My favorite fruit hands down are peaches. As soon as May hits, I troll the grocery stores searching for the colorful, fuzzy balls of sweet smelling and tasting goodness. And while I understand some people think first of the season peaches aren’t worth buying, I can assure you, in my experience, peaches are pretty fantastic from the moment they hit the stores to the last peach available for purchase in October or sometimes even November.
Whether yellow or white, Southern or California, clingstone or freestone, I can’t get enough of them and eat at least one a day, buying them like crazy at grocery stores, Costco, farmers’ markets, and farm stands. My favorite way to enjoy peaches is as they are, but being the baker I am, I love to put them in just about any sweet treat I can. So the other day I thought I’d whip up a peach crisp.
It’s hard to find an excellent crisp because when most people think of crisp they think of sweetened fruit topped off by some kind of biscuit, even though that’s not at all what a crisp is. I have an aversion to biscuits, so I don’t like those imposter crisps that are actually cobblers. Crisp is all about amazing fruit in a sweet syrup with that sometimes crunchy, sometimes soft topping full of sugar, oatmeal, and nuts. Together, the soft fruit and firm topping are a match made in heaven. Finding the perfect bite, different for everyone, is the best part of eating a crisp. Maybe it’s just fruit or fruit with the topping that has softened from absorbing the syrup. Perhaps it’s the crunchy topping all by itself or with a perfectly toasted pecan. Regardless, all the bites are superb.
As long as you have tons of peaches on hand, they don’t even have to be perfectly ripe, this is easy to make as well. Topping in one bowl, peaches in another, put them in the pan, and into the oven. There is a lot of topping on this crisp, but I love a thick layer of topping. Feel free to save some for another use if it’s too much for you, but I’m not sure there’s such a thing as too much topping. It’s best eaten warm out of the oven, try not to burn your mouth, but I can tell you from experience it’s hard to resist while cooling slightly. Even though this is a warm dessert, it screams summer to me, as it features the fruit that makes me think of summer, that makes me certain many of the days to come are to be filled with sunshine and warm temperatures. So to celebrate the unofficial start to summer, whip up one of these crisps for a warm weather treat.
Peach Crisp
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Ingredients
Filling
- 10 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced into about 8 wedges each
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Topping
- 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup pecans, coarsely chopped
- 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make the topping. In a medium bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until fully incorporated. Mix in the pecans. Add the butter to the mixture and cut it in with a pastry cutter, or mix it in with forks or your fingers. Fingers tend to work best. Work with the mixture until there are about pea sized pieces of butter throughout. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sliced peaches, brown sugar, salt, flour, cinnamon, and ginger until combined. Make sure there are no lumps of dry ingredients. There should be a slightly thick juice coating the peaches.
- Pour peaches evenly into an 8 inch square baking pan. Pour topping over peaches. Smooth the topping to be sure all the peaches are completely covered. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the juices are bubbling and thickened. Serve hot out of the oven with whipped cream or ice cream if you like, though it is perfect alone. Store at room temperature for up to 2 days. May be eaten at room temperature or warmed in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes until warmed through. This, unfortunately, will not freeze well, but that’s just an excuse to make it again.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
I love fruit crisps during the summertime. Especially topped with vanilla bean ice cream. I’ve NEVER had peach crisp before though. And I love all the cinnamon thrown in there. Peaches + cinnamon + buttery oats = heaven. 🙂
Sally, Fruit crisps are so awesome. You have to try peach crisp, though; it is probably my favorite of all crisps.
YUM!!!
★★★★★
This recipe was absolutely delicious! I have had requests for a repeat! Double Yum!!
Luane, I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! It is really tasty, and so perfect for summer. It can also be made on a whim, which I love. Sometimes the craving for a yummy dessert strikes without warning 🙂
This recipe looks fantastic and appears to be very easy to convert to gluten/casein free, which my middle child needs; does not contain corn syrup, which my daughter needs; and I can use pecans that my friend grows & shells, making it nut safe which my deathly allergic to cashews & pistachios son needs. Yes, I’m a lot of fun in a kitchen 🙂
Thanks for visiting, Cassandra! This recipe is very flexible, so it should be perfect to convert to whatever meets your needs. I bet those pecans are fantastic! I have many allergies too, so I’m always double checking ingredients and going to restaurants can be a total nightmare. I understand completely. Let me know if you need any help, and I’ll do my best to help you figure out how to work with the recipes 🙂
made it for dinner tonight and it was so good!!! Next time though, I think I’ll put it in a bigger dish – it was a bit crowded in my 8″ square. AND all 3 kids (and the hubby) loved it!!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you liked it, Cassandra 🙂 It is a lot for an 8 inch pan, but I like thick, hearty desserts. You could put it in whatever pan you like and it will turn out great, just remember you may need to adjust the baking time.
