Plum Almond Tart, circa 4 am

Usually when I wake up in the middle of the night for a glass of water or a visit to the good old water closet, our cat Jinja will attack my feet in an apparent effort to kill his half asleep owner. When this early morning coma walk to the kitchen left me unscathed I started searching for our little kamikaze cat. That's when I found the screen of one of our living room windows pushed out and laying on the sidewalk below. Thankfully we are on the first floor so the jump was certainly no effort. Hopefully he finds a pretty lady feline friend, takes her out on a date, is a gentleman, and at the end of the night gives her a kiss on the cheek, tells her he will call her and comes back home.

So that left me at 4:30 am, unable to sleep...and what do you do at 4:30 am? Plum Almond Tart, please. And man, does it smell great in here.

Plum Almond Tart

*recipe gifted from a friend who is an amazing cook, mother and wife*

1/2 cup whole almonds

1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar

pinch of salt

1/8 cup or 2 Tablespoons runny honey

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour

3/8 teaspoon baking powder

3 Tablespoons butter, in between firm and soft (I just cut up and set in a bowl on the top of the stove while the oven is preheating)

1 egg (room temperature. This is very important, so just place in a bowl of warm water while you are preparing the other ingredients)

4 medium plums, washed and halved (or sliced thin)

1 Tablespoon turbinado sugar (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F and butter a 9 inch tart pan (I use this one all the time)

2. Combine almonds, sugar, and salt in the food processor, and process until the almonds are finely ground.

3. Add flour and baking powder. Pulse.

4. Add egg, butter and honey. Process until a moist doughy ball forms around the blade.

5. Turn dough out into the tart pan. If the dough sticks to your hands, sprinkle in a little more flour and fold over until it is manageable. Press dough to evenly over the bottom of the pan, but not go up the sides.

6. If you halved the plums, place them cut side down in a nice pattern. If you sliced the plums, arrange them in a circular scalloped fashion. Whatever looks pretty to you.

7. Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.

8. Bake for 40 minutes, until cake is golden brown.

9. Let come to room temperature before you enjoy.