Hot Dish Review

I’ve been contemplating having an affair with puff pastry.  I know, it’s difficult to get along with, a bit tempermental.  But what the hell, the end result could be delectable!

My German Oma makes the best Kuchen on the planet.  One of my favorites is her Qwetsche Kuchen (slang for Zwetschen which is slang for plums) correctly called Pflaumen Kuchen….plums quartered and placed on a yeast bread “Boden” or base, then sprinkled with sugar.  With no time or desire to make yeast dough, I decided puff pastry might make an interesting substitute.

Then, as luck would have it, Publix had black plums today.  The season is very short, so I grabbed a handful and bought Dufour’s Classic Puff Pastry in the freezer section at Whole Foods.  Let the experiment begin!

I was a little apprehensive about working with the puff pastry so I took a couple of valiums and popped the cork on a split of Freixenet. Now I was ready to work with the difficult dough, having let it defrost for 3 hours.  I quartered and sauteed the plums in butter, sugar, cinnamon, and sugar free apricot jam, prepared the puff pastry and basically just made it up as I went.  My impromptu recipe follows as it was a raging success! 

PLUM TARTLETTS

10-12 black plums, quartered

3 tsp. sugar

3 tbsp. sugar free apricot preserves

1 tbsp. butter

dash of cinnamon

1/2 sheet puff pastry

Saute’ plums in butter, sugar, preserves, and cinnamon until slightly soft, about 4 minutes.  Let cool.

Prepare puff pastry according to directions, cutting edges.  Cut half sheet into 4 rectangles and chill on buttered baking sheet in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Arrange plums on pastry dough and bake for about 30 minutes or until edges puff and brown.  Let cool 10 minutes, then sprinkle with sugar and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

It’s not Qwetsche Kuchen, but it’s pretty darn tasty!