Cathy Katin-Grazzini
Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC
www.cathyskitchenprescription.com
Plum Rose Cups
Here’s a pretty confection ~ plummy roses, all dressed up in a plant-based spice cookie. With no refined flour, gluten, sweeteners, eggs, oils or butter, FRUIT rules the day!
We use fruit to sweeten the dough, to become the petals, to glaze the tarts, and to decorate the plate! Plum rose cups make a toothsome, super healthy dessert, snack, even breakfast. They're a great way to get kids of all ages to eat more fruit.
Prep time 50 minutes Bake time 40-50 minutes Makes 12
Equipment
Mandolin for uniform fruit slicing
High speed blender (or use food processor) to blend date paste
Food processor
Bristle pastry brush
Spice or coffee grinder to grind spices and freeze-dried fruit
12-cup muffin tin, silicone or metal
Ingredients
Crust
1 ½ cups buckwheat flour, plus a bit extra for dusting
2 Tablespoons arrowroot
2 Tablespoons golden flaxseed, freshly ground
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon Ceylon (true) cinnamon, freshly ground
¼ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
¼ teaspoon green cardamom seed, freshly ground
½ cup sweet potato pulp from 1 sweet potato, microwaved or baked
½ cup date paste from ¾ cup pitted dates, microwaved and blended
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or another extract or liqueur
¼ teaspoon rose water
Filling
10-11 mix of red and/or black plums, pluots and/or peaches or nectarines
Peach or apricot fruit preserves (fruit-sweetened preferably)
Glaze
1 carton frozen apple juice concentrate, reduced
Plating (optional)
Package of freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, freshly ground
Spoonful of homemade soy crème fraiche from my homemade soy yogurt, strained
Hint 1: Kick the flavor and nutritional potency of your spices way up by grinding just the amount you need, right before use. Spices keep far longer as intact whole seeds, bark, nuts, dried funghi, and chilis. Store whole spices in a cool, dark cupboard.
Hint 2: Select fruit that are of a similar size and not overly ripe to facilitate slicing.
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C
Make Date Paste
In a nonmetallic bowl cover dates with water and microwave for 2 minutes. Cool. Process both the fruit and soaking water in a high-speed blender until very smooth.
Make the Apple Glaze
Empty the apple cider concentrate into a saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes or until it reduces sufficiently to lightly coat the back of a teaspoon. The glaze will continue to thicken slightly as it cools. Apple glaze will keep in the fridge for several weeks or can be frozen.
Prep the Fruit
Cut the fruit in half and remove their pits. Using a mandolin set on 1/16” slice each half.
Make the Dough
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Run for about 1 ½ minutes or as long as needed for the dough to gather into a moist ball. If it fails to gather because the mix is too dry, add a bit more sweet potato pulp and try again. If the mix is too wet, add a bit more buckwheat flour.
Create and Fill the Rose Cups
Roll out half the dough into a rectangle about 3/8” thick. Using a pastry wheel, pizza wheel, or a knife, cut strips that measure 2½ by 7”. Spread a thin coat of the preserves on top, leaving ½” clean edge along one of the short sides.
On your board lay down 9 slices of fruit, overlapping the slices by ½” (e.g. 3 slices plums, 3 slices pluots, 3 slices peaches, etc.)
Gently, gently, roll up the fruit, using both hands to hold the roll together. This will create a rose.
As soon as the fruit is rolled, place it on a dough rectangle, starting on the edge coated with preserves. Place the rose with its upper half extended above the dough slab and the lower half resting on it. Roll the dough around the fruit with the final 1/2" or so overlapping the dough again. Press down the edge well to seal it.
You now have a fruit rose, enveloped by a dough tube, half in/half out. To create the cup, pinch the dough together at the tube's bottom, then push the pinched bottom upwards towards the fruit. This closes the bottom of the cup as it creates a firm base to support the plum rose as it bakes.
Repeat to create the other 11 plum rose cups.
Transfer each to a metal muffin tin lined with parchment or an unlined silicone muffin mold.
Using a pastry brush, glaze the fruit and dough gently with the apple glaze. If it is too thick to brush on easily without disturbing the rose fruit petals, dilute with a spoonful of water.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and apply another coat of glaze to both the roses and the dough pastry. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the fruit is beginning to bubble and the crust is golden. Do not overbake of the rose petals may become overly soft and mushy.
Remove from oven. Immediately reglaze a final time, using any juices produced by the roses or the glaze. Lastly, while they’re still piping hot, release each plum rose cup by gently running the pastry brush around each cup’s perimeter. Transfer immediately to a cooling rack.
Serve warm or reheat for a few minutes in a warm oven or a few seconds in a microwave.
Plating
Decorate the plate with a sprinkling of fruit powder made from ground freeze dried berries. And top each plum rose cup with a dollop of my homemade soy yogurt, strained for 1-2 hours to thicken to the consistency of sour cream or crème fraiche.
