Countryside plum crumble pie

I came in with a basket full of plums and was about to make myself a cup of tea when they came in and asked if we could bake something. Just for a moment I thought I would say no, but then, how could I resist? The desire to cook and bake; the sweet smell of plums caramelizing and pastry baking. They remembered the cake I baked last year, my childhood apple pie, and so it was “yes”. To make things more interesting, buttery and crunchy, we came up with a new variation of the good old recipe – with crumble. I could tell every time I turned my back that some of the pastry was disappearing in the mouths of Paula and Maya, who pretended nothing was happening. And I completely understand them. I have loved unbaked pastry since I helped my mother, and there is still some excitement every time I try some unbaked.

Ingredients

For the bottom layer:
420 g wheat flour
pinch of sea salt
2 tbsp Demerara sugar
¼ tsp cardamom powder
250 g cold butter
220 g sour cream (20 – 25%)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

for the filling:
900 g pitted plums
100 g butter
200 g Demerara sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ cardamom powder
½ vanilla pod, cut lengthways

Crumbles:
100 g oats
200 g wheat flour
200 demerara sugar
1/3 tsp cinnamon
200 g cold butter
pinch of sea salt

Prepare

Put all of the filling ingredients into a pan and simmer on a medium high heat until it starts to bubble. Turn the heat up and let it cook until it starts to thicken and is like a thick sauce. This can take up to 20 minutes. Take off the heat and let it cool. You can make this a day ahead.

Preheat oven to 200°. Prepare a baking pan (the original that comes with it …. cm)

Put flour, salt, cardamom, sugar and roughly grated butter into a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour so that mix resembles rough breadcrumbs, but so that there are still bigger pieces of butter and flour. Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix with your hands until the dough comes together. You will still see some pieces of butter and that is how it should be. On a floured surface, roll it out the size of the pan. Since we made it with the kids and it was hard for them to roll it out, we just placed 4 balls in the pan and flattened it until it covered the bottom of the pan. Prick with a fork and bake until it starts to turn golden (around 15 – 20 minutes).

While the bottom is baking, make the crumble. Put flour, oats, salt, cinnamon and half the sugar in a bowl, and mix. Grate in butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like moist and uneven breadcrumbs. Add the rest of the sugar and lightly mix.

When the bottom layer is ready, take the pan out of the oven and spread the plums in an even layer on top, top with the crumble and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until golden.

Recipe and pictures: Signe Meirane
Camera: Sony Alpha 7s
Plates and table decorations: HM Home