Usually I do a fair amount of baking with Italian prune plums in the summer, but this year I only made one Italian plum dessert: Plum Squares with Marzipan Crumble from Smitten Kitchen. The recipe is written to be baked in an 8-inch square pan but I doubled it and made it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan.
This recipe requires a food processor but not a mixer. First, you make the crust by mixing flour, almond flour, salt, sugar, almond extract, and cubed butter in the food processor. I pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides of my parchment-lined pan, baked the crust until lightly golden, and let it cool completely before proceeding. You make the crumble for the bars by combining flour, almond paste, brown sugar, salt, and butter in the food processor, and stirring in toasted sliced almonds. You sprinkle some of the crumble mixture onto the partially baked crust before adding the filling of sliced plums, sugar, and cornstarch. Then you sprinkle on the remaining crumble and bake the bars until golden.
Even though the crust for the bars is par-baked before adding the filling, the bottom crust did not have as much color as I would have liked (but at least it was cooked). The bars were very good. The jammy plum filling was slightly tart and the the sweet, crisp, and buttery crumb topping was super almond-y. I don't think it's necessary to have any crust on the sides of these bars, although I guess it makes sense to have crust all the way around if you're going to be baking the bars in a fluted tart pan, as is depicted in the photos accompanying the recipe. There is a high ratio of crumble to filling, so if you're a fan of almonds and anything baked with almond paste -- as I am -- these bars are quite satisfying.
Recipe: "Plum Squares with Marzipan Crumble" from Smitten Kitchen.
Previous Posts:
This recipe requires a food processor but not a mixer. First, you make the crust by mixing flour, almond flour, salt, sugar, almond extract, and cubed butter in the food processor. I pressed the dough into the bottom and up the sides of my parchment-lined pan, baked the crust until lightly golden, and let it cool completely before proceeding. You make the crumble for the bars by combining flour, almond paste, brown sugar, salt, and butter in the food processor, and stirring in toasted sliced almonds. You sprinkle some of the crumble mixture onto the partially baked crust before adding the filling of sliced plums, sugar, and cornstarch. Then you sprinkle on the remaining crumble and bake the bars until golden.
Recipe: "Plum Squares with Marzipan Crumble" from Smitten Kitchen.
Previous Posts:
- "It's Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas: Shortbread Plum Tart with Honey and Cinnamon," October 11, 2018.
- "These Bars Are My Jam: Plum Cobbler Bars," September 27, 2018.
- "Four Layers, Three Bakes, One Tasty Bar: Plum and Almond Crumble Slice," September 20, 2018.
- "Maybe Less Cake Is More?: Gingery Plum Cake," September 17, 2018.
- "A Plum Torte, Rearranged: Plfaumenkuchen (Ashkenazic Plum Coffee Cake)," October 15, 2017.
- "Doubly Delightful: Plum Cake with a Double Base," September 30, 2017.
- "The Pure Pleasure of Purple Plums: Purple Plum Tart (Plómukaka)," September 23, 2017.
- "Where's the Plum in My Plum Cake?: Spiced Plum Streusel Cake with Toffee Glaze," September 19, 2017.
- "Plum Pizza, Anyone?: Pflaumenstreuselkuchen (Yeasted Plum Cake with Streusel)," September 17, 2017.
- "The Crust Is Dark, but the Fruit Shines: Italian Plum Almond Tart," September 16, 2017.
- "Five Minutes to Plum Heaven: Plum Torte," September 3, 2012.
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