Gluten-Free Plum Cobbler Bars

Here’s a little fact about me: I am good at following instructions. A college professor pointed it out to me and while I found it to be weird (it really is kind of a useless talent) but turns out it is great when it comes to baking. I am really good at following recipes. Once I found people with good recipes, I tend to latch on to them and Erin McDowell is one of those people. This is a recipe that she developed a few years back and every time I make it, I always get rave reviews. Seeing that I’ve followed this recipe a few times over, I thought it would be great to try making it gluten-free. Nothing in here really needs significant raising agent, so it really adapts well to gluten-free ingredients. In fact, I think I might even be able to turn it keto-friendly. Perhaps another time.

Ingredients:

2.25 lbs. red, black, or purple plus, pits removed and roughly chopped (I used a combination because I got 1 lb. from our CSA farmbox and then when I went to the grocery store to get more, I forgot what type we got. But as you’ll see, everything turned out just fine)
1.5 cups granulated sugar
0.25 cup cornstarch
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned gluten-free oats (oats are naturally gluten-free but often processed alongside wheat. If making for people with gluten allergy, make sure you look for GF oats)
3.25 cups almond flour (you can also substitute this with coconut flour)
1.5 cups brown sugar (light or dark, it doesn’t matter)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 cup sliced almonds
1.5 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

In a large pot, combine plums and granulated sugar. Heat up over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the plums releases their juices and become very tender. This can take up to one hour but it is important to heat it up gently so you don’t end up caramelizing the sugar.
Once the plum-sugar mixture starts to heat up, when you occasionally stir the pot, try to also crush the plums against the sides of the pot. The original recipe calls for pureeing the plums with an immersion blender but I found that it’s not necessary as the plums get soft enough that you don’t really taste the skin. Once it boils, lower the heat to rolling simmer and let it cook down until you get about 3.5 cups worth. No need to measure, just eyeball it.
Put the cornstarch in a small bowl and mix with some water to make a slurry. Whisk it into the plum mixture and then let it cook for another minute or two while stirring well to prevent scorching. You’ll see that the mixture will thicken up considerably. Do not continue to cook it after it thickens up because the cornstarch can break down and you’ll end up a watery mixture.
Stir in vanilla extract and let the plum mixture cool down to room temperature. You can even refrigerate this mixture at this point and pick it back up again the next day to make the cobbler bars. Just make sure you bring it up to room temperature to make it easier to spread.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper with overhang on all sides. In a large bowl, combine oats, almond flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add melted butter and stir until the mixture forms streusel-like crumbs.
Take a little over half of the crumb mixture and press them into an even layer at the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the plum mixture in an even layer over it. Sprinkle half of the sliced almonds over the plum mixture, then sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over them. Then finish with sprinkling the remaining almonds.
Bake for about 45-555 minutes, until the plum jam bubbles at the edges and the top crumb layer is golden brown. Cool completely before slicing. No matter how tempting it is, do not cut into it while it’s still remotely warm, else you will end up with a gooey mess. But if you don’t mind that, go for it and plop a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream. After all, it’s a cobbler recipe.