Sweet treats

Honey baked plum recipe with labneh

Make labneh the day before (10 minutes), 15 minutes to prepare on the day
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This delicious honey baked plum recipe by Dr Joan Ransley for Love Your Gut is a wonderful way to enjoy autumn fruits.

Fruit-based puddings are generally lower in refined sugar than cake and cream-based puddings, which can help to get our weight and gut health in check. Research shows that body weight is important for gut health. People who are overweight tend to have a more permeable gut and an altered gut microbiome.

Labneh is a Middle Eastern style natural yoghurt. Like Greek yoghurt, labneh is strained, making it deliciously thick and removing some of the lactose. It’s also a fabulous way to support our gut health. Just like kefir and kombucha, labneh is an excellent probiotic. Probiotics are the gut-friendly bacteria that have numerous benefits for various areas of our health. This includes maintaining healthy gut movements, promoting immunity and lowering cholesterol.

The addition of honey here gives this baked plum recipe additional sweetness. The best honey comes from your local producer – and don’t think that this rule doesn’t count if you live in a town or city, urban bees are thriving and produce delicious honey!

Discover more delicious sweet recipes

Ingredients

  • 4 large dark red plums, cut in half, stone removed
  • 2 tbsp runny honey
  • 1 tbsp pistachio nuts, finely chopped
  • 350g labneh made from 500g low fat Greek yogurt
  • 2 pinches of saffron strands
  • 2 cardamom pods
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar, or less if preferred

Method

To make the labneh

  1. Line a large bowl with a square of clean muslin (or cheese cloth).
  2. Place yogurt in the centre and wrap the muslin around the yogurt and tie up with string.
  3. Suspend the muslin and yogurt over a deep mixing bowl and place somewhere cool.
  4. Leave the labneh to drain for at least four hours. This will make approximately 350g labneh.

If you do not have time to make the labneh use thick Greek yogurt instead.
To make the pudding

  1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/400ºF/gas 6.
  2. Place the plums cut side up on a baking tray or bun tin and drizzle with honey. Place the tray of plums in the oven for 10 minutes and cook until they are soft and their juice bubbles from the skins.
  3. Finely grind the saffron. Mix with a teaspoon of freshly boiled water and set aside to infuse for 10 minutes. Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, discard the husks and finely grind the seeds.
  4. Fold together the labneh, ground cardamom, icing sugar and cooled saffron water.
  5. To serve; divide the plums among 4 serving bowls. Top with the saffron labneh and sprinkle with the ground pistachio nuts.