Plum Hand Pies

 

This time of year, we are always looking for plum recipes to use up the many, many plums that show up. 

If you search "plums" in the search bar at the top left, you can see how many plum recipes we have so far. We do have a Plum Pie recipe - HERE, but these hand pies are just different enough to warrant their own post. 

You can make as many or as few of these as you like - the recipe is super easy to adjust. 

Plum Hand Pies

Ingredients

Crust 

One recipe Never Fail Pie Crust HERE

Filling 

plums, sliced

brown sugar

butter

1 egg, beaten - for brushing on dough

Drizzle

plums, sliced

icing sugar

milk

Directions

Prepare crust as per directions in recipe (HERE). *You can also use a store-bought crust, or your own favorite recipe.* Our recipe makes enough for 3 double-crust pies. For this recipe, I used enough crust for 1 double-crust pie. If you use our recipe, freeze the remaining dough for later use. It freezes beautifully. 

Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside. 

Roll out dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3mm to 6mm). Use a 6-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut the hand pies. 

Brush the dough circles with egg wash. Place a few slices of plum on top of the dough, on one side. Top with a sprinkle of brown sugar and - approximately - 1/8 tsp of butter (a little pinch). 

Carefully fold the dough in half to cover the filling. Lightly press down to seal. Use the tines of a fork to go around the sealed edge and press down to seal more securely. Repeat with all of the circles. Reroll the pie dough once and repeat with the remaining dough. 

**I got 10 pies from pie crust that would normally make 1 double crust pie. **

Place onto prepared cookie sheet. Prick all of the hand pies with a fork so steam can vent. 

Brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash. 

Place in the preheated oven. Cook at 375 for 5 minutes, turn down the heat to 350, and continue cooking until pies are done - crust should be golden brown and filling bubbly - about 20ish minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool completely. 

Prepare drizzle. 

Place 8 medium plums, sliced and pitted, into a saucepan; add in 2 Tbsp water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, then simmer until the plums thicken to a jam like consistency. Remove from heat and let cool.

When cool, beat in a little (about 1/4 cup) icing sugar and (about) 2 tsp milk. This is going to vary wildly depending on the size of your plums. If the glaze is too thin - add more icing sugar, if the glaze is too thick - add more milk. You want it to be about the consistency of white glue. 

Drizzle over the cooled plum pies. 

Let the pies sit for about 15 minutes for the glaze to set. 

These are just the right size for a snack. 

You can freeze these for up to three months; otherwise, these are best eaten the day they are made. 

If you freeze them, wait until you are going to be serving them to add the drizzle. This will keep the dough from getting soggy. Pop the frozen pies into the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, then let them cool and add the drizzle. 

I realize this recipe doesn't have amounts for the ingredients. I would say it's about 1 plum per hand pie, 1 tsp brown sugar, and 1/8 tsp of butter - BUT I didn't actually measure. I used pie crust that would do 1 pie with a double crust and got 10 hand pies using a 6 inch cutter. This will all change if your cutter is bigger/smaller, if your plums are bigger/smaller, if you like your pies sweeter/less sweet.....

See the issue?

Use my measurements as a starting point and go from there. It's pretty hard to mess it up. 

Plum Pie

Fall is my favorite time of year. I wait all year for September and October just to enjoy the harvest of soooo many delicious fruits and veggies AND the beautiful colors in the local mountains. 

Plums are one of those fruits. There are so many delicious things to be made with plums. 

Check out our Plum Ice Cream (HERE), our Upside Down Plum and Almond Cake (HERE), our Plum Cobbler or Plum Crisp (HERE), our Plum Coconut Crisp (HERE), our Chinese Plum Sauce (HERE), our Plum Streusel Kuchen (HERE), or our Blueberry Plum Grunt (HERE).

The color and flavor is just so unique. 

Plum season is almost over now though so we go back to planning more recipes for next year's harvest!

Plum Pie

Ingredients

Crust

1 recipe for a double pie crust

(Our Never Fail Pie Crust Recipe can be found HERE)

Filling

2 lbs fresh plums

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. 

Wash plums and cut in half (remove pits). Proceed to cut about half the plums into quarters and the other half into 6ths.  Place plums in a large bowl and add in the brown sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. Stir well and set aside.

Roll out your bottom crust and set in 9 inch pie tin, making sure to leave a bit of crust overhanging. 

Fill the crust with the plum mixture. (There are 2 pies in the photo as I doubled the recipe!)

