Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Plum Strudel

No I don't mean apple in that title and no I haven't fallen on my head anytime recently. I just happened to fall victim to a good sale. 2 pound bags of plums, $1.98 each. I happen to love plums and couldn't pass up a bag.

The problem with this is that I really only loved the first pound... and then ended up with a pound and a half of quickly ripening plums sitting on my counter.

After a quick Google search, I started to feel very badly for plums. All of the plum pie recipes I ran across were a little too gourmet to sound appetizing.. Don't pretend you don't know what I mean. There was nothing simple, a tad spicy, a little sweet, and would use a good number of my plums.

So, I worked off of a basic Strudel recipe, changing to based on what I had on hand and what I know to work well with plums. This created a very tasty plum strudel that my knitting club devoured.

Plum Strudel  
  • 2 cups skinned, sliced plums (around 6 plums)
  • 3 Tablespoons of Butter
  • 2 Tablespoons Lemonade (lemon juice works too, but this is what I had)
  • 1 Tablespoon Honey
  • 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
  • 3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
  • 2 Sheets of Puff Pastry - defrosted
  • 1 Egg
  • Cinnamon Sugar for dusting
Vanilla Icing
  • 3 Tablespoons of Butter
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
 Start by peeling and slicing your plums. This is the most tedious part of this. But well worth it. Be careful getting that pit out.

Next, melt the butter in a cooking vessel large enough to contain your fruit.

Once melted, add the plums into the pot, and cook until tender and aromatic. You want them to be a little tender before you move on.

When the plums begin to soften, you want to add your sweet and spicy team. Cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, honey, and lemonade all go into the pot.  Mix and cook until the plums are soft and a bit golden in color.  Let your filling cool. I hurried this process along by placing the whole dang pot in the fridge.

 Unfold your puff pastry, then refold in half. Make half inch cuts on the folded side. Then fill with half of your plum filling. Seal your ends, and place your newly formed strudel on a baking sheet seam side down. Brush the top of the dough with your egg, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. It's nice when things look pretty... Lather, rinse, repeat with the other sheet and the rest of the filling.

Bake according to your package of puff pastry. Watch carefully, mine got a little crispy because my oven is possessed.

Now for the grand finale. The frosting. So simple, so tasty. Melt butter. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix. Thin with water or milk if it's too thick to drizzle. Use a spoon to drizzle onto the strudel. This is the best glaze I have ever used. You'll never go back to using just milk again.

I'm going to take a moment to apologize for the lack of detailed pictures at the end. I was hurrying to finish these, and spaced on taking a couple pictures for you fine folks. Feel free to comment any questions you have, I can clarify anything. I just couldn't wait to share this tasty recipe.

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