Plum Cobbler

While many of you are enjoying summer's bounty of peaches, watermelon and cantaloupe, don't forget about end-of-summer plums. They are so delicious eaten out of hand, cooked down with a little sugar and lemon to enjoy as a topping to yogurt or ice cream, or used in a cobbler -- an easy-to-make dessert that everyone loves. Top it with some ice cream while it's still warm from the oven for an extra special treat.

You can use any kind of plums for these -- from the easy-to-find Santa Rosas to the Italian plum variety. Cut them into pieces -- quarters if they're large plums, or in thirds if they're small.

This recipe makes a cobbler that fits in a 9" pie plate, but the second time I made it, I divided it between two 6 1/2" shallow casseroles -- one to give to my 98-year-old neighbor celebrating his birthday, and one to keep for myself.

After you've mixed the plums with sugar, cinnamon and flour, place them in the container (or two if you're making two smaller ones as I did).

Then make the topping and spoon some of it on top. Place the containers into a parchment or aluminum foil-lined pan, in order to catch any drippings. Otherwise, the plum mixture may bubble over and you'll end up with burnt bits on the floor of your oven.

If you're making two smaller ones, they'll need about 5 to 10 minutes less in the oven than one larger pan.

This is an even larger pan than the original recipe calls for and I made 1 1/2 times the recipe to serve a group of about six people. We had plenty left over, and I think I could have gotten by with the original quantities. If you have leftover more than two or three days, the biscuit-like topping will start to soften.

If it's just for the two of you, you could cut the recipe in half and bake it in a smaller pan. This small casserole was really enough to serve four people.

Especially when topped with vanilla ice cream. And come on -- why wouldn't you?

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Plum Cobbler

recipe adapted from Vitalinka blog

Ingredients

4 cups plums (regular or Italian prune plums

1 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For The Topping:

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cold butter

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

pinch of cinnamon

pinch of salt

2/3 cup milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut plums in quarters (if large) or thirds, and remove the stone.

In a large bowl, combine the pitted plums, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.

Set aside.

In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, oats, sugar, salt and cinnamon.

Add the cold, cubed butter, using your hands or a pastry blender to mix with the flour mixture until it's crumbly.

Add the milk and stir just till moistened.

If making just one cobbler, add the plum and sugar mixture to the bottom of a deep 9-inch pie plate or a 2 quart baking dish.

I made two, using two 5-inch circular oven safe casseroles.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes if using the smaller casseroles, or 40-45 minutes if using the larger container, or until golden on top.