Plum Tart or Zwetschgenkuchen

When buying Italian Prune Plums get the hard ones, some of the soft ones will be rotten inside and always buy more, just in case. These plums don’t have a long shelf life, that’s why a lot of stores don’t carry them.You can use another variety of plums if you are unable to get Italian plums.
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Ingredients:
A  12 inch cake or tart pan with removable bottom
This tart makes 10 generous slices, 12 small ones. 

14 oz. (3 cups) (400g) white flour
8 oz. (2 sticks) (230g) cold butter
4.5 oz. ( a generous ½ cup) (130g) sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder (7g)
​1 egg and 1 egg yolk  
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 TBS. lemon zest
a pinch of salt
2 Ib. of Italian prune  plums or other plums.
3 TBS. Turbinado raw cane sugar


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Directions:


Generously butter a 12 inch tart or cake pan with a removable bottom.  
Sift the flour with the baking powder. Cut the cold butter into smallish cubes. Put the sugar and lemon zest in the food processor, pulse for 30 seconds to mix the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the flour, butter, eggs, and a pinch of salt. Pulse until  the butter is broken into small pieces . Pour the dough onto a surface and put a little less than 1/3  aside for the streusel. Kneed the the dough with your palms until it comes together. Start pressing pieces of the dough into the tart pan and flatten them with your hands. Build the dough up to the sides and chill the tart for at least 30 minutes. 
In the meantime wash the plums and remove the pits from the plums by cutting them half open but leaving them in one piece. Sprinkle them with the cane sugar and let them stand for a few minutes. Take the tart out of the fridge and arrange the plums in a circular fashion starting on the outside. Sprinkle the tart with the streusel. Both times I baked the tart I had some leftover streusel that I froze for later use. 
Bake the tart on a baking sheet to prevent the juices from spilling into the oven. Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes. You want the dough to slightly brown and some of the plum juices being released and bubbling. 
Cool the tart for about an hour on a cooling rack. If you want you can sprinkle some powdered sugar over the tart. The tart tasted great a day later. 


Guten Appetit! 
recipe by Pour Le Plaisir - Thomas kocht
​translated  and adapted by ©Sunnycovechef.com