At my local farmers’ market, the stone fruits are winding down. The cherries are gone. The apricots are so ripe they’re squishy by the time you get them home. Peaches and plums, however, are still available in abundance.
As you know if you read this blog, plums are my jam. So, I’m in a very good place right now.
This recipe for Cafe Sperl’s Plum Squares is from Diana Henry’s cookbook Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul. Cafe Sperl is a Viennese coffee house that dates back to the 19th Century when it catered to the likes of archdukes, musicians and prominent military figures.
You can order this cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here. This cookbook was published in 2005 and was recently reissued. It is Diana Henry’s ode to cold weather cooking. So, if you are sweltering in this summer’s heat wave, perhaps this cold-weather recipe will help you escape into dreams of colder times and climes.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. This delicious recipe can be made with apricots as well as plums.
Cafe Sperl's Plum Squares
Ingredients
- 15 T. unsalted stick butter (cubed)
- 1 3/4 C. plus 1 T. all-purpose flour
- 1. 3/4 C. almond flour
- 2/3 C. superfine sugar
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 t. vanilla extract (or almond extract)
- 1/2 t. chilled water
- 1. 1/2 pounds plums
- 3 T. granulated sugar
- 3/4 C. apricot jam or plum jelly
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Step 2 Prepare a 12 inch x 8 inch baking pan by lining it with parchment paper. Cut the parchment a bit larger than the pan and let two of the sides hang over the edge of the pan. Use those long sides as handles to help you remove the squares from the pan after they’ve baked.
- Step 3 Combine butter, all-purpose flour and almond flour in the bowl of your food processor. Process until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add sugar and salt and process again. Add the egg yolk and extract (I used almond extract)and continue to process until you have a dough. If your mixture doesn’t begin to come together, add the chilled water. (You want to see the dough just beginning to form. You don’t want to overmix it and see it come together completely.) Remove the dough from the processor bowl to a lightly floured counter in your kitchen. Use your hands to knead the dough briefly and then press it evenly into the prepared baking pan. Put the pan with the dough into your refrigerator and chill for about 30 minutes. After the dough has chilled, bake it in your preheated oven for about 15 minutes. It should be a pale gold color.
- Step 4 While the dough is baking, halve, pit and quarter your plums. When you remove the crust from the oven, layer the sliced plums on the surface of the hot dough. The plums should be placed skin side down on the hot crust and then should be pressed gently into the crust.
- Step 5 Sprinkle the assembled squares with the granulated sugar and bake the squares for about 45 minutes. When the squares are done, they should look glossy and a bit scorched on the edges and the base of the squares should be baked through. Remove the squares to your counter and let them cool a bit.
- Step 6 Mix the jam or jelly with 1 T. water to thin it. Brush the thinned jam across the top of the cooling squares.
- Step 7 Once your squares are cooled, cut into squares.
