Peach Blueberry Crisp for Two (or more)

To me, crisps are a vacation from baking.  While there are plenty of recipes out there to guide you through the process, crisps practically encourage experimentation.  They are also forgiving, and I doubt you’ll find many people out there that can claim to have tried a bad crisp. 

They are also simple.  Similar fruit filled desserts (thinking of pies, here) can be very time consuming when you take into account the hours spent prepping and rolling out the dough.  Crisps only take about an hour from start to finish, and most of that time is spent waiting (and salivating) while it’s bubbling in the oven.  

For this crisp, I combined peaches (the star here) with frozen blueberries for get some additional tartness.  This is only a suggestion, and I imagine that plums, rhubarb, blackberries, and raspberries would all be great additions.  Just make sure that you’re adding enough flour to your fruit filling, since fruits with a higher percentage of water need more flour to soak up the juices during cooking.

For the topping, I decided to do a little experimenting.  I wanted it to have a hint of nutty flavor, so I substituted 2 tbsp of the all-purpose flour for almond meal.  Other flours can definitely be used, but I suggest substituting no more than 1/4 of the all-purpose flour in the recipe to maintain consistency.  I also added walnuts, since I think they add a nice crunch to the topping.

Since there are only two of us, I made enough crisp to fill a small Pyrex dish (it ended up being about 6 servings).  If you’d like to feed more people, simply double the recipe and use a bigger dish.

Peach Blueberry Crisp

Ingredients:

Topping

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp almond meal
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• salt, to taste
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp butter, softened and cut into 1 tablespoon cubes

Fruit filling

• 3 peaches, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• zest and juice from half a lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8″ x 6″ Pyrex dish (or double the recipe and use a larger dish)
2. Combine all of the ingredients for the topping (except for the butter) in a small bowl.  Using your hands, add the butter and mix until the topping is crumbly and the butter is well incorporated.
3. In another small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the fruit filling.
4. Add the fruit filling to the Pyrex dish, distributing evenly.
5. Using your hands again, spread the topping over the fruit.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbly and the topping is golden brown.