Food & drink

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Halve the plums, carefully remove the stones and arrange, cut-side up, on a baking sheet.
2. Place the ricotta in a bowl, add the crushed amaretti biscuits and fold together along with the liqueur or orange juice, egg yolks and caster sugar. Beat thoroughly.
3. In a clean, grease-free bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff, then gently fold into the ricotta mixture.
4. Carefully spoon equal amounts of the mixture on top of each plum half, sprinkle with a little demerara sugar and bake for 15 minutes until the sugar is golden brown. Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar.

TIP To help the plums sit securely on the baking sheet, remove a very thin sliver off the rounded base of each half plum