A real treat, fit even for a Christmas celebration. Quick to make, this tart balances the light sweetness of the pastry, acidity of the plums and the exotic aroma of cinnamon perfectly well. In fact, it’s so delicious my own guests requested I pack no less than half the tart ‘to go’ for them to enjoy later as well!
The recipe calls for pantry and fridge staples for the base, and takes only 45 minutes to make from start to finish, meaning it can be thrown together in no time. And thanks to the lovely people at Harris Farm, the plums came as a “bucketload” special at around $2 a kilo. There’s nothing better than fresh produce at a bargain price.
As the recipe requires only half an egg and half an egg yolk, I recommend keeping the other halves together for a couple of days in the fridge as you may need to make one more of these little plum beauties, or be tempted by my Drunken summer berry cherry yoghurt filled tart instead. (Salivating yet? Recipe here)
The plum tart keeps well in the fridge and travels well too, so it’s a great candidate for a “bring a dish” get together and is perfect dessert to make in advance when entertaining.
Makes approx 12 slices.
A seriously quick, easy and versatile red plum and cinnamon tart
Plums can be substituted with lightly stewed apples, pear and raisin mix or even canned poppyseed spread to make rich cake of Polish origin called makowiec – see recipe notes below.
- 8-10 plums, quartered
- 100g butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1/2 egg
- 1/2 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup fresh cream
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar
- butter for greasing
Preheat oven to 170C (180 fan forced, 325F, gas mark 3). Grease a 22cm loose bottom tart tin with some butter.
Cut plums into quarters longways, remove the stones and set aside.
Chop butter with a knife, add sugar and work together with a fork until the sugar is mixed into the butter. Add the egg and yolk and cream and continue to mix with a fork until the mixture becomes smooth.
Add in vanilla essence, half the flour and baking baking powder and mix to combine. Add the rest of the flour and bring the whole dough together into a ball with your hands. Roll out in between 2 sheets of baking paper to about 6mm thick.
Place pastry over the tin, with edges overhanging, press into the base and sides gently and cut off any excess by rolling the pin over the top of the tin (nice trick that one). Prick the base of the pastry around with a fork and arrange the plum quarters around the base. Sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar and dot with chunks of leftover pastry.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the pastry is nice and golden brown. Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar.
For an apple / pear version: peel and core the fruit, place in a small saucepan and heat up stirring constantly until the fruit starts to soften a little. Cool slightly and transfer into the tart. Dot with excess dough.
For poppy seed version: spread canned poppy seed mixture over the bottom of the tart evenly and dot with excess dough.
Serve warm or cold with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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