plums

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Italian plums are here!

Prune plums or Italian plums.

These plums are only available for a couple of weeks each fall, and are ideal for baking or making jam. If you want to save them for a later date, they freeze quite well. To freeze, cut them in half, remove the pit, and place the plums in a freezer-type ziplock bag.

Today I’ll be making jam, this weekend I’ll make my mother’s plum cake.  Click here for the plum cake recipe.

Stay tuned as I attempt a new recipe idea: black bottom brownies.

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Quick Fruit Tart

I grabbed a bag of apples from the IGA today and they turned out to be mushy. There’s nothing more disappointing than a mushy apple, but I didn’t want to throw out an entire bag, so I decided to put together this quick dessert. This is just a simple pastry, filled with apple slices, a little sugar and cinnamon. Nothing fancy, but very elegant for a Wednesday night.

In my quest to pack more vitamins into my growing children, I used 100% whole wheat pastry flour. I’m a big fan of whole wheat pastry flour. It can be substituted 1-to-1 for white flour, bakes up a little browner, but is every bit as light and flaky.

Quick Fruit Tart

Blend together the following, as you would for a pie crust:

  • 1-1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1-1/2 sticks butter
  • 1/3 c. ice water

Roll it out on parchment paper, into an oval or a rectangle. Sprinkle with the following, blended together:

  • 1 Tbs. flour
  • 1 Tbs. sugar
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon

Layer on thin slices of fruit (apples, peaches, plums or pears), and top with berries if you like. Sprinkle with some additional sugar or cinnamon-sugar. Fold over the edges of the crust and crimp.

Slip the parchment onto a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until nicely browned. Serve hot. Scoop on some vanilla ice cream for a treat!