Fruit Crisp: Pure Summer Flavor

A simple fruit crisp is the easiest way to enjoy the season’s sweet bounty.  Once you master the basic technique, you can use it throughout the year for any fruit. Apples taste like the Fall. Spring has lemon and blueberries. Winter is the place for pears and dried fruits.

But when summer hits…it’s PEACH SEASON!

You know what I’m talking about.  You walk by them at the market and the smell smacks you in the face — ripe, juicy peaches pleading for you to take a bite. You buy a few and you can barely contain your excitement.  It’s tempting to eat all of them in the short ride home.  But you should save a few (or at least buy extras) for this dessert.

How to Pick and Ripen the Perfect Peach

Peaches are a delicate summer fruit. Once ripe, they soften, get juicy, and can bruise easily. For these reasons, peaches are often picked and shipped before they are ripe. Most peaches you buy at the store will still be firm. That’s okay. Just be sure to pick peaches that are free of any blemishes or bruising.

To ripen peaches, simply place them on your countertop or table for a couple of days. Placing them near bananas or storing them in a brown paper bag will help speed up the ripening process. You’ll know the peach is ripe when it smells, well, like a peach. Also, it will be softer to the touch — the skin should give slightly when pressed, similiar to an avocado.

Just like avocados, once peaches are ripe, you’ll want to transfer them to your refrigerator. This will slow the ripening and help give you a longer shelf life. If you end up with a basket full of ripe peaches, you can slice or dice them and freeze them in an air-tight container. Frozen peaches will keep up to 6 months.

What type of peach is best?

There are 100-200 different varieties of peaches grown each year in the United States. From flat Donut peaches to big juicy yellow peaches, there are countless options. Peaches in the US usually have either white or yellow flesh. However, peaches in Asia often take on a reddish hue.

Freestone vs Clingstone: The pit of a peach is also referred to as a stone. There are clingstone peaches, where the pit clings tightly to the flesh. For these peaches, you often need to cut around the stone for removal. Alternatively, freestone peaches have a loose stone in the center; you can usually just pop it out Clingstone peaches usually come in season first — these will be the first variety you typically see at the market. Freestones usually follow a month later.

For this recipe (and most recipes that involve cut peaches), I prefer whatever variety of freestone peach I can find. For simple eating, clingstone peaches are great…you can suck on the pit once you eat the finish that juicy sweet fruit.

Can I use Other Stone Fruits and Summer Fruits?

Of course! Other stone fruits, like nectarines, plums, and apricots would all be great in this recipe. You can even switch out the blueberries for blackberries or pitted cherries.

How To Make a Simple Plant-Based, Gluten-Free Crisp Topping

A traditional fruit crumble topping includes flour, sugar, butter, and a dash of salt.  In the culinary world, this is what we call a Pate Sucre, or a short crust dough.  It’s short because it requires a short cooking time.  The dough doesn’t require any time to rest or rise, unlike bread dough.

How to Bake a Plant-Based, Oil-Free Vegan Fruit Crisp Topping:

For a gluten-free crumble topping of a fruit crisp, you need three main components: flour, sugar, and fat.  Instead of traditional white flour and butter, you’ll use plant-based ingredients.

Brown rice flour or oat flour are my favorite go-to ingredients for a crumble topping.  Unlike traditional wheat flour, these gluten-free flours won’t get chewy.  Therefore, you don’t have to worry about over-mixing.  Brown rice flour tends to have a more neutral flavor and crumbly texture.  Yet, oat flour adds a subtle nutty flavor and smoother texture.  You can even do a combination of the two!

Instead of sugar, I like using dried fruit. Chopped dates are an easy, whole foods swap for granulated sugar. However, its fun to play with other fruits. For a tropical flavor, you can try tropical fruit (dried mango). Because these dried fruits are granulated like sugar, you’ll need to chop them really well. A food processor works great for this.

