Plum Torte and Finally, Another Post
Wow, we have seriously fallen off the blog wagon. Between it being way too hot to cook and this time of year being crazy at work, I have had little energy or motivation for cooking. If we took pictures of our typical meals they would be BLTs, Trader Joe’s chicken pot stickers, or skip and tear soup. And to be honest, there were a couple of times where once or twice a week you would find us standing at the sink, ripping into a pre-cooked chicken roaster like a monkey on a cupcake (thank you Ray Barone for that quote). Not pretty. However, now that the weather is cooling down and the end of weekend work is in sight, I think it will be easier to post. Plus, the kids are getting better at playing together without constant intervention (knock on wood).
Prune plums showed up at our local farmer’s market a week or two ago. They have a very short season. I think in the past I have found them at the grocery store around Labor Day and then for maybe another week or two. I first had this torte at my Great Aunt Ann’s house. She would freeze them and pull them out at other times of the year. The recipe was originally in the New York Times. I think the story goes that they had to reprint it yearly for 15 years because so many people would request the recipe. It’s actually very quick and easy to make, I may have to try it out with some other type of fruit since I didn’t freeze any this year.
Plum Torte
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
2 eggs
12 prune or Italian plums, cut in half and pitted
sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon
Cream butter and sugar. Mix in eggs. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt. Spoon batter into 9″ springform pan. Place plums on top skin side up. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, lemon juice, and about 1 tsp cinnamon. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
These can be frozen. To freeze after cooled wrap in a double layer of foil, place in ziploc bag. To reheat, defrost for an hour and bake at 300 degrees briefly.

plum torte anyone?
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