Thank you for this recipe. I have 20 people coming for a cookout this weekend,and I have tons of fresh peaches. Last week,I made a lovely peach pie and homemade ice cream for out of town guests,and they were in heaven! However,making pies for 20 is just too much work!
Do you think I can make a successful crisp if I double the recipe? Can I use one large container or should I do seperate pans?
Peach pie and homemade ice cream sound wonderful! You could absolutely double this recipe, either with one larger pan or separate ones, whatever works best for you. One pan means less dishes, though 🙂 I also have this really yummy Plum Cherry Crumble with a different topping, that actually happens to be vegan if you wanted a little variety. Either recipe is very flexible and will turn out great for you and your guests.
Thanks! Since one of my guests is allergic to nuts,I’m going to sub in shredded coconut for the pecans. Although,I dearly love pecans…
Coconut sounds like a wonderful addition. I love anything coconut. Let me know how it turns out!
Sorry for ‘eavesdropping’, but depending on the severity to nuts – technically coconut is a tree nut and we have to avoid that as well for my son who is severely allergic to cashews & pistachios. I would check with your guest just to make sure they can use coconut. Sorry again for the intrusion 🙂
That is something to consider,coconut can be a problem too. For this guest(my brother!)thankfully it’s not a problem. Coconut is certainly trending these days,especially the oils and water,so it’s good to be aware!
I made this recipe this past weekend and it was FANTASTIC! I doubled the recipe in order to feed 10 adults and 7 kids. it was a HUGE HIT!
I’m saving this one and making it again, for sure!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you liked it, Teresa! It is a great recipe to feed a crowd.
This recipe captures all the best of fresh peaches (I also used nectarines) and the streusel topping rivaled my grandmother’s (which I’ve never been able to recreate). I halved the recipe and put in in a pie dish and my son and I just polished off the last of it with vanilla ice cream. Thanks for sharing a delicious way to celebrate the lazy days of summer!
★★★★★
Wow, Jean, that’s amazing that the topping reminded you of your grandmother’s. It is so awesome when something reminds you of the past like that. Nectarines or pretty much any seasonal fruit would be perfect in this, I’m just not a huge fan of nectarines so I stuck with peaches. I love the idea of making it in a pie dish; I bet it looked beautiful. Thanks for visiting and making it; I hope you’ll visit again 🙂
Success!! I doubled the recipe and served it with homemade vanilla bean ice-cream. My 17 guests devoured it. Thanks!
I’m so glad you liked it, Sueshe! And with homemade vanilla ice cream! I bet it was even better 🙂
Recipe was salty & had way too much topping. I would recommend omitting salt entirely and using regular salted butter. I would also recommend cutting the topping recipe in half for this size pan or doubling the filling & making in a larger pan.
★★
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe, Ari 🙁 However, there is very little salt in the recipe, so I’m not sure why it was salty. Using salted butter is never recommended for baking, as that would definitely lead it to be salty. In addition, I enjoy a lot of topping on my crisp (that’s my favorite part) but if you don’t, you could certainly save some for another purpose; it would even freeze well for a few months.
I bought a crate of Alberta peaches over a week ago.They are very small in size but love the fact that when I bite into them..the juice runs down my arm… There was 30 of them in the crate and realized today that a few of them are spoiled…Saw this recipe and will be trying this in the morning. Just hate the thought of anymore of them getting thrown out. Like I said these are small in size like maybe base ball size if not a bite smaller than that. How many do you think I will need for this recipe? Thanks
It’s hard for me to say how many you’ll need. I would say 15-20, but think about the pan that you’re filling. You’ll want the peach filling to come up a little more than half way. Keep in mind too that this is a forgiving recipe. If you have a few less peaches than I did, it will still be fabulous. Let me know if I can help in any other way, and please let me know how it turns out. Thanks for visiting and making one of my recipes 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made it last night for my husband, and it’s delicious! The pecans just elevate it to another level, and I’m glad to find someone that is a topping hound like me. 🙂 I ended up not using it all because I cooked it in a round pyrex dish so the surface area was a bit smaller. I’m going to make it again, but this time bake it in individual little pie tins so I can freeze them!
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it, Kate! The topping is always the best part of a crisp, isn’t it? Little pie tins would be fabulous to bake it in, regular soup bowls are also wonderful as long as you make sure they are oven save. In order to successfully freeze a crisp, I think you would have to freeze it in the baking vessel or it will fall apart when you try to transfer it. Again, it’s important to make sure the bakeware is freezer safe. I hope you’ll visit again 🙂
I’ll actually be freezing them in miniature aluminum foil tins that graham cracker crusts come in, so they should store fairly well. I’ll definitely visit again!
Kate, that sounds like a wonderful idea 🙂 Please let me know how it turns out!