Henny Penny Farmette

 

 

The farmer’s market has the dark purple-black plums and pluots in abundance now, so I thought I’d buy a few and whip up a rustic summer tart, Italian style.

 

I like the rustic tarts with the Italian style crostata crust because they are easy to make and the tart tastes so buttery and flaky. This recipe uses butter and also cream cheese that gives the tart a special lightness. For the filling, I used pluots for this one, but you could also use ripe plums.

 

To make the dough, I find it easier to just put the ingredients into the food processor with a steel blade and pulse a few times, adding ice water as needed.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

8 ounces cream cheese

 

2 sticks butter (1 cup)

 

2 cups flour

 

½ teaspoon salt

 

1 teaspoon cold water

 

6-7 large sweet pluots or dark plums

 

Juice from ½ medium lemon

 

2 Tablespoons butter

 

2 Tablespoons flour

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

In a food processor with blade, process cream cheese, butter, flour, salt, and water into a ball.

 

*Roll out on a lightly floured surface in a circle to about ¼ inch thickness and 2-4 inches larger than your tart pan.

 

Place dough in a tart pan and pre-bake 10 minutes.

 

Wash, cut, stone, and cut pluots/plums into quarters.

 

Combine with lemon juice.

 

Toss with flour. If plums are juicy, you’ll need a bit more flour to absorb all that juice.

 

Cut butter into pieces and scatter around the plums as you layer the slices in the pan on top of the crostata dough.

 

 

Fold extra dough loosely back over the plums; it should not reach the center because you want a rustic look to the baked tart.

 

Bake for 30-45 minutes until pluots/plums are soft and dough is golden brown.

 

Serve warm with a dollop of whipping cream or a good vanilla ice cream.

 

*Avoid over-handling the dough as it will become tough.

 

Tags: butter, cream cheese, crostata, flour, lemon, plums, pluots, salt, sugar