Saturday, July 2, 2011

Have Plums, Will Platz!

The black plums were on special today and so it was easy to see what I would be making. Plum Platz, not the cakey recipe but the crispy, chewy pastry crust, topped with plums and crumble topping. This recipe was given to me by my daughter via a friend who remembered Mennonite style baking treats. It's an easy to prepare dessert. We served it warm with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. You know you want some and being as it is made on a large cookie sheet, I could have shared...
Plum Platz
Crust:

2 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar
3/4 cup cold butter
3/4 cold water

Mix crust ingredients as you would for a pie crust
(Adding water after butter has been cut in with a pastry blender)
After adding water stir until it becomes dough. (never handle with your hands, JUST LIKE A PIE PASTRY.)
Pat into a well greased (I also use parchment paper) cookie sheet.15" X 10"
* i take this recipe and and increase by 1 1/2 and use a 17" X 11" cookie sheet*

2 pints of prune plums washed , halved and pitted.
Laid inside up.

Topping:

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cold butter
Blend with a pastry blender until it's a fine crumbly texture.Sprinkle over plums and bake at 400 for 35-40 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Notes:
If you use frozen fruit increase flour for topping to 1 cup and if you use peaches increase to 1 1/2 cups.
You can use almost any fruit you like. Tart Cherries, apples (add a bit of cinnamon for apples)or nectarines for example.
- I recommend sour cherries, apricots or plums for the
filling. Apples would also work well. Try any fruit
you like! Apparently the South American Mennonites use
bananas or other tropical fruit.

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