Plaumenmus

I just have to share another oh so simple late summer/early fall recipe with you. Just like last year, our neighbors had extra plums and we weren’t going to say no when they offered us to come over and grab some. Tony came back home not only with a bucket full of plums but also a few nice looking zucchini and some zucchini-chocolate bread. Yum! We’d been munching away on the plums for a few days, but some of them were starting to get soft and attracting fruit flies so it was time for me to do something about it. 

Pflaumenmus (plum butter) is one of my favorite things to eat and always reminds me of childhood summer vacations at my grandma’s where her homemade Brötchen with homemade Pflaumenmus was pretty much all I’d eat for breakfast. So delicious. I love about food that its smells and flavors can bring back memories in an instant. When I was at my grandma’s house earlier this year for the first time in at least 5 years and I woke up in the morning to the smell of her Brötchen, it made me feel like home and reminded me of all the fun summers we spent at her house as kids. Such wonderful memories.
 

The Pflaumenmus that I made isn’t quite as good as hers. I should have called and asked for the recipe, but it was a pretty spontaneous decision and it was the middle of the night in Europe. So I asked my friend Google for advice, read through a lot of different recipes and realized that most were very similar, the main differences being the amount of sugar and stove top vs oven. I chose one that I would make in the oven because it required no stirring; I could pop it in the oven and forget about it for a couple of hours. I also liked that it used only a little bit of sugar, but maybe it was really the fact that she called it “Omas Pflaumenmus” that got me. Anyway, it was super simple to make and turned out super rich and smooth and not too sweet. I apologize in advance that I don’t have exact measurements, but that’s how I roll in my kitchen. 

First, cut plums in half, remove pits (save some), and place in deep casserole dish or baking pan. 

Crush some pits (or all as I did) with a hammer and wrap in a piece of cloth. I was about ready to skip this step since it sounded like too much extra work when all I wanted was a simple recipe. So I crushed only one, just to smell it, and Oh My Goodness! I had no idea about the sweet, lovely, nutty almond flavor that was hidden in a plum’s pit! Almost smelled like amaretto which some other recipes I found called for. 

So I decided to go for it, crushed them all, wrapped them in a piece of cloth, and placed the bundle under the plums in the middle of the pan. 

I then sprinkled some sugar (maybe ¼ cup or less) and cinnamon over the plums and put it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 2 ½ hours until it had cooked down and thickened, stirring once after 2 hours. 

If you like yours chunky, go ahead and fill it into jars right away. I wanted a smoother texture so I used my awesome handheld blender, being careful not to over-mix it and leaving a few chunks. I’m so happy with how it turned out. It’s even better when it not only tastes delicious but also looks pretty, don’t you think? 

I already enjoyed it on my bagel this morning and Noah had it mixed in his yoghurt. I bet it would also be great (warmed up) on vanilla ice cream.