This deceptively simple tart will steal your heart. It’s a flavor pairing made in heaven.
This is the tart that changed my attitude toward plums, which I usually find bland and uninspiring.
I often pass them over in favor of more demonstrative stone fruits. Like peaches and apricots.
But recently I received a basket of plums from a friend’s tree and was surprised by the vibrant, acidic flavor.
I don’t know the variety but will taste my way through local plums next summer to find plums with similar characteristics.
They are simply incredible.
Plum & Orange Blossom Tart with Almond Sage Streusel
Tart plums, orange peel, orange blossom water, vanilla, butterscotch, toasted almonds, and fresh sage work magic together to create a flavor pairing that is more than the sum of its parts.
Ingredient Note Look for plums with a vibrant, acidic flavor. Placid, flabby plums won’t do here.
10-inch, shallow, removable-bottom tart pan, lined with Quick & Easy, Flaky, all Butter, Short-Crust Pastry, and partially baked for about 24 minutes as directed
Almond Sage Streusel (recipe below)
Plums
1 pound stemmed, pitted, fresh plums, cut into eights (about 6 medium plums)
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon finely minced orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Accompaniment
crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream
- Prepare partially baked pastry. Reserve.
- Prepare Almond Sage Streusel. Reserve.
- To prepare plums, in a medium mixing bowl, combine prepared plums, brown sugar, orange peel, vanilla, orange blossom water, salt, and cornstarch. Let macerate for 30 minutes.
- To heat oven, arrange a rack in the top third of the oven, and heat to 400ºF.
- To fill tart, in the prebaked pastry, arrange sliced plums evenly around the pan, starting from the outside and working inward. The narrower ends should be pointed toward the center and the pieces should be placed on their cut sides. Continue with another circle of plum slices, and then fill the center. Tuck any remaining plums in wherever you can. (Don’t worry too much about how the plums look at this point; they’ll be covered with streusel.)
- Pour any juices remaining in the mixing bowl (usually about 4 tablespoons) over the plums.
- To top with streusel, crumble prepared, COLD streusel over the top of the tart, covering plums completely.
- Immediately on the top rack of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until plum juices are bubbling and streusel is golden brown and crisp.
- Let cool before cutting.
Makes 8 servings.
Almond Sage Streusel
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
½ cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
- To prepare streusel, in a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
- Using a pastry cutter or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cut butter into flour mixture until evenly crumbly. Stir in almonds and sage.
- Put into a storage bag and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
Copyright 2015 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.
That is so beautiful! What a great company dish.
Fruits & streusel sounds like a delicious pie to me! My whole family would love this one!
If you come up with any good plum tips (varieties, farms, etc.), I’d love to know! I’ve been disappointed in the past, too. A bad plum is just way worse than a bad peach.
Kelley, I’ll definitely let you know. Honestly, I had given up on plums altogether and may have never had another one in my life except for this recent happenstance. Now I’m on a mission to make amends. 🙂
It’s been FAR too long since I’ve had plums. This looks like the perfect recipe to rectify that 😀 Yours baked beautifully!
Susan, this tart looks like perfection! My son and I both love plums, so I bet he would love this. Gorgeous photos!
This is beautiful Susan! What a perfect fall tart!
Ooh, yum! I bet if I added a little plum reduction / syrup I could make that into a solid pie. Thinking ahead to Thanksgiving already, haha!
This tart look so good! I love all of the flavor!
Thank you, Marye! 🙂
I always love your desserts. I think you and I might be dessert soulmates. This one is right up my alley. Now to wait for stone fruit season again.
Barrett, thank you! And yes, I didn’t get this one posted quickly enough. There may still be some plums in the market though. I’ll look tomorrow at Portland Saturday Market.
This is gorgeous, Susan! All of your desserts are works of art! I am not usually much of a plum person so I will be curious to hear what varieties you decide to like. What I do know for sure is that with that crumble topping I would devour that tart even with an insipid plum lol!
Laura, this dessert will change your mind about the potential of plums–as it did mine. I’m now so excited to dive in and taste all the varieties available. I had no idea that plums could be this amazing. What I should have mentioned though, in retrospect, is that the plums were almost too tart to eat uncooked and that their complexity of taste really came out in the cooking process. So much better cooked than raw in other words.