It's cool here at night now. K has gone to bed (she never got the memo about daylight savings), so I'm enjoying a nice cup of tea and a piece of plum tart. This is hands down the easiest recipe. I can throw it together in about 15 minutes (not counting taking the butter out early to soften). It's pretty enough for company, and homey enough to bake just for you. It also freezes like a dream. We devoured the tart pictured above, so I don't have any pictures of it baked - but it's gorgeous. The plums turn a dark reddish purple, and your house smells like plums and cinnamon.
Have I convinced you?
Here's the recipe for the New York Times Plum Tart:
1 stick unsalted butter (softened)
3/4 c. sugar plus 1TBS set aside for sprinkling
1 t. vanilla (this is my addition - I like vanilla in almost all cakes)
1 c. unbleached flour, sifted
1 t. baking powder
2 eggs
pinch salt
12 Italian prune plums, pitted and split into halves (you can use regular purple plums too)
1. Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in lower third of oven. Grease a 9" spring form pan and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt. (I mix these together in a separate bowl and set aside, but you can just dump them in - this recipe is very forgiving!)
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out with a spoon. This is a thick batter, so you may think you messed up - just spread it out as best you can. Then, arrange the plum halves in a decorative pattern around the top. Sprinkle with sugar and a little cinnamon. I bet some nutmeg would be good sprinkled on top too.
4. Bake 40-50 minutes or until tester inserted in the middle of the tart comes out clean. This is great warm or at room temperature. I'd serve with vanilla ice cream, or some of that Haagen Daaz brown sugar ice cream.
No comments:
Post a Comment