A delicious filled and fruity tart with a crumbly pastry, crying out for some hot custard in winter or a nice fresh cream in summer.
This tart is full of flavour, the tartness of the plums along with the fragrance of the cardamom make it a delicious hit that everyone will enjoy.
Recipe
Prep Time : 30 mins
Serves : This mixture makes a large pie tin and slices into approx 8-10 slices
Difficulty : Moderate
For the Pastry
300g plain flour plus extra for dusting
150g ground almonds
150g caster sugar/light brown sugar
300g butter
5-6 tbsp milk
For the filling
15 plums stoned and cut into quarters
8 tbsp caster sugar
6 tbsp bramble jam
10 cardamom pods
3 teaspoons of cornflour
2 teaspoons of vanilla paste (or 1 teaspoon of good quality vanilla essence)
Everything else
Icing sugar
Milk for brushing
Butter for greasing
1 - For the pastry, mix the flour, sugar and almonds in a bowl and then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2 - Stir in the milk, bit by bit, until the pastry forms into a dough and kneed it on a floured surface, wrap it up in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30 mins - 1 hour.
3- Put the oven to 180*c.
4 - Crush the cardamom pod and get the seeds out, then using a pestle and mortar crush them up.
5 - Put the plums in a saucepan with the caster sugar, bramble jelly, 2 tbsp water, vanilla paste and the ground cardamom seeds. Bring to the boil, constantly stirring, until all the sugar and jelly has dissolved down. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
6 - Mix the cornflour with about 2 tablespoons of water so it forms a loose paste and add it to the plums, stir in and then simmer for another 3-4 minutes, still stirring.
Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool a little.
7- Roll out the pastry and line the greased tart tin, trim off any excess pastry.
8- Collect all the trimmings and roll out again and cut into strips for the lattice.
9 - Once the filling has cooled a bit pour it into your lined tart tin - DO NOT RUSH THIS, if you pour your filling into the pie when it is still hot you will end up with the dreaded soggy bottom.
10 - Now do the lattice top, secure the edges and brush with some milk then sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top (If you're not sure how to lattice this is a good tutorial - https://tinyurl.com/7o3p8vc )
If you want to add some pretty shapes (flowers, hearts, stars etc) then they can look really pretty and effective too!
Note - This pastry can be quite crumbly to work with due to the ground almonds, but keep on with it, it doesn't matter if your lattice is a bit messy as it looks grand once it's baked, and will taste delicious anyway!
11 - Bake for about half an hour or until it's nice and golden and then turn the oven off, leave in the hot (but off) oven and then leave to cool in the tin.
Once cool you can sprinkle with icing sugar and serve. This pie is fine to serve warm or to pop back in the oven a few hours later/the next day for about 10 minutes ( at 160*c) to warm through.
Perfect with Cream or custard!
Enjoy
