Fresh grown plums mean a Plum Tart!

Yesterday, my brother came home with his arms full of fresh fruit! His very sweet girlfriend's parents gave us a HUGE tupperware-full of plums and a big ziploc-bag of lemons, yum!

After dinner, I was enjoying some of the delicious plums and my mom suggested I might consider making a plum tart from them- and after that seed was planted... Well, I knew I would need to try it out.

Thankfully, as I was looking at some of my favorite blogs, I found that Smitten Kitchen had a recipe for a Plum-Almond Tart that looked WAY too mouth-wateringly amazing to be allowed on the internet. So it was decided. :)

The tart took a bit of work to put together, but considering the multiple bakings and separate almond filling and fruit cutting, it was pretty simple! My favorite part was that the dough didn't require a long refrigeration time, just a quick 15 minutes in the freezer and directly into the preheated oven.

Plum-Almond Tart

(Originally from Bon Appetit Magazine)

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons ice water
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

• 1/3 cup whole almonds (about 2 ounces)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons Cassis Liquor
• 12 ounces ripe red-skinned plums, pitted, cut into 3/4-inch thick wedges

Make crust:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine first 3 ingredients in processor. Using on/off turns, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix 2 tablespoons ice water and vanilla in small bowl. Pour water mixture over dough. Process until moist clumps form.
2. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Roll out on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in and press, forming double-thick sides. Using fork, pierce dough all over. Freeze 15 minutes.
3. Bake crust until pale golden, about 25 minutes. (In my oven) Cool on rack. Maintain oven temperature.

Make filling:

1. Finely grind almonds with sugar in processor. Add egg, butter and 2 teaspoons Cassis Liquor. Process until batter forms. Pour filling into crust. Arrange plums atop filling. Bake until plums are tender and filling is golden and set, about 50 minutes.
2. Cool tart and serve at room temperature.

This tart showcased the homegrown plums perfectly, but don't just take my word for it! Give this beautiful tart a try!

Happy Baking!

Jessica