Baking with Mirabelle Plums.

Last night I baked a Mirabelle Plum and Cognac Clafoutis with the plums Ariana and Daddy picked from the tree in our backyard! It turned out delicious! We served it slightly warm, dusted with powdered sugar and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It was kind of like a cobbler.

These sweet little plums come from the Lorraine region of France (which isn't far from us) here in Germany. They are good to eat by themselves (my husband really likes them) but they are also good to bake with.

Mirabelle Plum and Cognac Clafoutis Recipe

3 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespons softened butter

about 1.5 cups of stoned mirabelle plums, cut in half

1/4 cup cognac or brandy

30g (1 oz) flaked almonds

powdered sugar and vanilla ice cream to serve.

1. Beat the eggs, cream, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl.  

2. Add flour, mix well and then beat briskly with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute.  

3. If time allows, set aside to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. In the meantime, macerate the mirabelle halves in the brandy.

4. Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and melt butter in a pie dish.  Spread the mirabelle halves evenly over the base of the buttered dish and carefully pour the batter over the fruit.  Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 10 minutes. 

5. Sprinkle with almonds and move your rack down 1 notch and reduce the oven temperature to 350F (175C) and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. 

Serve slightly warm with powdered sugar. Scoop of ice cream is optional but very yummy!

Orignal recipe found here.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble {Recipe}

If you're looking for the perfect way to use that rhubarb in the backyard (like me) then this is the recipe to try! Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble. Besides all the chopping it's pretty easy to make.

Below are the pictures of the rhubarb that we have growing in our backyard. We have 2 huge plants of it. You can see with me standing beside it how big the leaves are. But, you don't use the leaves, they are poisonous to eat, only use the stalks.

If your plant is blooming flowering stalks, you should break off the flowering parts so that the plant can send it's energy to creating the leaves instead of flowers. Mine is growing huge and even with the flowering stalks still on there it seemed to be growing fine.

Pick your leaves (you can see how big they are with Ariana holding them up). I used 3 good sized stalks and got about 3 cups worth of usable rhubarb out of it.

Chop up your rhubarb and strawberries and we'll get started with the actually recipe part!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Filling:

3 cups strawberries, roughly chopped

3 cups rhubarb, chopped

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

zest of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Topping:

1/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon salt

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, diced 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)

2. In a large bowl mix together strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix well and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl mix together oats, flour, sugar, brown sugar, cardamom, salt and lemon zest. Using a pastry cutter or fork work butter into mixture until crumbly.

4. Pour filling into sprayed pie pan. Top with crumble topping. 

5. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until top is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

6. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.