stone fruit

A Galette of Cherry Plums with Vanilla Bean-Brown Sugar Crust

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ Leave a comment

Racing through Costco recently I spied bags of a red fruit I did not immediately recognize…Cherry Plums….small, mottled red, looking like cherries on steroids or lilliputian plums.  I grabbed a bag for later investigation.

These ping-pong ball size stone fruit taste more like very spicy sweet plums than cherries. You, reader,  may know all about them, but once again I realize there are so many edibles in this world that I have not encountered…even in my part of the world….even at Costco!

Cherry plums are noted for their sweet, spicy flavor and are most commonly used for jams and preserves as well as for baking and are grown most commonly in the Middle East.

Pitted, sliced and sugared before being baked in my vanilla, brown sugar crust. Some stone fruit can totally collapse when baked in a pie as you know, but these Cherry Plums kept their shape and did not become mushy, but softened to the just-right stage.

Cut fruit swaddled in the vanilla-sugared crust then baked until golden brown and slightly caramelized.

It’s been a hard news week, a sad news week, a dramatic news week. Make something good happen in your world…even if it’s your kitchen world. It can be simple or grand, fancy or plain. Just make something good.

A Galette of Cherry Plums in a Vanilla Bean-Brown Sugar Crust

Ingredients:

  • 15 to 18 Cherry Plums, pitted and sliced
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • zest of one lemon
  • For crust: 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons raw sugar, divided
  • pinch of salt
  • 12 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces
  • vanilla beans scraped from one vanilla bean
  • ice water as needed to mix crust dough
  • one egg mixed with a bit of water to brush on finished crust

Directions:

  1. Toss cherry plum slices in a bowl with cornstarch, granulated sugar and lemon zest until well mixed. Set aside.
  2. Put all-purpose flour in food processor bowl along with 2 tablespoon raw sugar, a pinch salt & vanilla beans. Pulse just to combine.
  3. Add cold butter pieces to the flour mixture and pulse a few times until flour is grainy looking.
  4. Slowly add ice water by tablespoons with processor running just until dough begins to come together to form a ball. Turn off processor and scrape dough out onto a work surface dusted with flour. Gather dough into a ball, flatten, wrap in plastic and chill for 15 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  6. Roll chilled dough out to a circle (not a perfect circle) about 14″ in diameter. Fold in half and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and unfold.
  7. Pile cherry plum slices in the middle of the dough circle and fold edges up over the fruit leaving the middle open.
  8. Brush crust with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons raw sugar.
  9. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown and fruit is bubbly and just beginning to brown on the edges. Adjust time according to your oven. More or less.
  10. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note:  This Galette can be made with apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches or any berries using the same recipe.

Teresa Blackburn    http://www.teresablackburn1@mac.com

 

 

A Summer Stone Fruit Skillet Cake & a Maple Syrup Drizzle

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 35 Comments

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Fruit with pits….Stone fruit….Drupes….all names for a group of plentiful Summer fruits such as peaches, plums, cherries and apricots. Pluots are a hybrid of plums and apricots. My friend Mark has a tree with hundreds of these beauties hanging heavy and ripe that he was so gracious to share with me. The Rainier Cherries I picked up at a local market. Don’t the cherries look like wee pluots?

I made this cake last week when the temp got down to the high 70’s and low 80’s during the day. I did not mind turning on the oven for a bit to make this simple skillet cake with my stash of stone fruit.

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A generous smearing of softened butter on the skillet surface first, then the sliced pluots & cherries to cover the bottom.

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This batter is a cross between traditional cake & cornbread batters. Orange Flower water & vanilla extract added to the batter created a wonderful aroma in my kitchen while it was baking.

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Is there anything not made better with a bit of Maple Syrup drizzled on top?

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Warm, moist, aromatic & fruity with a cake texture and a hint of the cornmeal crunch. A bit more drizzle on each serving. A good brunch cake or for the late afternoon with a cup of coffee or tea when we all need a break. Here….have a bite.

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A Summer Cornmeal Skillet Cake with a Maple Syrup Drizzle

  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp softened butter
  • 1 cup self-rising yellow cornmeal
  • 3/4 cup self-rising flour
  • 1/2 cup turbinado or brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 Tbsp Vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp Orange Flour water
  • 3/4 to 1 cup Buttermilk or Whole Milk
  • 3-4 pitted & thickly sliced Pluots
  • 8-10 pitted Rainier Cherries, cut in half if large or left whole if small
  • Maple Syrup to drizzle over the warm cake

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 8 or 10 inch black iron skillet.
  2. Cover the bottom of the skillet with pluots slices and cherries.
  3. In a mixing bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour & brown sugar.
  4. To the bowl add the eggs, Vanilla extract, Orange Flower water and enough of the buttermilk or whole milk to create a batter.
  5. Pour batter over the stone fruit in the skillet.
  6. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the center of the cake is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Adjust baking time to suit your oven. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack for about 10 minutes.
  7. Turn cake upside down on a serving plate and drizzle with pure Maple Syrup.
  8. Serve cut into slices with additional drizzle if desired.

Recipe by: teresablackburnfoodstyling.com           Blog: foodonfifth.com