Plum Crisp

So as well as a plethora of zucchinis we were also kindly given a ton of plums - which we love but could not eat that many! So, I decided to make something with them and was thinking pie, crumble, cake, tart.....but decided on a simple crisp. I've used the recipe from my fantastic 1960's Canadian Purity Cookbook - love this book for basic baking and desserts! Now I kept the sugar levels the same as these plums tasted quite sweet but it did cook up a little tart, now, I like it that way - reminded me of rhubarb crisp, my fave, but you may want to adjust. With the sweet ice cream it was perfect though. Mine also went a little juicy due to the plums being so fresh, again I like it that way....

The topping is a basic recipe usable for all fruits. When growing up my mom always used this recipe when we had apple crisp (with apples from our tree) or more commonly, peach crisp with peaches from our tree - delicious! So feel free to swap whatever fruit you have an abundance of in here :)

Serves up to 8:
1000g plums, stoned, peeled and sliced thickly (you'll want about 800g prepared)
150g/1 cup plain flour
120g/1 cup rolled oats
125g/1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
115g/1/2 cup vegan margarine

Grease a large oven safe dish and set aside. Preheat oven to 190C. In a large bowl stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in the margarine until mixture is crumbly - you may want to use your hands near the end. Take a quarter cup of this mixture and toss it gently with the plums then toss them into the dish. Spread the rest of the topping over top and even out. Pop in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes, the top should be golden and crisp and the filling bubbling up the sides a wee bit. Let cool about 10 minutes then serve warm with vegan vanilla ice cream.

*note- it's not part of the recipe but I had some flaked and ground almonds that needed using. I tossed the ground almonds in with the fruit and sprinkled some flaked over top, optional but it was nice. I think it was only about 20g ground almonds I used.*