MAPLE ROASTED PLUMS WITH ALMOND SESAME OATS

Temperatures have totally dropped this week; there's a chill in the air and it smells like Fall -- time to pack away my sandals and break out the boots (honestly not sure if that terrifies me or excites me).

Colder temps have me craving warm, comforting breakfasts. On a good week, I'll motivate myself to make toasted oats, or maybe even baked oatmeal, but sometimes, all I want is warm fruit and granola. This recipe swings all the ways -- breakfast, mid day snack or dessert -- the plums can easily be reheated throughout the week, and are complimented beautifully with yogurt or ice cream. Ontario stone fruit is still abundant at the market, but if you can't find good plums, try apple compote instead, I imagine it would be equally satisfying and hearty.

ALMOND SESAME OATS // makes 3 cups

Preheat oven to 325.

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup coconut flakes
2 T sesame seeds
pinch of cardamom

2 T maple syrup
2 T brown sugar
2 T water
1/4 cup olive oil

What do do:

Toss all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients. Pour the wet over the dry and mix to evenly coat all the oats. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 10-20 minutes, rotating halfway through, until golden brown. Allow to cool before serving.

MAPLE ROASTED PLUMS // serves 4

Preheat oven to 375.

Ingredients:

4 plums, halved and pits removed
2 T maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground ginger

What to do:

Place the plum halves on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Combine the maple syrup, vanilla and ginger in a small bowl and whisk to eliminate any clumps. Brush the plums with syrup, allowing a small pool to form where the pit was, yet conserving some of the liquid for serving. Roast for 25 minutes, with an optional extra 2-5 minutes on broil.

Serve the plums warm, with a smattering of oats, a drizzle of leftover syrup, and an optional scoop of vanilla ice cream or yogurt.

CLASSIC WAFFLES WITH WARM STONE FRUIT

This time last year, I was huddled around my computer for a better part of the long weekend, choosing fonts, colours and layouts. Slowly but surely, and only taking minimal breaks for cider and cycling, I was able to breathe life into this site. I can't believe its been a whole year since then, and to celebrate, waffles seemed appropriate. We had a simpler iteration of this breakfast last weekend for N's birthday -- apparently waffles have become the go-to way to kick off celebratory mornings. To take advantage of lazy long weekend mornings and the abundance of stone fruit while it lasts, whip up a batch of these waffles this weekend (if you can). Happy Labor Day folks!

CLASSIC WAFFLES WITH WARM STONE FRUIT // serves 4

Waffles adapted from i am a food blog

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour
1 T white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

3 T butter, melted
1 T white vinegar
1 cup nut milk
1 egg

4 pieces stone fruit (nectarine, peach, plum, aprium, apricot, ...)
1 T butter
1 T orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

vanilla ice cream or plain greek yogurt, for serving

What to do:

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Place 1 T of white vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup. Fill the reminder of the cup with milk, and let sit. (This is a foolproof way of making non-dairy buttermilk, as the vinegar will cause the milk to curdle).

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Add the egg and curdled milk to the bowl and whisk gently to combine. Pour the wet mixture over the dry and mix just until incorporated and lump free.

Allow the mixture to rest while you heat up the waffle iron and prepare your fruit. Slice all the fruit into thin segments, about 8 slices per fruit. Set aside.

In 1/2 cup intervals, scoop the batter onto the waffle iron, and allow to cook as per waffle iron instructions. Allow the cooked waffles to rest on a wire rack, to avoid getting soggy.

While you're making the waffles, warm the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the fruit, juice and vanilla, stir gently, and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes. Stir only minimally to avoid breaking up the fruit.

Serve a warm waffle with a heaping mound of fruit and a scoop of vanilla ice cream or plain green yogurt.

CHERRY + PEACH GALETTE

I grew up eating my grandmother's pie -- an open faced fruit tart on a shortbread crust. Yum. They are seriously delicious, and totally versatile -- blueberries, peaches, plums, apples -- you name it, the crust can handle it all.

Everything I've heard about galettes leads me to think the same holds true for them; super forgiving, messy crust that can handle sweet or savoury fillings. I had never tried making a galette before, but figured it was time to try. When it comes to baking, I often find I do best when following a recipe, so after scouring the internet, I settled on a dough that required a bit more time, effort and butter, but guaranteed a flaky, 'fraisaged' crust. Two slices later I can assure you this recipe is well worth the effort!

