Plum Crisp

I have received plenty of ripe plums from my CSA these last couple weeks, and I am planning to get some more tomorrow.  Besides just plain eating them,  I have made a couple of plum crisps.  For my first crisp, I was fairly disappointed in the crispness of the crisp.  But after reading this great post from The Bitten Word on mix-and-match crumbles, I finally got a pretty good combination.  This crisp is easy and you can bake it in ramekins or a casserole dish.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Plum Crisp, adapted from The Bitten Word's advice, makes 8 ramekins:
-3/4 cups almond slivers
-1/2 cup rolled oats, not instant
-1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
-Pinch of salt
-7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small cubes, plus more for buttering dishes/dish
-3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons for plum mixture
-2 pounds plums. pits removed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-1/3 cup granulated sugar, up to a 1/2 cup more if your plums are tart

To begin, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter ramekins or casserole dish.  
Whisk together flour, brown sugar, oats, and salt in a medium bowl.  Add almonds and the butter.  Use your hands to work in the butter until every thing is evenly moistened, and set aside.

Remove plum pits and cut plums into 1-inch pieces.  Toss with granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, and cinnamon.

Fill the ramekins or dish with plum mixture and then squeeze handfuls of crumble on top.  It is important to squeeze the crumble together, because if it is loose, then the crumble sometimes falls into the fruit mixture while baking.  Place ramekins on a lined baking sheet (in case of any overflowing bubbling juices), and bake for about 40 minutes or until the crumble is golden and the juices are bubbling.  Let sit for at least ten minutes before serving.  It is good with a bit of vanilla ice cream or just on its own.  Enjoy!

Click here to read my review on Starbucks VIA from last year.