Plum Cobbler

Plum Cobbler - I baked this yesterday and it was so easy and turned out so good that I had to share it. I was given a bag of plums by a neighbour from their garden. You can use other seasonal fruits (apples, rhubarb, blackberries, gooseberries would all be good)

Plum Filling:
750g plums, stoned and roughly chopped
250g caster sugar
100ml water (my plums were juicy and ripe, so I only needed to add a couple of tbsp of water)
1 cinnamon stick
2tsp cornflour (if needed see recipe)

Dough:
200g self raising flour
4tbsp caster sugar
100g butter, diced (I used margarine)
100ml buttermilk or 50/50 milk and natural yoghurt (I used milk only as it was all i had, but you'd want to use only about 75ml)
1 tbsp caster sugar

1. Place plums in a pan with caster sugar, water (don't add all the water at once, add a little at a time as necessary) and cinnamon stick and bring to a steady simmer. Cook until tender and the liquid has reduced to a sticky sauce. If it is too run use the corn flour to thicken a little of the sauce and then recombine with the rest in the pan and bring back to simmer, stirring. Pour out into a 20cm round oven proof dish.

2. Dough - sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the sugar. Add the diced butter to the bowl and rub together until it has a breadcrumb texture (fingers are best for this). Stir in buttermilk or substitute and stir vigorously until it forms a sticky dough.

3.Preheat oven to 200C (Gas Mark 6). Sprinkle flour on a worktop and roll the dough until it is 2-2.5cm thick. Cut out rounds and place on top of the plum mix, with small gaps between. Sprinkle the top with 1 tbsp of caster sugar and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 mins or until scones are golden brown and have risen.

Serve hot or cold on it's own or with vanilla ice-cream or custard!

(posted by Kristina)