grape creation at too low a temperature. The result was delicious, since the fruit itself was the star, but it far too long to bake, and the crust never got as crisp and golden as I wanted.

Unfortunately, those wonderfully dark and sweet little home-grown plums and the lip-smacking, super fruity, candy-like local grapes (the cashier said they’re like kid wine) have a very limited season. I couldn’t get any more to try out the recipe again with a better baking procedure. I didn’t want to let it go until next year, though, since this sweet and tart late season combination was just so good.

I think you could make this simple pie with whatever other plums and grapes you can get. Since my grapes were so small, they went into my galette whole. Larger grapes can be cut in half. Also, you’ll want to add sugar to your fruit to taste. Mine was pretty sweet and we don’t mind our fruit a bit tart, so I put just a little sugar in.

 

I added sliced almonds to the bottom of the galette in hopes of buying some insurance against a soggy crust. While I can’t say my crust ever got crispy enough to definitively test this concept, I liked the almonds where they were since they added some welcome crunch and a good flavor.

And so, in the recipe below, I’m giving you some theoretically sound but untested baking instructions, not the ones I used. They’re based on the Berry and Rhubarb Galette in temperature and approximate time. You’ll just have to keep a close eye on your pie, making sure it doesn’t burn. It’ll all work out in the end. Trust me.

Plum and Grape Galette with Almonds

Use your favorite pie crust recipe (such as Easy Cream Cheese Pastry, Basic Pie Crust, or Whole Wheat Pastry) or a store-bought crust to save time (like I did).

The baking instructions in this recipe are adjusted to what I think will work better than what I did when I made the pie in the photos above. Keep an eye on the pie in the oven to avoid overbaking it.

Serve this warm or at room temperature with ice cream or whipped cream. Alas, I had neither on hand.

2 cups pitted plums, halved if small, quartered or coarsely chopped if larger

1 cup seedless grapes

¼ cup sugar or to taste

1 tablespoon cornstarch

½ cup sliced almonds

Pastry for a single crust pie (See heading above)

Egg wash (egg beaten with a small amount of water or milk)

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, foil, or a silicone baking mat. Lay the rolled-out crust in the middle of the prepared baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, combine the plums, grapes, sugar and cornstarch. Toss well to combine.

3. Sprinkle the almonds over the bottom of the crust dough leaving a 2-inch border around the whole circle. Pour the plum mixture over the almonds, leaving the same border. Even out the fruit mixture, then fold up the edges of the crust over the fruit. Brush the crust with the egg wash.

4. Bake at 425 F until the fruit is tender and bubbly and the crust is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool on the pan on a wire rack. Carefully transfer the galette to a cutting surface to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Berry and Rhubarb Galette, Cherry Plum Crisp, Apricot and Raspberry Tart with Crumble Topping

One year ago: Split Pea and Vegetable Curry

Plum Poppy Seed Almond Muffins



Sometimes I just need to present a recipe on The Messy Apron to share how good somebody else’s idea is. In this case, I’m talking about the plum and poppy seed muffins in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman. So, do fresh plums make a good addition to muffins? Oh, yes! Do they go well with poppy seeds? You bet.

 

I fiddled with the flavors of this recipe a little bit by adding some more spice, a little crunch in the form of chopped almonds, and some vanilla and almond extracts. I love almond with stone fruits and, since I didn’t brown the butter for these muffins as in the original recipe, I thought some almond extract would give me a little additional compatible flavor.

 

As far as the proportions of fruit, flour, liquid and leavening go, I didn’t mess around with this already very good recipe. If you own a copy of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and were wondering where to start sampling its delights, I can highly recommend the plum and poppy seed muffin recipe. The batter is quite thick but the big dose of chopped plums contributes significantly to the moisture of the baked muffins making them soft and fruity…and delicious. I do recommend “dicing,” that is, cutting the plums into very small cubes so they can be well-distributed and to avoid soggy portions in your muffins.

 

I used roughly equal amounts of some nice, sweet, plump, dark-skinned plums and some small, red, slightly tart, locally grown plums that I had sitting in the refrigerator (waiting for me to get around to trying this recipe). This combination worked really well, and I think you can use any plums that taste good. Of course, any recipe is better with good-quality ingredients, but starting with a good-quality recipe is even better. My own changes are a matter of taste, but you don’t have to trust me at all. Trust The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for the great ideas.

 

 

Poppy Seed and Plum Muffins with Almond

Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 large egg
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
¾ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 cups diced fresh plums (any variety)
½ cup finely chopped almonds

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray (or grease it with butter or oil.) Or you can line the muffin cups with paper liners if you prefer.

2. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and poppy seeds. Stir together with a whisk (or you can sift if you prefer).  Set aside.

4. Beat the egg lightly with a whisk. Whisk in the butter. Whisk in the granulated and brown sugar, then whisk in the sour cream, vanilla and almond extracts until smooth.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just a few dry spots remain. The batter will be thick. Stir in the plums and almonds.

