Plum and Cinnamon Crumble

Back in the summer of twenty-ought-six, I used to love to hang out at my Mom's house and watch her cable T.V.  One of the shows my Mom and I liked to watch was Take Home Chef starring Curtis Stone, before he was a big star.  The premise of the show was that Curtis would go up to people shopping at the grocery store (usually Whole Foods) and ask them who they were cooking dinner for tonight and then he would offer to do the cooking and pay for the groceries.   One day he made a dessert that looked so easy and yummy that I immediately went to the show website and printed it.
And then it sat in my recipe book for 5 years.
I scored some yummy plums for a great price at the farmer's market this year and decided that it was finally time to try this recipe, and I am so glad I did!  It's wonderful!
You must serve this with vanilla ice cream.  I tried it with white chocolate macadamia nut and it was weird.

Plum and Cinnamon Crumble

For the fruit filling:

2 lbs. plums, halved, pitted, each cut into 6 wedges
1/3 c. sugar
2 cinnamon sticks

For the crumb topping:

3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 c. sliced almonds, coarsely chopped

Vanilla ice cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  In an 8-inch square baking dish, toss the plums, sugar and cinnamon sticks.  Arrange the mixture evenly over the dish, tucking the cinnamon sticks beneath the plums.

 2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar and oats to blend. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until moist clumps form. (I've also used a pastry blender for this to get it started.) Mix in the almonds. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the plum mixture.

3. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the juices bubble, the fruit is tender and the topping is golden brown.  Allow the crumble to stand at room temperature for 5 minutes to cool slightly.  Spoon the crumble into bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream.

source:  Curtis Stone (Take Home Chef)