I'm not a big fan of fresh plums and prefer them in a processed form. I never fancy just picking a plum and eating it. It might have something to do with childhood memories, when plums often came with additional serving of protein.
Having said that, I love plum cakes, plum butter or savory plums marinated in vinegar. My simple plum crumble was a bit of an experiment, since I didn't have a recipe to follow but it was something I was craving. It is a great dessert for a cold evening, although it makes great breakfast treat as well. I think it could possibly be considered fairly healthy. Just might... And since it really is the last call for plums I decided to finally post the recipe here. The first time I made it I skipped the whipped cream. It tasted very well, but the whipped cream just brings it up a notch. If you are calorie conscious you can omit it.
Ingredients:
1kg/about 2 1/4lb plums
110g/ 1 cup oats
150g/ 3/4 cup brown sugar
150g/ 3/4 cup plain flour (or whole wheat)
100g/ 1/2 cup butter
200ml/ 3/4 cup whipping cream
1tbsp white sugar (optional)
1tsp vanilla extract(optional)
Heat up the oven to 180C/360F.
Wash plums, cut them in half and take the stones out. Mix them in a large bowl with 50g/1/4 cup of sugar and 50g/1/4 cup of flour. Transfer them to a baking dish.
Cut butter into smaller cubes and put in a food processor along with oats and the rest of the flour and sugar. Process for a few seconds. You want the butter to be all blended in and the mixture should still have fairly large crums.
Sprinkle the crum mixture over plums. Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Take out of the oven and let it cool down. Once the plum crumble has achieved the temperature you wanted whip the cream.
Place whipping cream in a bowl. Add a table spoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Using electric beater whip it to desired consistency.
This should yield about 8 servings.
My plum crumble can be served warm (great for a cold day) or at room temperature. You could also serve it with vanilla ice-cream instead of the whipped cream. Sugar and vanilla extract are completely optional in the whipping cream. Personally I like it just a little bit sweeter with the hint of vanilla.
