I can’t believe it’s plum season already! Autumn is slowly settling in, with days becoming shorter and evenings chillier; which to be honest, is making me kind of happy. Even though I love Summer the most, this one has been so hot, I really have to say I’m enjoying the slight cool off we’re having. Besides, Autumn means grapes and squash and pears and apples and quince and well, plums.

I love plums on their own, especially when they’re slightly tart. I was gifted a bag of plums from a local organic orchard and since they were ripe and a bit on the soft side, I knew I wanted to cook with them. I’d usually give the plums to my mother and she’d make me her delicious and childhood evoking plum dumplings, but this time I wanted to change things up a bit. And since I love cobblers, because I’m a big fan of anything that’s buttery and sweet and also oaty, I went for a crumble.

This crumble pie sounds harder to make than it actually is. Basically, all you need is to mix the ingredients by hand and just layer them one by one. First you make the base, which you then chill in the freezer before baking blind. Afterwards, you cover the base with the plums, followed by the crumble topping and you bake the whole thing to perfection. Then you eat it, warm with ice-cream or at room temperature without any. Also, the second morning you enjoy leftovers for dessert over coffee. It’s pure bliss, I tell you.

You can make this dessert refined sugar-free (I know I will next time) by substituting the sugar in the pie crust with coconut sugar, the sugar used for the plums with honey and the brown sugar in the crumble with maple syrup. And if you do so, you’ll need to lower the baking temperature from 180C/350F to 165C/325C and probably cover it with aluminium foil at some point, to prevent from burning.

Plum Pie Cobbler

For the pie crust:

200g/1½ cup whole wheat flour/spelt flour

½ tsp salt

60g/1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 Tblsp pure vanilla extract

113g/½ cup butter, melted

For the filling:

500g/1 pound plums, pitted and cut into eights

1 Tblsp granulated sugar

For the crumble topping:

70g/3/4 cup oats

60g/½ cup flour

60g/½ cup whole wheat flour/ spelt flour

100 g/ ½ cup brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

113g/½ cup butter, melted

Grease a pie dish with butter. In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients for the pie crust. Add the butter and the vanilla extract and mix well. Fit the crust in the pie dish with the aid of your hands and go a bit up on the sides. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F. While the crust is in the freezer, mix the plums with the sugar in a small bowl. In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients for the topping, add the melted butter and mix well until it is clumpy.

Blind bake the pie crust in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and increase temperature to 180C/350F. Place plums on top of the crust and cover with the crumble topping, lightly pressing down. Return to the oven, bake for 45-60 minutes more and cover with aluminium foil after the first 20 minutes, if browning too quickly. Serve warm or at room temperature.