Grandma Geldners Pflaum Plum Torte Recipes

PLUM TORTE WITH PEELED ITALIAN PLUMS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9-inch springform pans.
• Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt; beat well to combine. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Sift flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Mix into the batter in batches, alternating with milk; the batter will be quite thick. Spoon batter into the prepared pans. Place plums close together, cut-side down, over the batter.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around the edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto serving plates or cooling racks. Dust with confectioners' sugar and let cool completely.

PFLAUMENKUCHEN (GERMAN PLUM TART)

Steps:

• In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Cut in cold butter and and work with the fingers for the pie crust until the butter is the size of peas.
• Stir in sugar and the beaten egg.
• Stir with a fork until mixture gathers together. Chill 15 minutes in the freezer.
• Using a piece of wax paper to prevent the dough from sticking to the hands, press onto the bottom and sides of a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish.
• Wash, dry, halve lengthwise, and stone the plums. Stand them on edge in rows very close together on the pastry.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool, then cover with sifted powdered sugar.

ORIGINAL PLUM TORTE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.
• Spoon the batter into a springform pan of 8, 9 or 10 inches. Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice, depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, depending on how much you like cinnamon.
• Bake 1 hour, approximately. Remove and cool; refrigerate or freeze if desired. Or cool to lukewarm and serve plain or with whipped cream. (To serve a torte that was frozen, defrost and reheat it briefly at 300 degrees.)

PFLAUMENKUCHEN (GERMAN PLUM CAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Quarter each plum so that all four quarters remain clinging together by their skin, forming a row.
• In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter together by cutting the butter in with a fork.
• In a measuring cup, combine the beaten egg and almond extract, then add enough milk to make 3/8 of a cup (aka 3 oz) total. (It may seem strange that there isn't an exact amount of milk to add, but I promise this method works. You'll likely use under 2 oz of milk, considering that a large egg is usually around 1.5 oz or so.).
• Add this to the dry ingredients and mix them together with your hands, forming a dough.
• If the dough is too sticky, add a touch more flour.
• Spread the dough thinly over a 13x9 inch jelly roll pan and cover it with overlapping rows of plums. (It may seem like the dough will never stretch to fit the entire pan, but be patient! Use the heel of your hand to gently spread the dough out evenly to each corner of the pan, the crust is supposed to be on the thinner side anyway.).
• Bake the tart for 1 hour and let it cool slightly before sprinkling with sugar for extra sweetness (or skip the sugar if you like it sweet-tart like I do).
• The plums will change color from green to a deep magenta as they bake, and will ooze lots of sticky purple juice that stains the crust beneath. Be careful not to overbake, this crust should be on the softer side.

GRANDMA GELDNER'S APFEL KUCHEN (APPLE KUCHEN)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Mix 1 1/4 cup flour, baking powder, 2 tsp sugar, and salt and sift once.
• Cut 1/2 cup butter into dry mix with a pastry blender to pea size.
• In a small bowl, beat egg with 2 T milk and add to dry mix.
• Mix thoroughly and pat dough into a greased or oiled 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Pare and core apples.
• Cut into thin wedge slices and place on dough in rows until covered. We would cover the thin end of one apple with the thick end of the other.
• Dot apples with 2 T butter and mix 3/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 Tbs flour and cinnamon together.
• Spread dry topping over dotted apples, and bake in oven for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown.

FRESH PLUM KUCHEN

Steps:

• In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Combine flour and baking powder; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Add lemon zest. Pour into a greased 10-in. springform pan. Arrange plums on top; gently press into batter. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. , Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 40-50 minutes or until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of pan; remove sides. Cool on a wire rack.

GRANDMA GELDNER'S FAMOUS INHALERS

Steps:

• Melt white chocolate and peanut butter together in a double boiler.
• Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
• Drop by tablesponfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheets and let cool.

GRANDMA GELDNER'S PFLAUM (PLUM) TORTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cream butter and sugar; add eggs to mix.
• Mix well until uniform and add flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
• Mix well before spooning batter into a greased or oiled 9" spring form pan.
• Place plums on batter skin side up and sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice.
• Spread cinnamon over plums and bake for 1 hour.
• Cool to lukewarm and remove from pan.