Pecan Plum Cobbler

In between finding my flat and moving in this week, I went off to France for ten days with my mum. We went on an eating holiday.

As I look back on it now, it's a blur of moules frites, lobster, langoustines, caramel beurre salé, macarons, kouignettes, chocolates, crepes, duck confit, ice creams, beurre d'Isigny and so much more. We moved from Normandy to Brittany and finally to Paris. It was divine.

Though I've made and tasted a lot of crumbles in my life, I'd never come across cobblers before I started blogging. I've been meaning to try one out for ages.

I made this with the first of the plums before I left Switzerland. I mixed juicy red plums, green reine claudes (greengages) and some tapered purple plums to give it some variety. As I can't resist adding pecans to plums (one of my favourite combinations), I popped some into the cobbler itself. I thought the juices were too gloopy so I've reduced the corn flour to 1 tbsp but feel free to add the other tbsp if you like it thick. I also found it too sweet even once I had heavily reduced the sugar, so I've taken more off below. Make sure you keep baking until it's brown all over - I think I slightly undercooked mine. Other than that, it was delicious!



Pecan Plum Cobbler
(adapted from Simply Recipes)

For the fruit:
10-12 just ripe plums, assorted
75g light brown sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnnamon

For the cobbler topping:
110g plain flour
30g light brown sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
50g unsalted butter
50g pecans, toasted and chopped
60ml whole milk
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 170C/350F. Stone the plums and cut them into slices or halves, depending on size. In the baking dish combine the sugar, corn flour and cinnamon. Add the plums and toss until they're evenly coated.

In a medium bowl mix the plain flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Rub in the butter. Stir in the pecans. In a small bowl whisk the milk and egg together, then add to the bowl. Fold until combined then dollop over the fruit. Bake for 35-40 minutes until browned all over and bubbling. Serve with cold thick cream.

(Serves 8-10)

Tiny Plum Galettes

After the glorious excess of the Butterfly Fleur de Sel Cake and all the chocolate I've been posting, I thought I should tone things down for a bit. These therefore contains lots of fruit and some wholemeal pastry. I even only ate half of one. I feel wholesome. (Despite eating it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream).

Mum found these gorgeous miniature plums at the market the other day. I love how they're multicoloured. They're about the size of cherries and quite sweet. They don't seem as juicy as big plums - but then they don't have as much flesh.

If you want to use full size plums, I reckon you would need about five or so.

I was a bit worried about my pastry - it was crumbling and splitting all over the place - but it held up and was very tasty. I'm pretty sure it was because I didn't add enough liquid.  At least these are meant to have a rustic charm!

You may notice that I have set up a new link to a 'Guide to my recipes' on my side bar - Confused by my recipes?. This is to explain my measurements and the way I convert American recipes to UK. It also explains the way I scale things up and down - which you may have noticed I do a lot. I also put some notes down on recipe sources and the ingredients I use. Give it a read if you've ever been confused by my recipes!

Tiny Plum Galettes

(pastry recipe adapted from Leith's Baking Bible)

For the pastry:

90g plain flour

80g wholemeal flour

100g cold butter

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp cold water

 Chop the butter up into cubes.Beat the egg yolk and the water together and set into the fridge to keep cool. Sieve the flours into a bowl. Take the butter out and put into the flour. Rub the butter in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Dribble half the egg mixture around the bowl then use a knife to work it in. Add the other half and work in. If you still need more moisture, add another bit of cold water. Bring together, wrap in cling film, and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

For the filling:

2 handfuls of tiny plums

rind of an orange

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Pit and halve the plums. Place in a small bowl with all the rest of the ingredients and toss so they are coated. 

To assemble:

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out half of the pastry into a rough circle. Transfer to a baking tray. Brush the outside 2 nches of the pastry with the beaten egg. Spoon half the plum mixture into the centre of the pastry. Fold the sides up around the filling. If the pastry splits, just press down to seal it (I had to do this quite a lot). Brush the outside pastry with more egg and sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar over the top. Repeat for the other one. Put into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the pastry is a deep golden brown. 

(Serves 2-4)