I can’t wait to try this recipe out myself! This is the perfect dessert for a Sunday roast (now the warm weather is over, the roasts are back hoorah!) and it’s the best time to be making the most of the delicious British damson plums that are available currently!

This recipe is taken from ‘Short & Sweet; The Bets of Home Baking’ by Dan Lepard. Fortunately for you, all the ingredients are sold in the farm shop, and you could even pick your own plums from down our fields!

Ingredients:

• 750g damsons or other dark-skinned plums
• 100g caster sugar
• 150g hazelnuts
• 100g rolled oats
• 250g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 100g light brown sugar
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 1-2 tablespoons double cream or whole milk

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Method:

1. Place the stoned chopped fruit in a saucepan with the caster sugar and slowly heat until the mixture is hot and the plums have burst and become soft.
2. Spoon the cooked fruit into a 20cm diameter round ovenproof dish – deep enough to leave a few centimetres of space above the cooked fruit. Leave this to one side.
3. Roast the hazelnuts on a tray at 200 degrees celsius in the over for 15-20 minutes, or until the skins darken.
4. Remove, tip onto a tea towel and rub to flake off the skins. Pick out the toasted kernels and chop roughly, then add the nuts and rolled oats to the sifted flour and salt in a mixing bowl.
5. Add the light brown sugar and rub in the butter until combined and the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
6. Spoon in the cream and rub this through well until the mixture is crumbly. Chill for 30 minutes then crumble the topping over the damsons and bake at 200 degrees celsius for 30-35 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.
7. Enjoy!
   

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