Suddenly, it is all about plums. There’s a farmer at the Union Square Greenmarket, Locust Grove that fills a small wooden crate with damson plums, and I always think of the Marion Burros torte from the New York Times, still being made since the recipe was published in 1983. It is perfection. And I always try to make the Plum Upside-Down Cake each season from the Chez Panisse Cookbook.
So when Leah Koenig came by Wild Sorrel to sign copies of her new book The Dessert Table, one of the first recipes to catch my eye (and there were many) was her Streusel-Topped Plum Galette. The Dessert Table is a celebration of the sweets that define the Jewish Holidays beginning with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is also a book that extols the seasons and shows a love for baking and bringing people together. Back to the market I go for plums!
Ingredients
Method
- Make the dough: Combine the flour, butter, and salt in a food processor and pulse several times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons ice water and continue pulsing until the dough begins to clump together. (It should hold together when squeezed.) If it is still too dry and crumbly, drizzle in up to 2 additional tablespoons of water, a little at a time, as needed.
- Turn out the dough, gather it together, and form it into a disk. Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, and up to overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the filling: Combine the sliced plums, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour in a medium bowl, stirring to coat the plums with sugar. Set aside.
- Make the streusel: Combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a medium bowl and rub the ingredients together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (Do not overmix.) Set aside.
- On a floured work surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into an approximately 12-inch (30 cm) circle; trim off and discard any jagged edges. Carefully transfer the dough circle to the baking sheet.
- Arrange the plums in an overlapping circular pattern on top of the dough, leaving about a 1½ inch- (4 cm) border all around. (Discard any juices in the bottom of the bowl.) Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the plums. Fold the border of dough up over the filling at overlapping intervals, leaving most of the plums visible.
- Use a pastry brush to brush the crust (not the plums or streusel) with a layer of egg wash. (You will not use all of it.)
- Bake the galette until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is dark golden brown, 50 to 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and set the baking sheet on a wire rack. Let the galette cool before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Leftovers can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
Recipe excerpted from The Dessert Table: 100 Joyful Jewish Sweets. Copyright © 2026 by Leah Koenig. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
