I took my friend’s market share this week while she’s away, and wondered what to do with the two smallest plums I have ever seen in my life (see picture). When I got home they had become mushy, so I decided to make a jam with them. I also used a peach (well, they told me it was a peach, but it looks suspiciously like a nectarine…) that had gone mealy–my least favorite thing about fruit. I had to put the jam on something, so I made some gluten-free oatcakes, too. I had everything this morning for breakfast. Yay breakfast!
This recipe makes one serving, because that’s what I had to work with, but you can do the same thing for a bit more time with more of the same ingredients.
Fruit ahoy:
- A peach
- Two of the smallest plums known to man
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- A splash of vanilla extract
Chop the fruit into small chunks, and place it into a small pot with the other ingredients. Simmer this on the stove on low-to-medium heat for 15-20 minutes, before the mixture browns (a little while longer if you’re multiplying the recipe). You will have to keep an eye on it and stir it from time to time, to make sure that none of it sticks to the side of the pot or caramelizes. Once the liquid has thickened and the fruit has become soft, you’re done! Let it cool in an open container.
For the oatcakes, I used a modified version of this awesome recipe from Scoff & Quaff. I only needed one serving’s worth of oatcakes, so I essentially cut the recipe down to 1/4 of the original, and used a few new tricks to make it quicker.
Cake time:
- 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
- The smallest pinch of salt ever
- A pinch of baking soda
- 2 tbsp hot water
- 2 tsp olive oil
Mix the dry ingredients together, then slowly add the wet ones as you mix again. I used my food processor with a dough hook, but you can probably do this fairly easily with your hands. Roll the dough into a ball and flatten it out on a piece of parchment paper (I didn’t want to grease a baking sheet; these are the tricks of a lazy woman). Cut the dough into oatcakes of any shape and size you’d like. I made 7 thin circles using a re-used jam jar (the same one I used to store my tahini). If you decide to go this route and your oatcakes get stuck in the rim of the jar, you can “free” each one by gently pushing one side into the jar, and then pushing the whole thing back out. Bake these at 350°F on the parchment paper, which I supported with a layer of aluminum foil, for 20 minutes. When you take them out, turn them over and let them cool bottoms-up. I stored mine in a Rubbermaid container in a dry cabinet.
These are especially good with a layer of cream cheese between the oatcake and the jam. Yum!
PhD Kitchen 