Italian plum tart

Crust:

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour

2 TBS. sugar

1 tsp. salt

7 TBS. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces (replace with margarine or vegan butter for vegan option)

Plum filling:

1/2 cup sugar

3 TBS. flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1.5 lb. Italian plums

2 TBS. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

For the crust:

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt. With your hands, or a food processor, mix butter into dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal. Stir in 3-4 TSP. cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, just until the dough holds together. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a 6 inch disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1-24 hrs.

Preheat oven to 425'F. Roll out dough on a floured surface, using a rolling pin to spread dough to 11 inches. Fit into a round tart pan with removable bottom, carefully pressing into corners of the pan. Trim excess dough off top. Cover with plastic and refrigerate 15 mins.

Pierce bottom of shell all over with a fork. Line with foil and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and weights, bake 5 more minutes. Place on a rack to cool.

For the filling:

In a small bowl, mix together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Sprinkle 1/3 c. mixture on pastry bottom. Slice plums, arrange on tart as desires; sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture and small chunks of butter.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 350'F and bake another 30-35 minutes, until mixture is bubbling around edges.
Cool and serve warm.