Starbucks starts it every year with pumpkin spice lattes, and we know that pumpkin everything is all the rage right now. But, we love summer so much and we’re not giving up on our beautiful summer produce just yet! Give us another week or two, please! 🍑 We are seeing so many gorgeous peaches at the farmers’ market, and we love Zak Brown, so we wanted to make this amazing peach and toasted pecan crisp! There’s plenty of time for apples, pumpkin and squash … oh my! Tomatoes and peaches … we’re sticking with you for now!🍑🍅🍑
You can literally make a delicious crisp with any fruit you like, but it’s always best to pick a fruit that’s in season. Just as you would use fresh fruit for a pie, it’s the same for a crisp. It’s also fun to mix and match fruits, like peaches and plums or berries and apricots. The different fruits add to the rich colors once the fruit bakes.
The beauty of fruit crisps is that you can whip them up fast, (no crust to make) and they can be made gluten-free by switching out the all-purpose wheat flour for your favorite gluten-free baking flour. We find that Paleo Baking Flour works really well in the crumb topping that you use for a crisp. Just be aware that it always seems to take more flour when you use gluten-free flour than regular flour. We have a recipe for No Wheat No Dairy Summer Fruit Crisp here. Just scroll down to the second recipe on the page.
When making a fruit crisp, there are many options to choose from for the thickening agent from flour to cornstarch or even tapioca. We prefer cornstarch when making the dessert gluten-free, and we also use cornstarch as a pie thickener. But, our second choice is all-purpose flour. With either one, be sure to incorporate the flour or cornstarch with the sugar and spices before adding it to the prepared fruit. This will eliminate clumps and make the filling much smoother. Also, just note that you will need much less cornstarch by volume than flour for thickening your filling. A general rule of thumb is 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of cornstarch per cup of fruit, or almost 2 teaspoons of flour per cup of fruit. For juicier fruit you may need slightly more thickening agent.
When it comes to spices for the crisp, we love cinnamon and cardamom, but nutmeg, pumpkin spice, or even cloves can be good depending upon the fruit you are using.
Be sure to use chilled butter when making your crumb topping. Then, chill the crumb topping for 20 minutes or so in the refrigerator before baking the crisp. Also, you can make a great big batch of your crumb topping, use what you need and store the rest in the refrigerator or even in the freezer until you make your next dessert. Crumb topping is also great on muffins, so it’s nice to have on hand.
And finally, don’t forget that you can add nuts or oats to your crumb topping, too! They give it a nice crunch, rich flavor, and great texture. We like to add toasted pecans or walnuts to our crumb topping mixture. But, then again, we love toasted pecans in almost anything:)👩🍳
Pick the ingredients and spices you love best for your crumb topping and vary it from time to time for fun!
Peach & Toasted Pecan Crisp
Ingredients
Peach Crisp Filling
- 6 large peaches, peeled and sliced 7 cups of sliced peaches
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 4 tsp. corn starch or 3 tablespooons all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. cardamom
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Toasted Pecan Crumb Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter, very cold 4 oz. or 1/2 cup
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. cardamom
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3/4 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Instructions
Toasted Pecan Crumb Topping
- Place flour, brown sugar, toasted pecans and spices in a mixing bowl. Blend well with a fork.
- Cut butter into small pieces with a knife, or even a grater. Add to dry mixture and, using a pastry cutter or cold finger tips, cut the butter into the dries until the butter is reduced to pea-sized bits. Set aside until the peach filling is ready.
Peach Filling
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Spray or grease a 9-inch pie dish, or a 2-quart casserole dish.
- Mix the cornstarch into the brown sugar and spices. Stir well to incorporate. Set Aside.
- Peel and slice the peaches and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the dry mixture and gently toss to cover peach slices.
- Pour the peach mixture into the prepared baking dish. Evenly distribute the Toasted Pecan Crumb Topping over the top of the peaches.
- Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until the fruit is beginning to bubble up along the sides and the topping is golden brown and crispy.
- Serve warm with a scoop of your favorite vanilla frozen concoction … ice cream, frozen yogurt or nondairy.
