victoria plum streusel tart

I made this Victoria plum streusel tart because I had a lot of Victoria plums in the freezer and I wanted to use them before they just got lost in the never-ending cave that is my freezer section.  The plums were a thank-you gift from a friendly neighbour for a good deed and there were so many I really had no choice but to freeze a whole batch of them.  Plums freeze really well.  The trick is to halve them and de-stone them first. If you have room in your freezer it’s also good to lay the halves out on a tray first so they freeze as separate elements and not in one big blob but to be honest I didn’t do this and it was fine.  I gave the lump a bash on the kitchen worktop and got what I needed!

The recipe comes from mum.  She often makes a tart with a crumble or streusel topping as it makes a nice change to a full pie.  You can add all types of things to this mix.  I like it totally classic but it works well with ground almonds, muesli, porridge oats, coconut… the list is endless really. There are a couple of additions to this tart recipe that are very much ‘my mum.’  One of them is the layer of jam at the bottom of the pastry case.  She always does this at the bottom of a tart.  It adds a layer of sweetness and because we add zero sugar to the fruit, that is really needed.  Any jam will work but apricot jam is probably the best.  The second the heap of cinnamon in the streusel mix.  Plums just seem to love cinnamon and so the more you can add the better as far a mum is concerned! The pastry is my very favourite sweet shortcrust pastry with cream cheese.  It’s such an epic piecrust pastry and the best thing is that you don’t need blind back this pastry which is rather wonderful, so I urge you to give it a go.

Whilst this tart isn’t quite a full mid-week meal, it is super easy and really quick to make, you can have it in the oven whilst you’re preparing your main course and it will be done once that’s been devoured!

for the cream cheese pastry

• 300g plain flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 112g caster sugar
• 150g unsalted butter
• 150g full fat cream cheese
• 75g ground almonds
• 1 egg yolk
• a little milk to bind

for the streusel topping

• 170g Flour
• 70g butter
• 60g fine demerara sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

for the filling

• 500g plums – frozen or fresh but if using frozen, don’t defrost first.
• jam

i’ve used a 25cm ceramic tart dish but any tart tin will do, grease it well with butter and pre-heat your oven to 170C

start with the pastry by sifting the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl, add the butter and rub until it resembles breadcrumbs

add the cream cheese, ground almonds and egg yolk, take a knife and mix until it comes together into a dough, you may need to add a little milk here, as I did, once it’s all together, wrap in clingfilm and chill the dough for at least 30 mins before rolling out. (The dough also freezes really well and will keep for about a month)

after the dough has rested, flour your work surface well and roll out your pastry nice and thin, then line your tart dish.  Prick the pastry with a fork and then spoon in one or two teaspoons of jam and spread out into a thin layer.

make the streusel by rubbing the butter into the flour, then mix in the sugar and cinnamon and set aside

pile your plums into the pastry and sprinkle the topping all over the top

bake for 40 mins or until the pastry and topping are golden

eat and of course enjoy!