Guest Author - Anita Burroughs

We see recipes for all kinds of lovely cobblers and crisps…the traditional apple crisp, pear and walnuts, peach, blueberry, and strawberry rhubarb. Until I stumbled across this recipe several years ago, I had never considered trying a crisp with a plum, which I assumed might well be too tart for a dessert.

I was dead wrong; this crisp is a wonderful, slightly tart dessert that is sweet and juicy. My guests are always surprised to learn that the plum is the star of the show, and this dessert has always been a big hit. The recipe calls for Italian prune plums, but I have used other plums in season successfully in this dish.

1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup plus one tablespoon of ground walnuts
½ cup sugar, divided
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and then cooled
2 ¼ pounds (or about six cups) of Italian prune plums, pitted and cut into quarters

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, the walnuts, ¼ cup of the sugar (remember, there is another ¼ cup to be used elsewhere in the recipe), brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. Then slowly pour in the melted butter, and combine, ideally with a fork, until the mixture looks crumbly. Your crumble should not resemble a tennis ball, so break up any clumps with your fingers.

In a second bowl, combine the plums and the rest of the sugar, and mix well. Put the fruit into a buttered shallow casserole dish (a 2-quart dish is perfect), and then top by sprinkling the crumbs over the fruit mixture.

Bake until the fruit bubbles, and the topping is browned, about 50-55 minutes. You can serve this dessert hot, or at room temperature. It pairs beautifully with vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.

You can certainly use a good quality commercial ice cream or frozen yogurt. If you have the time and your own ice cream maker, you may want to give this recipe for vanilla ice cream a try. It is incredibly easy, and I was told by several of my catering clients that it was the best ice cream they ever tasted.

Here goes:

Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk (no skim or low-fat milk here please!)
¾ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise (I have also used vanilla extract, using 3 teaspoons of the extract instead of the beans. The beans will give you a more intense flavor.)
2 large eggs

Combine the cream, milk, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. If you are using vanilla beans, scrape the seeds from the beans into the cream mixture, and then add the pods. Bring to a boil, mixing occasionally.

At the same time, whisk the eggs in a large metal bowl. Add the hot cream mixture in a slow and steady stream; keep whisking during this process. Then, pour this mixture back into the large saucepan, and cook over low heat, and stir continually with a wood spoon. Stir until the custard is thick enough to coat the spoon with a good coat of the mixture.

Pour the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl, throwing out the vanilla bean pods. Cool this to room temperature and then cover and refrigerate until the mixture is cold, at least three hours.

Then freeze the custard in your ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a covered container and keep frozen until needed. This ice cream is best if eaten within a week or so.