If you visited my cottage right now, you'd swear it was Christmas in July. Not because I have a Christmas tree or stockings up but because of the aroma wafting from my little kitchen- a mixture of sweet fruit with an undercurrent of cinnamon and nutmeg. Doesn't that sound delightful? It's plum-apple butter. Yum! Recently a friend of mine was kind enough to share some fresh plums from her family's tree, I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do with them so for the first few days I just ate them as is. The ping pong ball sized plums were delicious- a wonderful nectarous snack. I ate them for several days straight but still didn't make a dent in them; so I had to come up with a Plan B, hence, the plum-apple butter. I took an old recipe I had bookmarked from Taste of Home and played with it a little. The resulting garnet-colored "butter" tasted fantastic and it could be purposed as a topping for a multitude of dishes...I was thinking perhaps pancakes, ice cream, cheesecake or maybe some homemade biscuits? I could probably even muddle it into some summer cocktails? The possibilities are endless....



Old Fashioned Plum-Apple Butter

Ingredients

20 small fresh plums- pitted and chopped (about 3 cups, chopped)
1 Fuji apple- peeled, cored and chopped
1.5 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
dash of allspice


Instructions

1. In a saucepan, combine plums, apples and 1/4 cup water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

3. Puree in food processor. Return to saucepan- add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Bring to a strong boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The butter will thicken some.

4. Allow to cool. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge, should stay good for up to 3 weeks.

(Makes one and a half pints)