Plum, almond and orange blossom crostata with sugared thyme

By: Kirsten Jenkins, Phoebe Wood
From: The Pie Project
Serves: 12
Photographer: Kirsten Jenkins

When we showed my family the first round of photographs from this book, they all pointed to this as their favourite. I think it’s partly because it looks so accessible and easy, which it is. No rolling of pastry, and frangipane is so simple to master. I’m super-fussy when it comes to stone fruit, as my parents grew the most amazing fruit on their orchard when I was a kid. Plums remind me of our big old dehydrator whirring through the night, and waking up in the morning to beautiful sweet and sour semi-dried plums. While everyone else was having roll-ups at school, that’s what my sisters and I were eating! — Phoebe

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
435g	frozen careme vanilla bean pastry, thawed, or other bought sweet shortcrust rolled, to a thickness of 3 mm
180g	unsalted butter, at room temperature
240g	caster sugar
2	oranges, zest finely grated
1	orange, zest pared
1 tablespoon	orange blossom water
2 teaspoons	vanilla bean paste
3	eggs
1	egg white
300g	almond meal
2 tablespoons	cornflour
1kg	ripe plums, halved and stones removed
1 tablespoon	demerara sugar
6	thyme sprigs
	icing sugar, to dust (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and lay the pastry on top. Chill until needed.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and caster sugar until pale, reserving 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Beat in the orange zest, orange blossom water and vanilla, then the whole eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Finally, beat in the almond meal and cornflour to combine.
Spread the frangipane mixture over the pastry, leaving a 1 cm border all the way round. Fold in the edges to partially enclose. Top with the plums, and scatter with the demerara sugar and the pared orange zest.
Lightly whisk the egg white and dip the thyme sprigs into it, then coat them in the reserved tablespoon of caster sugar. Scatter over the crostata and bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the plums are soft. Once cool, dust with icing sugar, if desired.