Briefly-in-season Italian prune plums are the star of this luscious, sweet crisp. Recipe below.
WE’VE BEEN MAKING A LOT OF FRUIT DESSERTS LATELY, and for that reason we almost did not post this one. But it is so, so wonderful, so gorgeous and tasty and the stuff of dreams, that not telling you about this would be wrong. It would just plain be wrong.
These days, a lot of fruits are available year round—strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapples, bananas of course, grapes, apples—all untethered from the seasons and adorning the store shelves. But Italian prune plums are different. They are among the few fruits only available for a few short weeks, around now.
For eating out of hand, prune plums are merely eh. In commerce, they are mostly used to make dried fruit. But for the home cook, they are so rewarding. In fact, while they’re in season, you may want to take a look at some of our other recipes: a simple Plum Cake, a Maple Syrup Olive Oil Pound Cake and Plums Poached in Wine, or on the savory side, Grilled Pork Chops and Italian Plums.
This crisp is possibly my brand new favorite, though, because it is almost entirely about the fruit—the sweet, luscious, marvelous fruit. Try this recipe now—in a moment, they’ll be gone.
Italian Prune Plum Crisp
Ingredients
For the plums:
- 3 pounds ripe Italian prune plums, pitted, quartered, and the stems discarded
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons Chambord, Kirsch or another fruity liqueur
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Butter a deep baking dish. We used a 3-quart CorningWare oval casserole.
- Prepare the fruit. Put the sliced plums in a medium bowl, sprinkle on the brown sugar and flour, then the Chambord, and mix it all together with your hands until it creates a smooth, thick sauce. Pour the fruit into the baking dish.
- Prepare the topping. Put all the topping ingredients into another bowl and mix together with a pastry fork or your hands. Blend together to make a uniform coarse meal.
- Scatter the crumb topping all over the fruit. You may not need it all—save any leftovers in the fridge because you likely are going to find a use for it very soon, such as making this recipe yet again.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Put the baking dish in the oven and set a timer for 40 minutes. It is done when the fruit is bubbling away briskly around the edges and the topping is turning golden. Let it sit until it is not blazing hot. It is lovely when it’s warm, it is lovely at room temperature and, to be honest, it is also lovely ice-cold, straight out of the fridge, on a suddenly hot day or when you just cannot be bothered to pop this in the toaster oven for a quick reheat.
We love crisps, and this is just the sort of recipe we adore. And what a lovely way to honor the all-too-short season of Italian prune plums! Neat, neat recipe — thanks.
I was wondering if this recipe could be made without the Chambord? I have every ingredient except this one and could not find any at my local store. Is this ingredient important? Could I just skip it? Or should i replace it with a substitute? If so what? Thanks
I picked up my local Farm Share and Italian (prune) Plums were included. None cared for them so I made a half batch of this recipe with the remaining plums. Everyone LOVED it!!!
What if you don’t have any liquer? Can u go ahead with no liquid
Someone who cares about me brought me a whole bunch of Italian plums recently. Worried that they would go bad before I could eat them all, I looked for a couple of recipes to help me put them to good use. I wound up making this one and the one you can find here:
https://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/09/15/italian-prune-plum-crumble/
The main difference between them that I found was that this one was a bit more tart than the other (and if you take the time to look at the ingredients and the amounts, a lot more healthy). If I were looking for a healthier version of this dessert, I would make this one by the Blue Kitchen. If I really wanted to impress someone, though, I’d go more decadent and make the one by The Hungry Mouse.
P.S. For both recipes, I did not squish the plums with my hands. I used a food processor. The texture for each recipe was similar. The difference is found in the topping. As for the liqueur element, I took a small sip of DeKuyper Blackberry Brandy, Bols Black Raspberry Liqueur, and Milady Cherry Liqueur (what happened to be in the house and not something I intentionally purchased). The winner was the Black Raspberry Liqueur because I felt it carried the spirit of what you would want in a dessert of this type.
Hope this helps!
R Ellison, you could substitute some grape juice or apple juice for the liqueur.
Thanks, Lisa!