plum and poppyseed crisp

a tart, sweet, easy fall dessert

when it comes to fruit desserts, i often find the simplest preparations the most appealing. they let flavor of the fruit shine, with just one or two complements to complete the scene. a crisp is a great example because it’s really just baked fruit with an easy, buttery topping. it’s both light and rich, warm and cold (for me, ice cream is a must) and it’s definitely one of my favorite ways to eat fruit in the fall.

if you can boil water, you can make a crisp. it works with just about any fruit or a mix of fruits, is pretty much foolproof and can be thrown together in a matter of minutes. my personal fall favorites are the ever humble apples and plums, both of which sort of collapse into a sticky, jammy mass of sweet tart comfort when baked into a crisp.

for the simplest topping, you just need to pinch together butter, salt, sugar and flour and from there you can always add spices, extract, or a handful of oats, nuts or seeds for more texture. for this particular crisp, i took a note from a previous recipe (my coconut and grapefruit poppyseed cake) and added ground poppyseeds to the topping for texture, flavor and color. i find the combination of juicy, soft plums and the nutty richness of the poppyseed topping to be an amazing combination but, as always, feel free to use this recipe as a guide and play around.

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this time last year:

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plum and poppyseed crisp

serves 2 - 4

for the poppyseed topping

20 grams poppyseeds

20 grams oats

60 grams unsalted butter

50 grams all-purpose flour

50 grams granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the plum filling

4 - 5 plums (about 300 grams before pitting)

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

to serve

vanilla ice cream

1. preheat the oven to 180°C/350°C. add poppyseeds to spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind until the seeds are starting to clump up a little bit and look like wet sand; if you don’t want to grind the poppyseeds, simply halve the amount and add them whole.

2. add the poppyseeds to a bowl with oats, butter, flour, sugar, salt and vanilla extract and use your fingers to pinch the mixture together until well combined; it should hold together when you grab a little fistful and squeeze.

3. halve the plums, remove the pit and halve again into quarters. add to a small baking dish, then toss with sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice.

4. scatter the poppyseed topping all over the plums, then bake until the fruit is bubbling up through the topping and around the sides and the topping is crisp and just turning golden, about 55 minutes. let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving, topped with vanilla ice cream.