Recipe of the Day: Baked Stuffed Plums

 

“What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum 

for want of courage to shake the tree?” -- Logan Pearsall Smith

For about a year now, Reader, I've been longing to make something--anything--with baked plums. It began when my Oct* 2012 issue of Tea Time magazine arrived bearing this luscious-looking Plum Cushion recipe, which I'm still longing to make.

Fast-forward to this weekend when I had a friend coming over for tea and was still searching on the morning of for a proper dessert to pair with my harvest-themed menu. It finally seemed time to give baked plums a try. So I ran to the local market, snapped up some fat, juicy plums and darted to the dairy aisle for creamy neufchatel.  Once home, I set the oven to 350 degrees and began to prep my as-yet-to-be-determined plum dish. Below is the ridiculously simple and delicious result.

Ingredients: 

• 4 large plums

• 1 8 oz block of neufchatel, softened (can substitute cream cheese, if you prefer)

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

• 1 vanilla bean pod, scraped with seeds reserved (for more on prepping vanilla beans & uses for the leftover pods, click here)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a small baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine neufchatel and the reserved vanilla bean seeds. Set aside.

Using a cutting board and small paring knife, cut a round opening in the top of each plum wide enough to allow for easy stuffing. Then remove the pit, leaving as much of the interior flesh intact as possible.

Sprinkle the interior of each plum with some of the dark brown sugar.

Then stuff the plums with a generous dollop of the vanilla neufchatel cheese mixture and sprinkle a bit more brown sugar on top.

Bake the plums on the prepared baking sheet for 15-20 minutes or until plums are tender.

Serve immediately.

What I love most about this dish is the creamy, tender, not overly-sweet piping hot combination of flavors that meets your fork and knife as they glide through the thick flesh of the plum. This is a rich-feeling dessert that won't leave you in a sugar coma. 

Make it low-glycemic by omitting the brown sugar all together. Or, for a sweeter take, drizzle baked plums with a tiny bit of maple syrup just before serving.

Recipe makes 4 servings.

(*Oct 2012 issue of Tea Time magazine not available for back order at this time.)

Plum Quote courtesy of thinkexist.com.

What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?

Logan Pearsall Smith

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/loganpears140754.html#92PmI4UfIikB6hbz.99

What is more mortifying than to feel that you have missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?

Logan Pearsall Smith

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/loganpears140754.html#92PmI4UfIikB6hbz.99