Plum Tart

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Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

I am bringing to you another beautiful recipe that comes from my collection of simple recipes. This Plum Tart is an easy dessert that looks amazing on the table and it is perfect for any occasion.

Plum Custard Tart- an old recipe brought back to life

You have to love fruit tarts. They are easy to make, elegant and worth every bite. Perfect for any occasion, fruit tarts are not only delicious but also cheap to make.

This recipe is made with a buttery sweet crust, topped with ground walnuts, plums and a delicious custard made out of flour, egg, milk and a little bit of sour cream.

The recipe comes from one of my mother’s old baking books. The recipes in this book are real treasures that are worth to be brought back to life.

A few words about what type of plums I used:

I love plums. Plums are a popular fruit that grows wildly where I come from and the Farmer Markets are full of them at the end of the summer.

I personally love the Italian plums, an oblong purple fruit that it is smaller in size than the American plum.

However, I do not want you to think that just because you cannot find this type of fruit you cannot make this dessert.

Regular plums are perfect too, just bigger in size and probably easier to shape on the tart.

They are also juicy and delicious combined with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon.

While you might think that fresh plums are too bland or too tart, try to bake a dessert with them. It is a game changer!

Plums become sweet and flavorful and can handle lots of spices.

What other ingredients you will need besides plums:

For the crust:

• All purpose flour

• Unsalted butter(cold)– this is an important thing to remember. Cold butter makes the pastry flaky and delicious.

• Granulated sugar

• Salt– brings the flavors together. Every recipe for pastry should require a pinch of salt.

• Zest from a lemon

• Vanilla extract

• Large egg– this might be an odd ingredient for a regular crust, but eggs make the dough more pliable and very easy to roll out.

• Water or milk– for moisture

For the Plums layer:

• Ground walnuts

For the Custard:

• All purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Cinnamon
• Milk
• Large Egg
• Sour cream

How to make this Plum Tart:

Crust:

You have two options, to make the crust by hand or with a food processor. I chose the food processor because I have it and it makes my life so much easier.

How to make the crust in the food processor: 

Step 1.

Mix flour, sugar and salt together and place in the food processor. Add cold butter cut into small cubes and pulse a few times until you obtain a mixture that resembles sand or bread crumbs.

Step 2.

Do not overmix. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract, the egg and water, one tablespoon at a time pulsing a few times until the mixture holds together.

It should look something like that.

By hand: Mix flour, sugar and salt together, then cut the cold butter into small cubes and add it to the flour. Use a pastry tool to incorporate the butter into the flour, or use your fingertips. You should have a mixture that resembles sand or bread crumbs.

Add lemon zest, vanilla extract, the egg and water, one tablespoon at a time and lightly knead the dough until the mixture holds together.

Step 3.

Make the dough into a disk, wrap it and place it in the refrigerator for an hour.

Shortcut:

If you have no time to make this crust, you can definitely buy a frozen pie shell. I like making my own pie dough, because it is pretty easy. I sometimes make a double batch and freeze it, so I have pastry when I need it.

Slice the plums for the pie:

Before you start preparing the plums for the tart, preheat oven to 350F/180C.

Slice the plums in half and remove the stone, then cut each half into 4-5 slices. If you can’t remove the stone, just carefully cut around it.

Set aside.

How To Make The Custard:

Mix flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Separately beat together the egg with milk and sour cream. Pour the liquid over the flour mixture and mix well. Set aside.

How To Assemble The Plum Tart:

Butter the bottom of a 9 inch pie or tart pan. Lightly dust your work surface with flour.

Roll out dough on floured board to a 12 inch size. This will fit into a 9 inch pan. Trim away excess.

Sprinkle walnuts on the dough.

Arrange the plum slices in circle.

Pour the custard mixture right over the plums and place small pieces of butter on top of the tart.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until the pastry is golden, the fruit tender and the custard set.

It looks so yummy, right? I loved the color on this dessert and the taste is awesome.

I took photos of this plum tart without decorations. I loved the “naked” look of it and the beautiful color of the baked plums.

You can definitely serve it with whipped cream, ice cream, or just drizzle a little bit of honey over it.

The tart doesn’t have a lot of sugar, so honey will definitely make a beautiful glaze on top of the tart and add more sweetness to it.

NOTES

• Use almond flour instead of ground walnuts if you prefer.
• Drizzle honey on top of the tart before you serve it. Ice cream or whipped cream are good too, unless you just prefer some powder sugar to dust over the entire surface of tart.
• This tart is best on the day you bake it, but keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple of days. The crust will become softer a little bit, but it will still be good.

I think you are going to love this recipe and I look forward to see your comments below.

More Plum Recipes:

Easy Plum Coffee Cake

German Plum Kuchen- Pflaumenkuchen