Roll out your top crust and place on top, pinching edges to seal. You can also do a lattice crust if you prefer, or something even more fun...

If desired you can brush the top crust with a beaten egg and sprinkle with a little sugar. The egg wash helps the crust to brown but is not a necessity. If you do a solid top crust then be sure to poke a few holes in it so the pie can vent. 

Bake at 375 for about an hour to 75 minutes. Top will be browned and filling will be thick and bubbly. 

Cool pie on wire rack before serving. It needs to cool in order to set. 

Of course, a little vanilla ice cream makes things even better. 

I love the color of plum pie. And don't even get me started on texture and flavor!

There is nothing else like it!

So tart! You can add more sugar to the filling if you like BUT the tartness of the plums is what makes this pie so different and yummy. I wouldn't go more than one cup of sugar or you risk being way too sweet. I find half a cup is just right for us. 

I've never made plum tarts before so I think that might be my next adventure. A hand-held version of plum pie - what's not to love? 

Plum Coconut Crisp

Sue shared a recipe for plum crisp and plum cobbler (link HERE) but I really feel like my Plum Coconut Crisp deserves its own post. 

Adding some crunchy coconut to all those sweet and squishy plums is a fantastic idea. 

I've been waiting all summer for fall to come just so I could make this crisp. True story. 

It uses a good amount of plums too so is great when your friends bring over boxes and boxes of plums and you need to use them up before the fruit flies completely overrun your kitchen. 

From start to finish in about an hour. 

Make one tonight... or make two - they freeze well too! Simply cook, cool, cover and freeze. When ready to eat - pop, frozen, into a 350 oven until heated through - about 40 minutes or so. 

Plum Coconut Crisp

Ingredients

Plum Layer

4 cups diced plums

1 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Crumble Topping

1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

pinch salt

1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 10 inch pan with cooking spray, set aside. 

In a bowl, mix together plums, flour, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Spread in prepared pan. 

In the same bowl you just mixed the fruit in, mix the coconut, flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, and butter. Stir with a fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over plums in pan.

Place on a cookie sheet or pizza pan to catch drips. 

Cook in 350 oven until bubbly and browned on top, about 40 or so minutes. 

*Boom* Done. Just like that.

Serve warm or room temp. 

Of course, adding some vanilla ice cream is always a brilliant idea. 

Soooooooo tasty. 

I'm just going to crawl right into the bowl. 

Blueberry Plum Grunt

Stove top cooking in the summer is where it's at.

I mean... when it's a bajillion degree outside who wants to turn on the oven? (Okay, you lucky people with central air conditioning put your hands down.)

The thing about not using your oven is that you often have to miss out on yummy desserts and NOBODY wants that. 

Well.... now you don't have to miss out. 

This blueberry plum grunt is easy, delicious, only takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, and will hardly add any heat to your kitchen at all. 

*Win*

Blueberry Plum Grunt

Ingredients

Fruit Mixture

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

3 cups blueberries

1 heaping cup plums, chopped

2 tsp lemon juice

Dumplings

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

generous pinch salt

2 tsp sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions

Fruit mixture - In a dutch oven or large pot, combine sugar flour, blueberries, plums, and lemon juice. Stir well. Bring to a simmer, stirring every so often, to dissolve the sugar. 

While the fruit is simmering, prepare the dumplings.

Dumplings - In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Heat buttermilk in microwave (or on the stove top) until just warm - about 40 seconds in the microwave.

Stir in the buttermilk and melted butter until sticky dough forms.

Drop the dough by the spoonful - I got 7 - into the simmering fruit mixture.

Place a lid onto the pot and simmer - WITHOUT DISTURBING - for 15 - 20 minutes. (The burner temp should be as low as possible to maintain a simmer.) 

Dumplings will puff up and appear dry on the inside. (To check if they are done - take a fork and flake off a piece of one of the dumplings. If it appears dry inside then they are done.)

Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Scoop out a dumpling and some of the fruit mixture onto a serving plate with a lip (or bowl - it can be a little messy) Serve hot/warm! (Be careful - the fruit mixture is VERY hot!) 

Want to bring it up another notch?

Add some whipping cream, cold heavy cream, or ice cream...

It gets all melty...

It's soooo pretty...

And deliciously messy....

If you have any leftovers (I've heard this happens to some people...) you can refrigerate it, covered, for a day or two, and simple reheat in the microwave for a minute before serving. 

Almost as good as fresh out of the pan. 

Not sure if you want to make a whole pan? Try our Single Serving Strawberry Grunt  and see what you think.

