Dinner with Julie

Peach & Rhubarb Big-Crumb Crumble

IT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE SEPTEMBER! How did that happen?? While everyone is bracing themselves for the back-to-school time crunch, I’m hoping things will slow down just a bit as W starts kindergarten (tomorrow!) and August upends itself into September. September!!

Can I let the pictures do the talking today? Isn’t a picture worth a thousand words? Here’s two thousand for ya.

And really – what more is there to say? I’m a fan of the crumble, but am always after the big, crunchy bits on top – more so than the crumby crumbs, anyway. So I decided to come up with a big-crumb crumble – all big, sweet, crunchy rubble, and lots of it. It looks a bit like a cobbler, but doesn’t have that biscuit quality – it’s more like a crunchy oatmeal cookie baked over juicy fruit.

You could do this with any fruit in season, of course. Right now it’s peaches. I added a frozen baggie of chopped rhubarb from the freezer (I’m determined to not let it see next spring) but raspberries or blackberries would do just as well – or plums, or apricots, or nothing at all but peaches.

Peach & Rhubarb Big-Crumb Crumble

Leftovers are delicious the next morning for breakfast, served with thick plain or vanilla yogurt.

5-6 peaches, unpeeled and thickly sliced
1 cup chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb, or fresh or frozen berries
1/2 cup sugar
1-2 tsp. cornstarch

Crumble topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats (old-fashioned or quick-cooking)
1/2 cup sugar (white or brown)
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp. liquid honey or golden syrup

Preheat the oven to 375F. Thickly slice the peaches into a pie plate or shallow baking dish. Top with rhubarb or berries. In a small dish or measuring cup, stir the cornstarch into the sugar and sprinkle it over the fruit.

In a bowl (or the bowl of a food processor) combine the crumble ingredients and pulse or blend with a fork until well blended and sticky/crumbly. Sprinkle over the fruit, squeezing it as you go to create larger clumps. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden and the fruit is tender and bubbly around the edges. Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream. Serves 6.

P.S. I also made Baby Vanilla Plum Cakes on the weekend. I forgot to tell you.
You can find the recipe here.

One Year Ago: Jam Without a Recipe
At the Family Kitchen: Baby Vanilla Plum Cakes

September 01 2010 | dessert | 19 Comments »