Recipes-I love sharing recipes, I love finding recipes, I love trying recipes and then I love sharing recipes so that others can try them to. I think recipes need to be shared.
I love cookbooks, I love buying cookbooks and magazines, I love going into bookshops and flicking through the pages of a new cookbook and seeing what new and exciting thing I can cook my family. This recipe for instance, came from an Australian Women's Weekly Annual Christmas Cookbook I bought in 2012. I have never since buying it made something from it, then one day I picked it up, marked 6 recipes I wanted to try in the next fortnight and then started cooking them one by one. So far I have made 5, all are worthy of posting on What's Cooking Ella as they have been absolutely delicious. I even found my Flourless Chocolate, Pecan and Raspberry torte in the book, which is probably my favourite flourless chocolate cake ever. I had originally made it from a magazine clipping I had kept from an AWW magazine, now I have it in a book, and I have marked the page with a 'love'.
I love blogging, I love telling you short stories about the recipes and about my family. I don't get paid for blogging, sometimes I wish I was as it is time consuming posting recipes, but in all honesty, if I never made any money from this, that is okay with me, because I love it. I love my little food diary, I love that my kids go through it sometimes and tell me what to cook from it, I love when I see my husband has liked a Facebook photo, I love when I forget my shopping list at home, I can just go to my website , find the recipe I need and continue shopping. And as for the photos, everything is done in real time. I cook it, I take a quick photo of it, and then we eat it. There is no food stylist, this is my reality.
As for my followers, I love hearing from you, I love when people send me photos or comment on my blog or my Facebook page about a recipe they have tried. I love knowing that people are trying the food that my family loves. I don't always like writing, sometimes this is the hardest part. Today however, my son woke me up at 3am, he went back to sleep, but I cannot, so I'm blogging and I feel like writing. I probably should get onto the recipe though.
So the Plum Crumble, it is plum season at the moment, my 8 year old absolutely loves plums, so I made this dessert with him in mind, although I knew we would all love it. The first time I tried this recipe I actually made it with nectarines, as that is all I had in the house. It was delicious, slightly sweet for me, so I have since decreased the sugar a little, but if you prefer nectarines to plums, feel free to use nectarines. The second time I forgot to put on my oven timer and forgot about them, so I overcooked them, the plums turned into a jam consistency, they tasted great, but they collapsed and looked a bit of a mess. So the third time, I had the right ingredient, I turned on my timer and they were perfect. I actually prefer plums to nectarines, as I find them tarter, so you get a sweet and sour feel with this recipe.
The ice cream for me is a must as I love crumble with ice cream, but feel free to serve it with a lovely custard also.
These individual desserts are delicious and so easy to make. They are fast to prepare and just perfect in summer. You may associate crumbles with winter, but I love them in summer, just allow them to cool a little, plus plums are around in summer, so it is the only time we can enjoy them.
Now you can eat them hot from the oven, but if you have any leftover, they are delicious the next day when cold.
Also with the ovenproof dishes, I use what I have at home, that is why I get 7, but if you use smaller or larger ones you can make more or less of them. You can also make one large one rather than individual ones.
I have decreased both sugars by 10g for this recipe. If you taste your plums and they are very tart, increase the sugar by 10g for both of the sugars.
Give this crumble a go, we love it, and if you try it, let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
You can halve the plums, remove the stones and then slice the plums, but I prefer to cut wedges out of the plums around the stone, this way you don't squish the fruit as much. Discard the stones, place the plum slices in a large bowl. Add the caster sugar, mix well to combine. Allow to sit for 10 minutes, while you get on with the crumble topping.
Crumble Topping: Now I like to use a small food processor for this as it is quick and easy. Place the brown sugar, flour, coconut and butter in you mini food processor. Place on the lid and blitz until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
If you don't have a food processor, simply place the brown sugar, flour and coconut into a large bowl, add the cold chopped butter and rub in the butter using your fingertips. Some people enjoy this, I do no, I prefer the food processor.
After 10 minutes has passed, give the plums a quick stir to ensure they are well coated with the sugar. Then spoon the plums into the base of seven x 175ml (3/4 cup) ovenproof dishes or a 1 litre (4 cup) ovenproof dish.
Top the plums with the crumble mixture, place the dishes on an oven tray.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crumble is golden and the juices are bubbling over the side.
Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or custard.