For the fat component of a crumble topping, chopped nuts or nut butter are going to be your best options.  Cashews, macadamia, and coconut are some of the richest nuts, giving you the richest flavor.  However, I also love using pecans and walnuts for color and flavor.  If you have a nut allergy, you can stick with coconut.  Or, try using sunflower seeds or hemp seeds.

What’s the Difference Between a Crumble, a Crisp, and a Cobbler?

While these three names are often used interchangeably, there are some distinctions.  All three have stewed or baked fruit as the base.  However, the differences come with the different ways to top that fruit.

The three main differences between these fruit desserts are:

• Fruit Crumble: A fruit filling is topped with a thin, crumbled layer of pastry
• Fruit Crisp: A fruit filling is topped with a thin crisp layer that includes oats
• Fruit Cobbler: A fruit filling is topped with a thick layer of biscuit dough

For more Tips and Fun Facts about Fruit Crisps, check out my post: Plant-Based Coconut Mango Tropical Fruit Crumble

If you like this, you’ll also love Gluten-Free Cinnamon Apple Pecan Crumble, Blueberry Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bowl, and Broiled Peaches and Plums with Vegan Cinnamon Cashew Cream,

Chef’s Katie’s Plant-Based Cooking Tips:

Make Extra Topping: Make extra of the Gluten-Free Oat Crisp topping and freeze it. With frozen peaches and frozen wild blueberries, you’ll be ready to make this dessert in no-time, any season of the year.

Endless Variations:  Use this recipe as a template for enjoying summer’s fruits.  You can use any stone fruit for the plums and peaches: apricots, pluots, and nectarines would also work.  Instead of wild blueberries, you can use blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, and currants.

Nut-Free: Substitute sunflower or hempseeds for the cashews.

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Peach, Plum, Wild Blueberry Summer Oat Crisp

Summer’s delicious flavors burst in this easy, healthy plant-based vegan fruit crisp. A crumbly gluten-free oat topping adds crisp texture for the juicy filling. Mix and match with any stone fruit and berries. Free of refined sugars and syrups, this WFPB dessert is indulgence without the guilt.

Course baking, Dessert

Cuisine African, American, Farmer’s Market, Gluten-Free, Plant-Based, Seasonal, Summer, Vegan

Keyword baking, blueberries, date-sweetened, dessert, easy, Farmer’s Market, fruit, gluten-free, healthy, no refined sugar, no sugar added, peaches, picnic, summer, wfpb, wild blueberries

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 133kcal

Ingredients

For the Peach Plum, Wild Blueberry Filling:

• 2 plums diced
• 2 peaches diced
• 1 cup wild blueberries fresh or frozen, thawed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch

For the Gluten-Free Oat Crisp Topping:

• 1/4 cup dried dates about 50g, chopped
• 1/4 cup cashew pieces
• 2 tablespoons rolled oats
• 1/4 cup oat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2-4 tablespoons water as needed

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 375 F.
• To make the Peach, Plum, Wild Blueberry filling: In a large bowl, combine the peaches, plums, wild blueberries, vanilla extract, water and tapioca starch. Stir well to coat the fruit. Pour the fruit into an 8-inch pie tin or square baking dish.
• To make the Oat Crisp topping: In a food processor or using a small food chopper, chop the dates, cashews, and oats until crumbly. Add the oat flour, salt, and 2 tablespoons of water. Continue chopping (or pulsing) until the mixture comes together in small pea-sized clumps. Add more water, as needed, to reach this consistency. If the mixture becomes too wet, add more oats or oat flour.
• To make and bake the Peach, Plum, Wild Blueberry Crisp: Use your fingers to clump the crumble the Oat Crisp mixture on top of the fruit. Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes, until golden brown on top and hot and bubbly around the edges.
• Let cool about 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Gluten-Free, Oil-Free, Vegan Recipe. No Refined Oil, Sugar, or Syrup.

Nutrition Facts

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