Saturday, August 27, 2016

Plum Balls



Plum balls are a fave rave in our household every August when plums are in abundance. Our family practice is to cut out the main course, and go straight to dessert. We do it this way at least once a year.

This is one of those recipes that I do pretty much by rote. It is like art - I know it when I see it, but I cannot tell you exactly when there is enough flour in the dough to make it perfect. More flour? Less flour? Use your judgement. It should not be sticky or too dry. My suggestion is to use this recipe as a start and then just play with it.

Amounts
Ingredients
To do
2c
bread crumbs
Melt the butter, and sauté the bread crumbs until they are golden brown. Keep stirring for a bit after you turn off the heat as they may continue to brown. Then set aside.
¼ c
butter
1 lb
Cottage cheese
Blend these ingredients together – I use a Cuisinart with the sharp blade
1
egg
1/3 c
milk
1 tsp
salt
2 c
flour
Dump in 1c, and then slowly add the rest
?
extra flour
For rolling out – The amount of extra flour needed depends on how wet the cottage cheese was. Roll out the dough until it is quite thin.
some
plums
Slit the plums enough so you can take out the pit and replace it with a sugar cube. Then wrap each plum in dough, and set aside on a floured cookie sheet until they are all done.
some
sugar cubes
lg pot
boiling water
Drop the plums in one by one, and boil them until the dough is tender and looks a little puffy. Maybe 5 minutes or so after the water returns to the boil
Then – remove from the water with a slotted something (spoon – sieve?), drain a bit, then roll in the browned breadcrumbs.
Serve with generous ladles of hot custard, smiles and love.