Plum Tart

 There are these plums, Zwetschen, that ripen in late summer.  They're like prune plums, and they don't keep, so it you want to do something with these beauties, you have about four weeks.

I've already made two or three cakes, stewed some, eaten more than some just out of my hand. But I'd not yet done a tart, and I do love a tart.

Wouldn't you know it, the NYTimes featured a plum tart recipe that was simple and straightforward - pastry, plums, a bit of sugar and cinnamon.  Looked good on their page.

So I did it, but I noticed from the beginning that the plums were not the best - a bit too big, a bit dry, a bit bland, but I hoped the baking would intensify the flavor.

What a pitiful pie. This has to be the worst tart I have ever baked, both in flavor and looks!  Look at this thing!  The plums just seemed to shrivel up, they hardly made juice, and frankly, they didn't taste a whole lot better than when they were raw.  

Werner did some rescue work - took out the plums, mixed them with some stewed ones, broke up the pastry and put it in a separate container.  Later, we spooned the mixture over the broken pastry (really, butter cookies) and it was passable.  I'm going to try and keep the taste memory of the cake in my head until the plums come back again.