https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/easy-stewed-prunes/

You could try using dried plums. ;-)

Sounds great! I may have to cook this up and see if it triggers a young memory.

Thanks!

Elmer, you're so dumb.

;)

Just cook them like Annie's link says. Cooked prunes are tasty all by themselves! I bet your old recipe is yummy!

Yes, the recipe Annie posted is exactly how my mother cooked them. I don’t recall that she had a recipe, she just barely covered them with water, brought to a boil and simmered for a few minutes. Done.

Reconstituted prunes=plums and they can be purchased in a can.

Stewed prunes were a nearly daily part of breakfast when I was young. They started out as a box full of extremely dried prunes (plums as once were) with the pits, cooked with a bit of water until they softened, and usually served in a bowl with top-of-the-bottle cream. Good stuff. Nowadays, it seems that most dried prunes are re-hydrated somewhat to keep them softer and more palatable to modern tastes.

The prunes did keep us "regular"! Sixty years ago, my mother had a doctor who asked her what laxative she used, assuming everyone did -- her reply was "nothing but prunes", and no, she didn't see any reason to use a pill to get the effect. Doctor was totally non-plussed, lol.

The recipe is very close to my aunt's Prune Cake recipe. Has a Buttermilk Icing that is very, very good. The cake is also really good.

Buy dried prunes & stew them. This is my aunt's recipe & instructions:

Prune Cake

3 eggs

1 c. vegetable oil

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 t. each : cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda

3 c. flour (I sift the flour, spices & soda together)

1 c. buttermilk

1 c. prunes, seeded, cooked, chopped

1 c. nuts (I always omit these)

1 t. vanilla

(I cook the prunes, seed & chop and use 1 cup of those prepared prunes in the cake.)

Blend sugar & oil. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients alternately w/ buttermilk. Add vanilla, nuts & prunes. Pour into buttered pan. (9 x 13 pan) Bake at 300-325 for 45 minutes. When brown, remove from oven & ice immediately.

Buttermilk Icing

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. buttermilk

1/2 t. baking soda

1 T. white corn syrup

1/4 c. butter

1 t. vanilla

Boil mixture until it forms a soft ball. Pour over hot cake without beating.

(I'm assuming that you know what 'forms a soft ball'--candy making term-- means.)

This cake is one of those that is better the next day.

***Note that this recipe calls for twice as much flour. I've used this recipe as written (w/ 3 c. flour) & it turns out great.

I have never used canned plums in the cake although they would probably work (canned plums maybe a bit more watery?) I like the cake as the recipe is written so have never had a desire to experiment.

Yes the old folks always had stewed prunes in the frig. and we always laughed about it. They were big on being "regular" and we thought that was funny. Now I see how wise they were to go the natural way instead of taking a pill or drinking some concoction. I put dried prunes in my oatmeal - the hot oatmeal plumps them up and sweetens the oatmeal some. They are also very good for a quick snack (4 are a single serving) instead of eating a cookie or something that you shouldn't.

I also laughed at prunes when I was a kid ... but when my doctor recommended them for colon health a while back, I tried them and found them delicious (as well as effective). Both those recipes look good :-)

Prunes are plums, but plums are not prunes. Same as raisins are grapes, but grapes are not raisins and do not taste the same. I plump my raisins before using in bread pudding, by simmering in a small amount of water. That is what you want to do with the prunes. It makes them soft instead of chewy, Only use a small amount of water. It should be absorbed by the prunes with very little left over.

Ritaweeda, that's how I eat them, too. After a meal if I'm craving something sweet, I'll eat one or two, and it takes the edge off. I agree--these recipes look good!

Some years ago, not just a few but not too many, the California prune industry association found that the word "prune" didn't always have a favorable image to the buying public. At that point, they thought it would be better marketing-wise to call the product "dried plums", and that's where that term came from that started to be used. Also why I made a playful comment to rob, same item, different name.

