plum tart

plum tart

• 4 Apr 2016

I'm sure by now you've worked out that I have a bit of a thing about plums. When they're in season I cook with them as often as I can.






Just before Christmas I treated myself to a new baking book, The Cook and the Baker. The book arrived after I'd left for my Christmas break and it was waiting for me at when I returned to work in 2016. Since then I've pored over the pages and have bookmarked many recipes. When I saw this plum tart recipe I knew I had to make it.



Plums are always a bit tricky. They might taste fine uncooked but can be quite tart when baked, so don't try and cut down on the sugar as I did.




Once I had my slice and realised how tart the plums were, I heavily sugared the remaining plum tart. It was received well except for one of my workmates who found it a bit too tart for her taste buds. 



Here's the recipe for you adapted from 'The Cook and Baker' by Cherie Bevan and Tass Tauroa. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Plum Tart - Makes one 8 x 8 inch tart

Cooking time:1 hour

Ingredients:
1½ cups plain flour
100g cold unsalted butter, diced
⅔ cup caster sugar, plus 2 tbsps for sprinkling
A pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g firm ripe plums
2 tbsp apricot jam, to glaze

Method:
1. Lightly grease and line a 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 inch) tin with baking paper, ensuring the sides of the tin are fully lined.

2. Put the flour and butter sugar and salt into a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg and the vanilla and bring together until the ingredients form a ball. Press evenly into the prepared tin then place the tin in the fridge while you prepare the plums.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Quarter the plums and remove the stones. If the plums are large you may have to cut them into eighths. Place the plums on top of the pastry in rows, sprinkle with the extra sugar and bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour or until cooked and golden.

4. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool in the tin. Gently heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan, then pour through a sieve into a bowl. Brush the plums liberally with the glaze. If you're lazy like I am, just heat the apricot jam still in the glass jar but lid removed for 1 minute in the microwave. Remove carefully as the jar will be hot and brush the jam over the tart avoiding the chunky pieces. If the jam is too thick add a teaspoon of water first before heating the jam in the microwave.

6. Serve the tart warm or at room temperature. I refrigerated the tart until it was time to serve, to firm up the pastry. This made it easier to cut the tart evenly into serving pieces.



Note: This tart can be stored in the fridge for up to 3–4 days but this one was all gone by lunch time. 

I've decided this tart recipe is ripe for renovation for Passover so expect to see it again soon in another guise.

See you all again next week. 

Bye for now,

Jillian