We're sharing at these fab linky parties - Peaches & Salt, Joy Love Food, Lou Lou Girls, Memories By The Mile

Upside Down Plum And Almond Cake

Yay! We got to eat our plums before the bears did this year. 

One of the joys of living in the mountains is letting your fruit stay on the trees long enough to get ripe enough to eat but getting to them before the bears do. Some years we win, some years we lose.

This year we won. 

At least with the plums....

Anyway, I decided to make a cake to celebrate the plum harvest. I wanted something that showed off the lovely purple color of the fruit so decided against chopping it up and stirring it into the batter. This cake looks beautiful and is super easy to whip up. From start to finish in about an hour. 

Upside Down Plum And Almond Cake

Ingredients

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

11 - 12 plums, quartered

Cake Layer

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup Greek yogurt, plain

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 10 inch tart pan with parchment paper and sprinkle in the chopped almonds.

In a pan over medium heat, stir together the 2 Tbsp butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and the plums. Cook and stir *gently* for 3 - 4 minutes. Just until plums start to soften and brown sugar/butter is bubbling. 

Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.

Using a fork, arrange the plums in circles on top of the almonds in the tart pan. Pour the brown sugar/butter mixture from the pan over the plums.

Prepare cake - In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

In a larger mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Beat in the sugar until well combined.

Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Alternately beat in the dry ingredients with the Greek yogurt until well combined. Batter will be thick.

Carefully spoon the batter over the plums in the tart pan and then gently smooth spoonfuls together (see pic below).

Bake at 350 until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 30 - 40 minutes.

Let cool 5 - 10 minutes then invert cake onto a wire cooling rack. Carefully remove the tart pan and parchment paper from the cake.

Let cool. 

Serve as is........

Or, even better, with vanilla ice cream or whipping cream....

A few notes -- You can make this in an 8 or 9 inch pan but then I would definitely half the plum and almond, bottom layer. 

If you do use a smaller pan then you would also have to increase the cooking time. I would say it would between 40 - 50 minutes to bake instead of  30 - 40. Just keep an eye on it. 

I like the bigger pan because there is a better topping-to-cake ratio. 

 

Looking for some fun nd tasty links? Check out these fab linky parties - The Chicken Chick, Ms. enPlace, Feeding Big

 

Plum Cobbler and Plum Crisp

Wow. It's been a while since I've been able to share a recipe.

Jo's a big bully and has been hogging the blog. 

Anyway.....I'm here now and have 2 recipes to share with you. (Sue here, in case you didn't figure that out!) 

Plums...plums...and more plums. 

So far on the blog we have shared our Plum Ice Cream, Chinese Plum Sauce, and Plum Streusel Kuchen.

Today I am adding Plum Cobbler and Plum Crisp to that list. 

I am not normally a fan of hot fruit but these 2 dishes are delicious....if I do say so myself. 

They are also fairly easy to throw together and, when served with ice cream or whipped cream (or even Greek yogurt), they make a perfect dessert to serve company. 

Let's start with some cobbler.

Plum Cobbler

Ingredients

Bottom Layer

4 cups fresh plums, pitted & chopped

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Top Layer

1 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/4 cup butter, chilled

1/2 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9X9 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Mix together the plums, sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Scoop evenly into prepared pan.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter using 2 knives or pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

Whisk together milk and egg. 

Stir the egg/milk mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined. Don't over mix.

Drop by spoonfuls over the fruit.

Bake at 350 for approx 35 minutes, until top is golden.

And....now for the crisp.

Plum Crisp

Ingredients

7 cups plums, pitted and chopped

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour 

Crisp

1/2 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oats

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch salt

1/2 cup butter, chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place chopped plums evenly in prepared pan. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 Tbsp flour.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1 cup brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt. Using your hands, mix in the butter until mixture is crumbly.  

Sprinkle the crumb mixture evenly over the plums in the pan. 

Bake at 375 for approximately 40 minutes. Until top is golden brown and bubbling. 

I put a dollop of Greek yogurt on it and my taste testers couldn't get enough! 

Vanilla ice cream is still my favorite though !

There you have it. 

2 easy recipes that will impress your guests. Heck, even if you aren't having guests you should make this. 

You deserve it.

By the way, my daughter and husband both loved both dishes so it is mom, dad, and daughter approved. :)

 

For tone of great food and craft links, check out: Or So She Says and The Chicken Chick. and Memories By The Mile and Hun...What's For Dinner?.