Sacramento’s stone fruit and berries call for these plum and strawberry cardamom bars

The Abridged version:

• Take advantage of the stone fruit and berries currently available at local farmers markets by making these plum and strawberry cardamom bars.
• This Cooking in Season recipe comes from Lisa Lin, a Natomas-based recipe developer behind the website Healthy Nibbles.
• These bars can be served fresh but also taste great straight out of the fridge, particularly on hot August days.

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This is Cooking in Season, a biweekly recipe series using seasonal produce available at Sacramento-area farmers markets. 

Hello! I’m Lisa Lin, a food writer and content creator who has been publishing recipes on my website Healthy Nibbles since 2014. Growing up in a Chinese household in San Francisco, I was immersed in Cantonese culture and culinary traditions. I learned how to cook from watching my mom re-create dishes that she made back in the village in Toisan, China. The special dumplings and steamed cakes that she cooked for Chinese holidays were foods that I treasured in particular.

Ever since my undergraduate days at UC Davis, I’ve been applying the cooking skills that I learned from my mom. When I moved to Sacramento in 2015, I felt a need to document and preserve my mom’s recipes. Over the years, I have been filming my mom’s cooking and sharing her culinary knowledge on my social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Through my videos, I try to honor the food and culture that shaped my upbringing.

Besides Chinese food, I enjoy creating seasonal fusion recipes that highlight ingredients commonly used in Asian cuisines. I draw inspiration from the produce that I see at various farmers markets in the Sacramento area. The Sunday Asian farmers market at Fifth Street and Broadway is one of my favorites because I can find a wide range of Asian vegetables that I would not see in grocery stores in Natomas, where I live. I also love hearing people occasionally speak in Cantonese or the Toisan dialect, because I feel like I am back home in San Francisco. 

Plum and strawberry cardamom bars

Yield: 16 servings
Total Time: 3 hours (including cooling time)

For my Cooking in Season recipes, I’ll be sharing flavor-forward creations as well as dishes that feature Asian produce I find at the farmers market. My first recipe, plum and strawberry cardamom bars, takes advantage of the abundance of plums that are in season.

Like many Asians, I tend to gravitate toward desserts that are not too sweet. Plums have that sweet and tart flavor that balances nicely against ripe strawberries. If you want a tarter dessert, you can replace the strawberries with more plums.

The fruit filling is sandwiched between a buttery crust and crumbly topping speckled with poppy seeds. To add some warm flavor to the bars, I have incorporated freshly ground cardamom by grinding the seeds from about 18 cardamom pods (saving the husks to steep with chai). If grinding fresh cardamom seems like too much effort, preground cardamom will work, too. 

When it comes to baking, I typically weigh my ingredients for better accuracy. I have provided both the volume and weighed amounts in case you do not have a scale. If you are measuring flour by volume, use the following spoon-and-sweep method as it is the most accurate. First, fluff up the flour with a fork. Spoon flour into your measuring cup until the flour is heaping at the top. Do not tap the measuring cup on your counter to try to fit in more flour. Use a knife to level off the excess. 

These plum and strawberry cardamom bars are great for a summer gathering. Enjoy them the day they are made or store them in the fridge to enjoy the next day. The bars are a delight to eat when they are chilled overnight, especially on a hot August afternoon.

Ingredients

Topping and crust

• 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter
• 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 g) packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (preferably Diamond Crystal), or 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 cup (30 g) rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds (optional)
• Whole milk, if needed

Filling

• 16 to 17 ounces red plums or pluots
• 5 ounces strawberries
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

Prepare the topping and crust

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 F and slide an oven rack to the middle position. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan well with oil and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

Step 2

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, let the butter continue to bubble until you start to see brown flecks around the edge of the saucepan, about 1 to 2 minutes more. We are not quite browning the butter but trying to give the butter a nuttier aroma. Turn off the heat and use a flexible spatula to scrape the sides of the saucepan, making sure to save the brown milk solids. Let the butter cool for a few minutes.

Step 3

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, cardamom, baking powder and salt. Carefully pour the melted butter into the bowl. Mix the ingredients together with the spatula, making sure to scrape any loose flour around the edges or bottom of the bowl. Once the butter has been fully incorporated, grab a small handful of the dough crumbles and give it a squeeze. The dough should be able to hold together. If the dough feels dry and sandy, add some whole milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix to incorporate. Keep doing this until the dough holds together with the squeeze test. 

Step 4

Set aside 1 cup of loosely packed dough crumbles in a small bowl. You’ll use this for the topping. Spread the remaining dough crumbles throughout the parchment-lined pan. Use your hands to pack down the dough, until you get an even layer of crust that covers the entire surface of the pan. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly. Par-baking the crust will prevent soggy bottoms later on. 

Step 5

While the crust is baking, finish the topping. Add the oats and poppy seeds (if using) to the reserved dough for the topping. Use your hands to mix the ingredients together, giving the dough a gentle squeeze here and there to work the oats and poppy seeds into the dough. Grab a small handful of the dough again and give it a squeeze. If the dough feels dry and sandy, add some whole milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the dough holds together. Chill the topping in the refrigerator until it is ready to be used.

Prepare the fruit filling and bake

Step 1

Thinly slice the plums (with skins intact), making sure to be careful as you slice around the pit. You should end up with about 3 cups of sliced plums. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Step 2

Hull the strawberries and slice medium-sized berries in half and large ones into quarters. Leave any tiny berries whole. You should end up with about 1 cup of strawberries. Add them to the bowl with the plums.

Step 3

Whisk together the sugar, cardamom and salt. Sprinkle over the fruit and gently toss everything together. Let the fruit macerate for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Step 4

Sprinkle the cornstarch over the fruit and gently toss again. Pour the fruit and its juices over the par-baked crust, making sure that every inch of the crust is covered with the fruit. Take the topping out of the fridge and sprinkle over the fruit. If you want larger crumbles over the fruit, squeeze a handful of dough together, then break it up into blueberry-sized pieces and sprinkle it over the fruit. 

Step 5

Bake the bars for 40 to 45 minutes, until the topping is golden and you can hear the fruit bubbling.

Step 6

Remove the pan from the oven and let the bars cool to room temperature. Remove the bars from the pan and cut into 16 pieces. Enjoy!

Step 7

Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days. Because of the amount of fruit in these bars, you don’t want to leave them out at room temperature as they might turn moldy. The texture of the crust is lovely straight out the fridge!