Recipe: Wonton Plum Shortcakes

Here's the recipe with some of the changes I've made added in, as adapted from the original in Instant Gratification by Lauren Chattman.

Prep Time: 15 min.

Makes 4 servings

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 4 small or medium-size plums
    • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon white/granulated sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
    • 8 wonton wrappers
    • 1 cup heavy cream
    • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Skin each plum, then halve and pit them. Cut them into small wedges. Place the wedges, 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar, and the ground ginger in one of the bowls and toss to combine. Let the bowl sit while preparing the rest of the dessert (I've just kept them out through dinner), or at least until the plums have softened a bit and juices have collected at the bottom.

Melt the butter (it's really so little that to save clean up time, I melted it in a small ramekin in the microwave).

Brush both sides of each wonton wrapper with just a little melted butter (also if you are out of butter, it's possible to use oil as a replacement--I have a feeling some sort of vegetable oil would work better, but olive oil was just fine as long as you use it sparingly; it also seemed to lengthen the browning time for the wontons slightly).

Place on the baking sheet and sprinkle or rub on the remaining 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Bake until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. They do go pretty quickly from off-white to burnt, so watch them carefully--most of mine ended up having sort of golden edges, and were still a little pale in the center.

Combine the heavy cream, vanilla, and the remaining 1-tablespoon sugar in the other bowl and whip with the mixer until soft peaks form (I'm sure you could do it by hand, but we were lucky enough to get a cheap mixer with attachments at school. It really helps to quicken the process). Refrigerate if you're not going to use right away.

To assemble the dessert, place 1 wonton on each of the dessert plates. Place 3-4 plum slices on top of each wonton, and top with a dollop of the whipped cream. Lay the remaining 4 wontons on top of each pile of fruit and cream, and place 3 plum slices and a dollop of whipped cream on the second wonton. Drizzle on the juice from the bowl of plums if you want, and serve.