Monday, August 16, 2010

RUSTIC PLUM TART

This is adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe, and Morgan and her 11 year old frend Alexander made it pretty much all by themselves, with a minimum of hovering by us moms. Be sure to taste the plums and adjust sugar accordingly – i.e., tart plums, use more sugar, sweet plums, use less

Crust
1 ¼ cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
ice water

Topping
1 ½ lbs. plums, halved, pitted and sliced
3 – 6 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, beaten (or egg whites, or milk, or cream0 for glaze

Sitting atop its waxed paper wrapper, cut butter into ¼ inch cubes. Put in freezer while you get things organized. Blend flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse in until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and blend until moist clumps form. Add more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into a ball, flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss plums with 3 – 4 tablespoons sugar, ginger and cinnamon (or if you forget to do this, sprinkle it on later as the kids did – still came out good). Taste and adjust sugar. Roll out dough on parchment a to 12 – 13 inch round. Transfer to a baking sheet. Arrange plums beautifully, or randomly, on dough, leaving a 2 inch border. Drizzle with melted butter. Fold edges of dough in toward center, pleating as necessary. Brush with glaze, sprinkle with a bit more sugar. Bake until crust is golden and plums are bubbly and tender, about 45 minutes.

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