I fancy a plum winter pud
Ican’t resist tinned black doris plums – I absolutely love their contrasting tart sweetness, not to mention the fact they are amazing to eat straight from the tin.
These two desserts are incredibly simple to prepare, but both pack a fabulous flavour punch, and are indulgently satisfying. (If you are making these when plums are in season, simply sub in lightly poached fresh plums for the tinned variety).
In both desserts, I have used almonds as a flavour match for the plums, but feel free to experiment with other nuts such as hazelnuts or walnuts, which would be equally delicious.
Clafoutis is traditionally made with cherries, but many other fruits work well – ripe pears, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, roast rhubarb, or peaches. cup ground almonds cup caster sugar 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 200ml whole milk 100ml cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 850g tin black doris plums, drained
Vanilla bean icecream or softly whipped cream to serve
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and butter a 22cm round ovenproof dish with butter (a deep oven-proof frying pan can be used).
Whisk the flour, almonds, sugar, eggs, yolk, milk, cream and vanilla until smooth. Break the plums in half with your hands and gently remove the stones, then place them into the prepared dish and pour over custard mix.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until just set in the middle. Remove from the oven, leave for 5-10 minutes to rest, then dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla bean icecream. 3 granny smith apples
cup caster sugar 850g tin black doris plums, drained cup plain flour cup ground almonds 100g butter, chopped
cup sliced almonds Vanilla bean icecream or softly whipped cream to serve
Preheat the oven to 180C. Peel and halve the apples and chop into roughly 3cm pieces.
Put cup sugar in a wide deep frying pan with 3 tablespoons of water.
Heat over a medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar and add the apples. Cook for 5 minutes until just soft and most of the water is gone. Put the apples into a 16cm x 22cm baking dish.
Break the plums in half with your hands and gently remove the stones, then dot them into the dish with apples. Put the flour, ground almonds and butter into a food processor and whiz until forming clumps.
Add half of the sliced almonds and pulse to combine.
Crumble the mixture on top of the fruit, squishing into clumps with your fingers as you go. Sprinkle with the remaining sliced almonds and bake for 30 minutes until the crumble topping is golden.
Rest for 5 minutes before serving with vanilla bean icecream or softly whipped cream. Recipes, food styling and photography by Sarah Tuck