Peach Crisp with Walnut Crust Topping

Have you had peaches yet this year? They’re magnificent!

Both peaches and nectarines are just the best fruit this year. Not so much apricots (the ones I’ve purchased were flavorless, even from a high-end grocery store), so I’ve been sticking to peaches and nectarines to add to my morning yogurt. I needed a dessert to take to dinner with friends. And it happened they made a recipe from my blog for the entree – I gave the recipe to them a couple of years ago and they just love it. Not my own recipe, but one I posted here from Smitten Kitchen. Schmaltzy Chicken; They made it with just cabbage and onions (no Brussels Sprouts). So good. I haven’t made it in a long time. Such an easy recipe.

Anyway, I had some peaches on hand, so I made this cobbler. I adjusted the recipe from 101 Cookbooks just a little bit. Very little – I added some vanilla. Next time I will try it with a bit of almond extract.

The peaches are tossed with just a bit of sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice – to which I added the vanilla. A lemon is zested (the kind that makes little strings) and that’s put into the bottom of a buttered 9×9 glass Pyrex. Don’t use a smaller size as the topping won’t get done.

It’s always perplexed me that when I try to use my old tried-and-true apple crisp recipe, adapted for peaches, it doesn’t work. Now that I see this recipe I realize why. Peaches are too tender for long cooking, and you need to adjust the heat up a lot to get the topping to cook through quickly and not to turn the peaches to mush. So, a thick layer of peaches, then the topping is added on top. It’s a bit different – the dry ingredients are mixed up with nuts – then you add a slurry of yogurt and egg, then butter, and mix that into the flour just until it’s mixed through, not any further. Then you have to use your fingers to drop little nuggets of this dough on top of the peaches. Big pieces won’t cook through, hence small little drops all over. That does take a few extra minutes to manipulate the little nuggets. Into a 425 oven it goes – it took 20 minutes. I served it at room temp with vanilla ice cream, but you could also pour heavy cream on top, or whipped cream.

What’s GOOD: it was just delicious. Loved the crunchy topping. I had a hard time deciding between calling it a crust or crisp. It’s both. I prefer a flour-based crust rather than oat-centric one. This is a keeper.

What’s NOT: well, you do have to cut the juicy peaches or nectarines, and there is a bit of mixing, but overall it’s pretty easy. Nothing wrong with it at all; as I said, it’s a keeper.

printer-friendly PDF and MasterCook file (click link to open recipe)