Peach and Plum Oatmeal Crumble Bars

I can't believe how busy I've been lately. I'm attributing it to the end of summer madness and that silly little thing called my full time job (poor excuse... I know). However, I do have a bunch of recipes that I need to post and I also have a couple days off coming up which means it's time to try some new recipes! Oooh, and I can't wait to start sharing my fall recipes. I LOVE FALL.

In the meantime here is another delicious summer stone fruit recipe! It's pretty darn tasty and after it cools it is easily cut up into bars - which means it's easy to pick one up on my way past the plate and shove it in my mouth (yikes...) or it's awesome served warm with some vanilla ice cream on the side!

INGREDIENTS:

Filling:

5 cups peeled, chopped peaches and plums. (about 3 or 4 of each)

5 tsp cornstarch

1 lemon, juiced

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp brown sugar

Crust:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup uncooked quick oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 

375 degrees F. Combine all crust ingredients in a large bowl. Mix with your hands or with a wooden spoon until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Spread filling over pressed crust. Then finish off by sprinkling the reserved crumb mixture over top of the filling.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.

Cool completely and cut into bars or serve warm with ice cream!

NOTES: Make sure you have ripe flavorful peaches and plumbs because the flavor of the fruit really comes through in these bars. Mmmm... ENJOY!

Recipe: Slightly adapted from The Baker Chick

Brown Butter Plum Upside Down Cake

I have a plum tree at my home that is HUGE. I have never been a big fan of eating the fruit raw and my sweet neighbor always makes plum jam from our tree and gives us a jar. So, I searched the  inter-web for a delicious plum recipe and boy oh boy did I find it!

The original recipe calls for black plums. I used the plums from my tree which has 3 different varieties and it turned out wonderful! I'm so glad I found a good plum recipe so I can make good use out of all the free produce I have!

The cake itself is a light and fluffy cinnamon cake (YUM) and the fruit is sweet and caramely (that's a word right?) with a hint of tart freshness. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs black plums, ripe but firm enough to cut easily

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter (1 stick for the cake, 1/2 stick for the brown butter sauce)

3/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.

Slice the plums 1/4 inches thick. Set aside.

In a cast iron skillet, heat four tablespoons of butter (1/2 stick). Melt butter and continue to brown. Click HERE for Eat Live Run's tutorial on brown butter. Once butter is browned immediately add in brown sugar and stir. Cook butter and sugar, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Then pour the sugar and butter mixture into a greased 9 inch cake pan. Spread evenly over the bottom of the cake pan. 

*FYI when I was finished mixing the brown butter and sugar "sauce" it didn't seem like much of a sauce to me. I tried it twice and both mixtures turned out the same; a glob of molten goo that I spread on the bottom of my pan. I was worried how this would turn out. It was delicious. When the cake is baking it melts and creates a caramel sauce, so, the glob of goo turns out delish - no worries* 

Arrange the sliced plums on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture. You should be able to get about 3 rows of plums, overlapping if necessary.

Next, cream together the remaining stick of butter with the granulates sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, mixing constantly. Then add the vanilla and mix until combined.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture alternating between dry ingredients and milk. Beat until light and fluffy.

Spread the cake batter right on top of the plums. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool for 3 minutes. As Jenna from  Eat Live Run  says: say a quick prayer and flip the cake plan onto a large serving plate. Amen! 

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

NOTES:

See * for brown butter sauce.

Recipe from a wonderful blog Eat Live Run