Plum Tart with Streusel

Recently Dianka from Na Zdravi posted about her mom's delicious plum kolach. It reminded me that I never posted about my own mother's plum dessert that she made a few months ago. It was one of the best desserts I've had all year and I had been meaning to post about it for a while now. Her plum tart has a cookie crust and used sugar plums that we found at Ranch 99 and a streusel top. I found that ice cream was a must with this dessert to cut the extra sweetness from the sugar plums. My mom and I both agree that next time we'll use a slightly less sweet plum.

Fortunately my mom was kind enough to write down the recipe that she concocted for this dessert. She combined various plum tarts that she's made in the past and came up with this version:

Plum Tart with Streusel

Plums:

You need enough Italian plums (prunes), split and de-stoned to cover a square 9” pan in a thick layer. You will put the plums cut side up. Mix the plums in a bowl with 1 to 3 T. cornstarch (depending on how juicy they are), 1 T. lemon juice.

Crust:

1 stick butter
1 c. plus 6 T. powdered sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. salt
1 ¾ c flour
1 tsp. vanilla
Optional: zest from one lemon

Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter with the flour and powdered sugar and salt. When crumbs form, add egg. If the mixture is too dry to form a roll, you can add (by the drops) cold water or milk or lemon juice so that you can form a roll.

Put the roll in cellophane wrap and put in refrigerator until firm enough to cut into ¼ - ½ inch circles. Cover the bottom and sides of the 9” square pan with the circles, pressing the circles together to make an even crust.

Streusel:
½ c. brown sugar, packed
1 stick of butter, cut into 1 T. pats
1 or 2 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
1 c. plus 2 T. flour

Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into rest of ingredients until small crumble is achieved.

Pre–heat oven to 425 degrees.

Layer plums on top of crust and then sprinkle the streusel over plums. If you like a tarter tart, use less streusel.

Bake in 425 degree oven for 15 min. Lower temperature to 375 degrees and bake 30 to 40 minutes (depends on how hot your oven maintains temperature). Crust should be brown, streusel should be browned and the plums should be bubbling and cooked through. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream on top.