Rustic plum tart

I once told you that I can be pretty lazy from time to time; therefore, today’s recipe is dedicated to the lazy – and lovely – people reading me right now. ;)

It’s a tart, indeed, but there is no chilling of the pastry nor blind baking involved; you won’t need to wait for the crust to cool down to fill it and you can even serve this tart warm; in fact, it tastes delicious this way, and I tried the tart both warm and at room temperature so I could share the info with you – scientific purposes, only. ;)

Rustic plum tart
from Pure Dessert

1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
¾ cup (150g) caster (superfine) sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/6 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly whisked
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, firm but not hard
4-6 juicy, flavorful plums – you need plums that are both sweet and tart (much too sweet plums won’t work in this recipe)

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Generously butter a 24cm (9 ½in) fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.
Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the egg and butter and use a pastry blender or a large fork to cut the mixture together, as though you were making pie dough – the dough is ready when it resembles a rough mass of damp yellow sand with no dry flour showing.
Press the dough evenly over the bottom but not up the sides of the prepared pan.
If the plums are no bigger than 5cm (2in) in diameter, cut them in half and remove the pits. Cut larger plums into quarters or sixths, removing the pits as well. Leaving a margin of 1.25cm (½ in) around the edge of the pan, arranged halved plums cut side up over the dough, with a little space between each one; if using plum wedges, arrange them skin side up over the dough (like I did), pressing them slightly into the dough so that they will not turn onto their sides while baking.
Bake until pastry is puffed, deep golden brown at the edges and nicely golden brown in the center between the plums, 50-55 minutes. Set the tart on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then loosen the rim of the pan before cooling further. If you find a small pool of syrupy juice in the center of halved plums, use a small table knife to spread it over the cut surface of the fruit.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 8