Italian Plum Tart

Italian Plum Tart

Today is my husband's birthday and the family will celebrate this great day with a "Birthday Plum Tart"!

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

plus more for dusting

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into very small pieces and chilled

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Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 pounds plums (about 24 small prune plums or 12 small black plums)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

Vanilla ice cream for serving

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Directions:

Crust: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Using a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers, cut or rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles a coarse meal. (Work quickly to keep butter cold.) Using a fork, stir in 3 or 4 Tablespoons cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, adding just enough for the dough to hold together without becoming wet. OR combine flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and process until the resembles coarse meal. Drizzle in cold water; pulse just until the dough begins to hold together. Turn dough out on clean surface and flatten into a 6 inch disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour or up to 1 day.

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Preheat oven to 425. Roll out dough on a floured surface, making it 11 inches round. Fit into a 9" x 1" round tart pan with removable bottom, pressing snuggle into corners of pan. Roll a rolling pin over top of pan to trim off excess dough. Cover with plastic and refrigerate or freeze for 15 minutes.

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Pierce bottom of shell all over with a fork. Line with foil and fill with pie weights or dry lima beans. Bake 5 minutes or more, or until golden (if crust puffs up, press down with back of spoon.) Place on a rack to cool.

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Filling:

In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar mixture on pastry bottom. Slice plums and arrange in concentric circles on top. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture on top. Sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture and dot with butter.

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Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake until mixture begins to bubble around edges, 30 to 35 minutes. If crust begins to bubble too quickly, cover with strips of foil. Cool on rack and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. One 9" tart makes 8 to 10 servings.