Friday, March 13, 2009

You Want Pies with That - March


This month all the You Want Pies With That players are posting on the same day - that is meant to be tomorrow 14 March, so I hope I don’t get told off for posting a day early. But, tomorrow we have got a wedding to go to. My husband is the best man and I’m just not sure when I will get the time to post, so I thought I would just do it now and hopefully no-one will notice!

This month’s theme is a pie using herbs or spices which was chosen by Elizabeth from Cake or Death. A spice which I think you either love or hate, is cardamom. I love it and I also love it combined with plums which are currently in season here, it being late Summer, early Autumn. So, after much deliberating on my pie, I decided to make these individual cardamom and plum tarts.

They are actually kind of like cheat’s tarts, as they are so easy to make. All you do is make a dough (which turns out a bit softer than a crisp tart base), press the dough into tart tins (I used 6 individual 8cm tart tins, but you could do one big tart – square shaped would be nice), then push your plums into the tart dough, sprinkle with sugar and bake. The sugar nicely caramelises the plums and the baking powder in the tart dough helps the dough to rise nicely round the plums.

These are such easy tarts and would be great for a dinner party as they look lovely, are very quick and easy and taste great with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice-cream. I bet there will be heaps of creative tarts, so check them out here.

Plum and Cardamom Tarts

100g sugar
200g flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cardamom
90g cold butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
3 halved plums (or more if you are making a large tart)
75g sugar, extra

· Combine first measure of sugar, flour, baking powder and cardamom in a food processor, then add butter in chunks and pulse until the mixture becomes breadcrumb like.
· Add egg mixture and pulse until the dough starts to come together
· Tip onto bench and gently bring together
· Press the dough into oil sprayed tart tins
· Place a plum half in each tin, cut side up and sprinkle with the remaining sugar
Bake at 180c for 30-40 minutes until golden and the plums are caramelised.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love plums and cardanom so will try this for dinner on Sunday.I am impressed with your ! control and pleased you were ok with my comment...

Tammy said...

I thought your comment was great - and just the reminder I needed :0)

Elyse said...

I love that this recipe is so easy, and that it yields such a beautiful and delicious product. You are so right: cardamom and plums were meant to go together! These are the perfect little treat!

The Food Librarian said...

This looks lovely! Plums are out of season now but they remind me that summer is on its way! What a cute little delight! Have fun at the wedding.

The Food Librarian said...

Tammy, (you don't need to publish this one) - but wanted to let you know that you can post-date or schedule posts in blogger. When you write the post, you can change the date and time under "post options" (to the left of the "labels"). When you hit "publish post", it's say they will publish it later (at the date and time you set). If you look at your listing of posts it'll say "scheduled" and the time it will post. Make sense? Anyway, we all know you are first to post because you 1/2 a day ahead of us! :) Email me if you have any questions.

Sara said...

I'm definitely one of those who loves cardamom! These look very tasty, and easy--perfect! Very cute tarts. :)

Snooky doodle said...

I ve never tried plums and cardamoms . Wish to try it :)

Nora said...

YUMMY!

Jacque said...

I love cardomom but can only take it in small doses. It's almost a too-much-of-a-good-thing for me.

I could certainly make it through one of your tarts, though. They look simple and delicious.

Libby said...

Plum and cardamon is an inspired combination! You're far more organized than me to get your post up the day before.

(P.S. You can schedule posts ahead of time by clicking on "post options" at the bottom left corner of "new post" box and changing the date and time to when you'd like it to go live, then click on "publish post." It will show up in your list of posts as "scheduled.")

Anonymous said...

plum-cardamom, so wonderul together! i wish is was plum season here in tennessee!

Anonymous said...

I am going to have to do some reading up in cardomom as I am not familiar with its flavor. Thanks for motivating me to learn more about this spice!

Cakelaw said...

Cheats tarts sound perfect to me - the plums look wonderful!

Kate said...

These look great! Thanks for sharing!