INGREDIENTS:
- 1 9-inch sweet pastry tart shell, fully baked (I used J.C.’s pate brisee sucree recipe), click on the link.
- 2 pounds/900 grams plums, pitted and cut in half if small Italian plums, cut into quarters if larger, I used the blue damson from Washington State
- 1/2 cup, bread crumbs or crumble topping or ground almond
- 3 tablespoons/45 grams sugar
- ½ teaspoon/1 gram cinnamon
- ¼ to ½ cup apricot jam (optional)
PREPARATION:
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cut plums in half with a paring knife. Start at the tip of the plum and cut just to where the pit should be and continue cutting around the pit in a concentric fashion.
- Place pastry shell on a sheet pan or baking sheet. Spread crumbs or ground almonds on the pastry shell in an even layer. Arrange the plums in tight concentric circles in pastry shell with skin-side down, beginning at the rim of the pan, do not pack too tightly next to each other to allow some of the plum juice to cover the tart during the baking process. This juice will form the glossy layer of the tart.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle over the plums. Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, or until tips of plums have a dark caramelized color. The plums should still have their shape. Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack.
- While plum tart cools, heat apricot jam with a 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat, then gently brush viscous jam mixture over plums to glaze.