CHERRY + PEACH GALETTE // serves 6-8

Adapted from The Vanilla Bean Blog

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
10 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
4-6 tbsp ice water

3-4 peaches, sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 cup (~20) cherries, pitted
2 T brown sugar

1/2 T white sugar

What to do:

To make the dough, pulse the flours and butter in a food processor fitted with the s-blade, until the mixture resembles a course crumb. Continue to add the water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the dough holds together when pinched.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter, and gather it into a pile. To ensure a super flaky crust, use the 'fraisage' technique to work out the dough (super helpful 'fraisage' video here). Use the heel of your hand to smear the dough, in small increments, against the counter. Continue until all the dough has been worked and gathered into a pile. Repeat.

Flatten the dough into a 6" disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and allow to sit for 2 minutes. On a piece of parchment paper, roll the dough into a 12" circle, transfer to a baking sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

As the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 375 and prepare your fruit. Toss the sliced peaches, pitted and halved cherries with the brown sugar. Set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and fill the centre with fruit - maintaining a 2" border. If you have too much fruit, set it aside for snacking. Fold the dough over the fruit, pleating and slightly squeezing as you go. Remember, galettes are rustic and messy, so no sweat if it doesn't look perfect.

Brush the dough with water and sprinkle with 1/2 T white sugar.

Bake for about an hour, until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Rotate the pan at 30 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, before transferring the parchment to a wire rack for about 20 minutes.

Serve warm, preferably with vanilla ice cream.

RAW NECTARINE SUMMER TART

Raw tarts seem to be all the rage these days. Though I have a hard time dropping over ten dollars on nuts and dates, the fact that I can whip up a killer dessert in very little time, without having to turn my oven on, is genius. During these muggy summer days, the last thing I want to do is pump more heat into the house, and my sweet tooth seems to crave anything cold and raw (vanilla ice cream and fresh cherries? yes please!). There are a variety of different recipes on the web (caramel apple, berry, fruit pizzas, peach and ginger coconut), but I gravitated towards nectarines after tasting some from the market the other day that I had bought for a green rice and corn salad. The nectarines were perfectly ripe, juicy, sweet and totally destined for this beautiful summer tart.

RAW NECTARINE SUMMER TART // serves 8-12

Adapted from Oh, Ladycakes

Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups raw walnuts
13 medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup raw nut milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2-3 nectarines, halved, pitted and sliced thinly

What to do:

Soak the almonds and cashews in a small bowl covered in water for 6 hours, or overnight.

In a food processor fitted with the s-blade, pulse the walnuts and 9 dates until chopped and combined (~45 seconds). Pinch the dough -- if it holds together you're golden, otherwise, add another date or two and pulse again. Place the dough in a tart pan, pressing down firmly and spreading evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the freezer until ready to use.

Drain the almonds and cashews and transfer into the body of a food processor or high speed blender (a blender would probably be best, but I don't have one and my food processor worked just fine). Add the remaining dates, milk, vanilla and cardamom. Blend/pulse until combined and 'smooth'. Transfer to a tupperware and store in the fridge until game time.

When ready to serve, or just before your guests arrive, scoop the cream onto the crust and spread evenly. Begin to lay your nectarine slices in a circle from the outer perimeter working your way to the centre.

Store in the fridge until ready to serve -- for breakfast or dessert. Will keep in the fridge for about a week.

PEACH CRISP

Crisps are one of my favourite deserts, simple yet delicious - allowing the fruit to shine through complemented by a crunchy tasty topping.

This topping recipe was passed down to me from Nancy Wise; she typically halves it, but after trying both approaches, the full dose is definitely my preference.

PEACH CRISP // 9x9 glass dish

This recipe can easily be adapted for apples, rhubarb (add 1/2 cup of sugar), etc.

Chop roughly 8 peaches and place in the dish; sprinkle with 2 tbsp of flour and 1 tsp cinnamon; mix well with your hands.

For the topping

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1/2 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar

Drizzle the topping over the peaches and bake for roughly 45 minutes in a 375 oven.