Le Petit Plum Crisp (GF)

Hello again! Glad to (hopefully) be publishing a steady stream of posts. Sometimes it can be alarming how quickly time flies by. I always plan out a billion things I want to do, to bake, to draw, to photograph, but time just won't allow me to do half of those things. Of course this also includes all the billion of recipes I want to try. But, I have learned to appreciate the time I do have to create, to find unique ingredients, to be innovative and artistic. These are things I truely relish.

Speaking of unique ingredients, no those are not olives, but tiny plums. I bought them at the Corrales farmer's market. For being so tiny, they certainly have alot of flavor. They are extremely tart which I love. But after buying them, I wondered for days what in the world I could do with them. I finally settled on a very simple crisp. I thought the sourness of the plums would be perfect with the nuttiness of the brown sugar and oats. And I was right!

This recipe is extremely easy, which makes me think it would be a perfect last minute dessert. The plums can be substituted with really any fruit, but since the topping is pretty sweet, I would not use a particularily sweet fruit.

I am not quite sure why I chose to draw an absurd number of stars. I guess that the theme of Le Petit Plum Crisp made me think of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, which I lately have been wanting to reread.

Anyway, serve this crisp with vanilla ice cream, and you have it made. An effortless but delicious late-ish Summer dessert.

Le Petit Plum Crisp (GF)
makes one petite 6-inch crisp

1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons Artisan GF flour blend (see raspberry scone post)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup gluten free granola (I used Udi's GF Au Naturel)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 pound ripe plums, pitted and cut in half if large

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together 1/2 cup of the flour blend, 1 cup sugar, granola, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until coarse crumbs form.
2. In a 6-inch baking dish, toss plums with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 teaspoons of the flour blend. Sprinkle with granola topping. Place dish on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until topping is golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.