Windfall plum cobbler recipe

There's a decorative plum in the public square near our house which produces tiny, tedious, black plums. They're maximum 1 inch diameter. What's the best dessert to make with fresh plums? Plum cobbler, maybe. The plebian dessert eater in the house voiced his hearty appreciation, so it's not just me who thinks this is one of the best plum desserts ever.

In the fall, I spent many hours toting many pounds of black walnuts from a disused tree oddly located a mile away. Black walnuts are native to North America, so to find such a treasure trove here in backwoods France delighted me. This morning, I spent a good hour shelling 1 single cup of black walnuts. They make you prove your love, those rock hard shells which hold one of the most overlooked dessert ingredients and flavorful nuts available to man. If you've not eaten a black walnut, or only ever had it in ice cream (admittedly delicious), I can't recommend highly enough that you revisit that wonderful nut. And you don't have to spend a morning shelling them. They have machines for that. You can get them for around $1 per ounce, which is well explained if you know what sort of work goes into getting black walnuts from tree to table. Source below.

I've literally just eaten this cobbler, and all I can say is, WOW! The flavor pairing of black walnuts and plums was absolute genius (if I say so myself). Since black walnuts are so underused, this dessert will stump a lot of people. They'll say, 'it's wonderful, but what is the flavor?' So, without further ado:

Recipe for Fresh plum cobbler with black walnut topping. Naturally, you could use regular walnuts if you (gasp!) don't like (?) black walnuts. But you'd miss out on the very special flavor pairing. Black walnut sources: Black Walnuts, 8 oz.$7.90 Or Black Walnut Flavouring$2.25. Useful for making cakes or sauces.

Serves 4:
Topping:
1/2 cup black walnut pieces
2 ounces (1/2 stick) butter, cold
1/2 cup sugar, minus one tablespoon
1/4 cup all purpose flour
pinch salt

Filling:
2 cups plums, pitted and halved/quartered (they cook down well, so it's not a big deal) This will be around a pound, but it's pretty forgiving.
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon flour

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F

In a mini food processor, pulse nuts and sugar together until there are no remaining big pieces of nuts. (Smell it - that's the beautiful black walnut fragrance!). Add the flour, cut the cold butter into 1/2 inch pieces and put in with the rest. Pulse until the butter is mostly broken up, but don't over mix. Set aside.

In a bowl, put all filling ingredients and mix well. Spoon into 4 ramekins or one small gratin pan or similar. This amount won't be enough for even an 8x8 dish. Place the topping on each - don't pat it down, it will take care of that. *Important* Use a baking sheet under the ramekins or pan. The boiling over properties of juicy plums are incredible. Bake until the filling is bubbling well and the topping is golden brown, around 20-30 minutes.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream. I prefer the second, because I don't love things that are too sweet.