Craig and I braved the heat and went to our local farmer’s market two weekends ago.  Dallas has a pretty big farmer’s market which has really grown over the last few years.  We are noticing new cheese vendors and beef vendors each time we go.  Also, the new “local” signs make it easy to spot our local farmers.  It’s so fun to taste all of the fresh fruit and talk to vendors about their products.  Although in this Texas heat, I was more interested in the ice cream at the snack bar than schlepping our produce through the hot sheds.  We were baking inside those things.  And I totally plan to write a letter or stage a protest against the fact that they let cars sit in the open-ended sheds running their engines.  Yes, I understand it’s hot and you want to sit in your giant truck with the air conditioning on, but the heat from your exhaust is making this place hotter than hell!!  Turn off your freaking vehicle because you’re killing us all and ruining the produce!!  Ahem, I digress…

When we first arrived and I hadn’t turned into the She-Hulk yet, we passed by one vendor that had these adorable little plums.  I asked what they were and the woman told me they were sugar plums.  Well, I am apparently living under a rock because I’ve never had a sugar plum.  She let me taste one and ooooh was it good.  Super juicy and tart.  Plus, the color on the inside of this little green plum was unbelievably intense.  I turned to Craig and said “pay the woman because we are taking these home with us!” 

I decided to bake the plums up into a crisp and snatched a recipe from my Rustic Fruit Desserts cookbook that I knew would be perfect.  And how did I know it would be perfect?  Because it was a double crusted crisp and the only thing better than one crust is two!  Pitting these little plums was a bit of a pain, but I ended up just slicing off big chunks around the pit, which worked fine.  I was hoping to use my cherry-pitter but the plums were too ripe and pretty much exploded when I squeezed them with my pitter.  And yes, the juice does come out of your clothes in the wash…although cookies-in-cream ice cream does not.  Humph. 

The crisp turned out great and was even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top to help cut the tartness.  If you can’t find sugar plums, don’t worry about it.  This recipe can be adapted for any number of fruits.  The juicy Texas peaches have been taunting me lately, so I’m sure I will cook them up in a crisp soon as well.

Sugar Plum Crisp
Adapted from Rustic Fruit Desserts

Crisp
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Fruit Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
pinch of sea salt
6 cups sliced plums (or other fruit)
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together.  Stir in the melted butter.  Press a little more than half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9×9 baking pan.

To make the fruit filling, rub the sugar cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl.  Add the fruit, lemon juice, and vanilla, and toss to combine.

Pour the fruit filling over the bottom layer of crisp, then sprinkle the remaining crisp over the top.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60 minutes or until the crisp is golden and the fruit is bubbling up through the topping.

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