Baked Plums with crushed amaretti

Image courtesy of pictureshunt.com

*part of the sizzling stafforshire menu series*

Fruit desserts in my opinion are often overlooked in favour of heavy dairy and chocolate fixes. it's a shame because there is a hell of alot of natural flavour in fruit, and can balance well with a variety of other flavours also.

This dessert is unwavering in its simplicity, and provides a means of a cheap and quick, and very fulfilling dessert that is also extremely healthy. Its kind of halfway towards a crumble, without the guilt factor. With this in mind, you can do alot with this dish to change it if you wish, and develop it further.

You will need (serves 4):

500g ripe plums (make sure theyre firm and not too soft)
1/2 tsp for each plum
3 tbsp sherry, marsala or even creme de cassis.
30g amaretti biscuits
Natural yoghurt to serve
Optional herbs for aromatics

heat the oven to 200C. cut the plums in half and remove the stones, arrange the plums hole side up, in a lightly greased baking dish. Drizzle over the sherry. At this point i like to add a few springs of rosemary into the dish just to give an extra dimension of flavour, you can also use lavender.

crush the amaretti either manually or using a food processor for a very short burst. Sprinkle over the plums. Put small amount of butter on each plum and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Serve warm with a dollop of each yoghurt.

Apple & Mincemeat Crumble Cake

This cake reminds me in appearance, and taste (and in construction) of the favoured Dorset Apple Cake from my own recipe library. After much excitement decided to give this one a go and found i throughly enjoyed it. Its incredibly rich, but beware - its also incredibly moreish. I suppose in some ways it could be a refreshing alternative to the fables xmas cake, and would be a worthy dessert with some custard, or cinnamon and honey creme fraiche on boxing day or similar family oriented gathering.

In true "me" fashion we put half of this cake portioned into the freezer for later use, should visitors drop by.

Ingredients

4 firm apples , peeled, cored and cut into thumb-size pieces
3 tbsp golden caster sugar (or demerera)
1 tsp mixed spice

For the cake mix

250g softened salted butter
250.0g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract / vanilla essence
5 large eggs
200g self-raising flour (or plain flour - but be sure to add a heaped tbsp of baking powder if using plain)
100g ground almonds
7 tbsp plain flour
6 tbsp mincemeat

The doing bit:

Add pears to a pan with 2tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp water. Cook on a moderate heat until just tender, stirring occasionally.

Heat oven to 160C, grease and line cake tin (20cm).

In a mixing bowl combine sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Beat together until uniform paste and pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time then flour gradually.

Remove 90g of the batter and put into a small bowl. Add the 7tbsp plain flour and rub together into a crumble mix.

Spoon half of the cake mix into the lined tin, then add half of the apples and mincemeat. Reapeat with the other half, then top with crumble mix.

Bake for 90 mins approx, then cover the tin with foil and return to oven for a further 30 mins. Check with a small knife - if the knife comes out clean its ready to cool.

Cool throughly before portioning. Devour, with avarice.