Prunes/dried plums (production of which was centered in my region for decades) have historically used a plum variety called "prune plum". In common use, any dried plum can be called a prune but most are prune plums and prunes are dried plums of one variety or another.

The word for "plum" in French is "prune", just to make it something extra to avoid confusion with for English speakers.

I love prunes and dates too. I think I would really like these cakes, thanks for posting the recipes.

I love prunes, too. And it has been far too long since I purchased any. I like them right out of the round can (they are like candy), as well as stewed (the way my Mother did them). Glad for this message string, as it reminded me to put the prunes on my grocery list. Thank you, robb, for the initial query.

Just adding this cause I made this many times for various occasions. Always great response and it is made with BABY FOOD

BABY FOOD PRUNE CAKE

2 c. self-rising flour
2 c. white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice

Mix dry ingredients, then add 1 cup Wesson oil and 2 small cans of baby food prunes and 2 eggs. Mix all together. Bake in oven 45 minutes at 325 degrees in greased and floured bundt pan. May add 1/2 cup pecans.

Thanks for the recipe. I plan to try it.

You know, I've never had a prune. I think I always thought of my grandparents and the whole "regular" thing, and just assumed that they were nasty. I should try some.

And for the record, it's pronounced "proon", right? My friend pronounces it "pru-en". Maybe a Pennsylvania thing?

"pru-en"? That reminds me of one day I was shopping at Kohl's and a couple teen girls were walking around looking at clothing and they would see something and say "Oh that is so 'cu-et'" pronounce "q-it". I have jokingly said that ever since...HAHA!

Well Dad grew up speaking Polish and learned English later. He always said fill-em for flim and el-em for elm. But I have to admit, I've never heard pru-en. My cousins always said mit-ten and kit-ten vs our mitt-en and kitt-en. So it happens.

@aok27502, yes. "Proon" is the correct pronunciation. @glenda_al, I am so glad you posted that recipe. We used to really like it many years ago. And it is so easy to cut it in half.

Walnut, you got my mind wondering, could I cut my recipe in half, and I learned something new. All 13X9 recipes can be cut down to 8X8 and you don't even have to adjust the temperature or time?! Pretty cool. See the link.

@robb333: Don't see any reason you can't cut the recipe in half. Since the eggs are an uneven number, just beat them up, measure them, then use only half (I have done that many times). I have also seen suggestions to use the egg beaters when halving an uneven number of eggs. To my way of thinking, that would not be very cost effective. Since the spices have no measurements, that it a personal preference as to how much to use. That link makes for interesting reading.

Rob, those halved recipes at your link are all casseroles...savory dishes...which have a lot more leeway in baking time...it's not like the mac/ cheese is going to be inedible if it is overbaked by 5-10 minutes. With baking, I sure would not trust baking an 8 x 8 for the same am't of time as a 9 x 13. Would set the timer for less time and keep an eye on it.

I just 'round up' the eggs when I'm increasing or decreasing a recipe, even in baked goods. Sloppy, yeh. But the recipes always seem to come out OK whichever tack you take.

Would set the timer for less time and keep an eye on it.

DITTO. It's a good starting point, though. I have often fretted over the temp/time thing when halving. But I totally agree. Until I know how it truly works, that's what I will do.

Had purchased ingredients to make Robb's/Ci_Lantro's cake and Glenda's. Yesterday decided to try Glenda's since georgysmom had made Robb's/Ci_Lantro's and reported on it. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5879014/made-the-prune-cake#n=6  I did cut Glenda's recipe in half, baked in an 8" round pan at 325 for 40 minutes. Cake was so good and sweet; just what I needed last night. This was my first time in baking a cake in a very long time, and it sure gave me a great feeling to bake a cake again.

The way it is written tell you.

One Cup of Prunes.

cooked.

===> measure out a cup of (dried) prunes. Then cook this one cup.

If, on the other hand, a recipe read, “One cup of cooked prunes, you would read “cooked prunes” as the entity, and you would measure out a cup of these (already) cooked prunes.

Sounds yummy!