Serves a Crowd

Nectarine Slump

September 14, 2010
2.7
3 Ratings
  • Serves 10
Author Notes

Slump is the most easy-going one in the family of fruit-and-dough desserts like buckle, betty, crumble and grunt. This slump's dough is extra fluffy, indulged with mascarpone and barely held together with flour, so it's more like a custardy comforter laid atop your fruit. When the one pictured above emerged from the oven, Kristen noted its raised edges and said it should be called a shrug, not a slump.

I used nectarines because this year's local nectarines were sweet beauties. But I've made this recipe with peaches and apricots, too. In a couple of weeks, I'd slip in those oval Italian plums. Happy shrugging!

Adapted from "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Cooking for Mr. Latte" —Amanda Hesser

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Ingredients
  • 8 tablespoons salted butter plus more for greasing casserole dish, softened
  • About 1 1/2 pounds ripe, sweet nectarines, pitted and quartered
  • 1 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/3 cups mascarpone
  • 1/8 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Wipe the inside of a large shallow casserole with a generous amount of butter. Cover the base, but not too snugly, with nectarine quarters, cut side up. Sprinkle them with 1 teaspoon sugar.
  2. In a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and the remaining 1 cup sugar. When it's nice and fluffy white, beat in the eggs, then the mascarpone and almond extract. Fold in the flour by hand.
  3. Spoon this mixture over the nectarines and spread it close to the edges of the casserole. Bake in the oven, until the sides rise and warp and the center is just set, 30 to 40 minutes. Let cool before serving.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Recipe by: Amanda Hesser

Before starting Food52 with Merrill, I was a food writer and editor at the New York Times. I've written several books, including "Cooking for Mr. Latte" and "The Essential New York Times Cookbook." I played myself in "Julie & Julia" -- hope you didn't blink, or you may have missed the scene! I live in Brooklyn with my husband, Tad, and twins, Walker and Addison.

16 Reviews

Kooky September 23, 2021
I followed the recipe exactly. It came out good, but a few disappointments:
1. You could not taste the mascarpone flavor 2. You could not taste the almond flavor. (These are my two bigger complaints because they were the main reason I chose this recipe. I questioned my eaters and no one detected either flavor.) 3. After scooping out a piece, you could see the whole dessert was swimming in unabsorbed butter. This is not so problematic but it does seem to imply that there’s too much butter in the recipe; again, I followed the instructions in fine detail. there is a blueberry buckle on this site (which you could make with any kind of fruit) and I would recommend that recipe instead.
Lucia R. August 14, 2019
Just baked it and came out with an enormous “ butter puddle”, wish I’d read the reviews before making it...
Sixblade K. August 15, 2017
Made this last night and it was delicious. My one concern is that it was quite heavy, there seemed to be butter that had separated and pooled at the bottom of the baking tray (which solidified this morning). Next time i might experiment with reducing the butter dramatically, i am hoping the plentiful enough mascarpone will carry the chemistry far enough.
Cpprbull July 27, 2016
Can the correct consistency of the beating of the butter and sugar result with a hand mixer?
Amanda H. July 27, 2016
Absolutely!
Cpprbull July 27, 2016
Great, thanks (although I've also been successful with the wooden-spoon method).
MangoEats March 19, 2015
Came out perfect! I will definitely try a few seasonal modifications myself! I posted my pics on my IG @MangoEats
Sandra V. September 27, 2011
I just made it tonight (with plums rather than nectarines) and it was simply delicious. The perfect amount of sweet. I added a little (unsweetened) whipped cream to top it all off. I will be definitely making this again and try different fruits. Thank you for this great recipe!
Amanda H. September 28, 2011
Glad it worked out. Wonder what it would be like with figs.
Karen F. April 30, 2014
a little bit of heaven on earth, I imagine. :-)
marmugster September 25, 2011
Should I be worried that I over beat the mascarpone if it starts to look curdy? I'm sure it will taste great anyway....
Amanda H. September 25, 2011
No need to worry -- should come out fine. Hope you like it!
marmugster September 28, 2011
Thanks Amanda, you were absolutely right, my worries were for naught. Our company gave the slump high praise and a recipe requests.
Amanda H. September 28, 2011
Great news!
Jillhum September 22, 2011
Shrugging, slouching, or slumping, that looks good!
Amanda H. September 22, 2011
Thanks -- all good words, especially when mixed with food.