6. Distribute the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 375 F for 15 to 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out free of wet batter.

7. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan. If they are difficult to remove, cool a little longer. Cool completely on a wire rack, or at least until they are just a little warm.

 

Makes 12 muffins

 

Other recipes like this one: Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins, Rhubarb Sour Cream Muffins, Coconut Cranberry Quick Bread, Cranberry Walnut Cornbread

One year ago: Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Sunday Dessert: Plum Upside-Down Cake

I love reading those articles (and blog posts) in which the author stumbled upon some seasonal bounty, took a load of it home, and made something fabulous. I’m happy to say that I did something similar recently, with these lovely plums. I did, however, keep my homeward haul modest, and of a scale compatible with two people in an apartment eating dessert on Sunday (with leftovers on Monday and Tuesday).

These very small purple plums were labeled “Home Grown” at a local produce market, and I knew I had to at least try them. They looked beautiful, not so ripe that they were leaking, but also not too hard. I controlled myself and brought home a reasonable amount, immediately thinking of dessert. I sampled one as soon as I got home, and their taste was so just right – plenty of real plum flavor, just enough tartness to remind you that it came from nature, and just enough sweet juice – that I began to regret my plans to use them all in a dessert. Cake, however, would make up for that perceived loss.

I had made some kind of plum upside-down cake several years ago. I remember it being good, but making a big mess in the oven, and I don’t seem to have kept the recipe (although that could just have been lack of organization). I had had good luck, however, with the pineapple upside-down cake in Joy of Cooking (I have the 1997 edition). Why couldn’t I just adapt that to use with plums instead of pineapple?

It turns out that there is no reason why I couldn’t do just that. I made a few other modifications to the recipe as well. Inspired by the recipe in The Ultimate Cookbook by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough titled “Plum and Rum Barbecue Sauce,” I added a bit of rum to both the brown sugar topping and to the cake batter. Now, I’m a little bit chicken when it comes to boozed-up cakes (or anything else boozed-up for that matter), so I went pretty light on the rum. If you want a rum cake, you’ll have to find a recipe for a rum cake, and let my plum cake be a plum cake. I also replaced the buttermilk (which I didn’t have on hand) in the original recipe with plain yogurt (which I did have). Those two dairy products seem to perform very similarly in baking, and I often use them interchangeably.

Well, the story’s pretty much over now, except to say that the cake was really, really good. It wasn’t boozy at all, but the rum did seem to enhance the flavors and aromas, adding just the slightest caramel note. The yogurt made the cake super-moist, but not mushy, as if it had been underbaked. The plums, of course, were the stars. Sweet and tart and aromatic and fruity just the way only seasonal fruit can be. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on a wedge of warm plum cake…why else does summer even need to exist?

Plum Upside-Down Yogurt Cake
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

You can omit the rum if you wish. Just leave it out of the topping and replace it with yogurt or milk in the egg mixture.

1 pound small plums
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons rum, divided
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated white sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup plain yogurt

1. Cut the plums in half and remove the pits. If the plums are larger, you might want to slice them so that they can be arranged nicely in the bottom of your baking pan. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place the 3 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet (you could also use a similarly-sized cake pan) and put it in the oven to melt the butter. (You can probably do this while it is preheating.) Once the butter is melted, remove the pan from the oven and brush some of the butter up the sides of the pan.

3. Add the rum and the dark brown sugar to the butter in the pan. Spread the brown sugar evenly over the bottom of the pan. Arrange the halved plums, cut side down on top of the sugar.

4. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, remaining 2 tablespoons rum, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

5. In a larger bowl or the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer, combine the flour, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together briefly with an electric mixer, or with the paddle attachment of a heavy-duty mixer.

6. Add the 6 tablespoons room-temperature butter and the yogurt. Beat at low speed just until all of the flour mixture is moistened, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes.

7. Add the egg mixture, one-third at a time, beating at medium speed until the egg mixture is fully incorporated after each addition. Also, scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula before each next egg mixture addition. When the last of the egg mixture has been incorporated, beat for an additional 20 seconds.

8. Spoon or pour the batter over the arranged plums in the pan. Smooth the batter so it is even.

9. Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes. The cake is done when a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out free of unbaked batter.

10. Tilt the pan around to ensure that the cake is not stuck to the sides of the pan. If it does not seem to be free on all sides, gently slide a knife around the stuck edge to remove it. Set aside on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.

11. While wearing oven mitts or covered with hot pads, place a large plate over the cake. Carefully invert the pan, releasing the cake onto the plate. Gently remove the pan and rearrange any fruit that may be askew on the cake’s top. Cool. The cake can be served warm or completely cooled. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream (or by itself.)

Makes about 8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Rhubarb Yogurt Cake, Cherry-Plum Crisp

One year ago: Gazpacho