Summer Fresh Recipe Series: Peach Blueberry & Ginger Crisp

Nothing tastes more like summer than juicy sweet peaches with bursts of tart blueberries laced with ginger, all topped with a crunchy buttery topping.  

We made it to August! Can you believe how this summer is flying by.  Since I love summer, I really would like it to slow down a bit so I can savor the long evenings.  But the dog days of August are around the corner and they are typically our hottest weather.  We're topping 100 degrees today already.

Today I'm presenting my 10th installment of my Summer Fresh Recipe Series of quick and easy recipes to make using summer produce.  Today we are talking desserts.  Summer desserts remind me of fresh fruit pies, cobblers, and crisps, along with a big scoop of ice cream for good measure!  So today I am featuring peaches and blueberries as our main ingredient.  What would summer be without them?

PEACH BLUEBERRY & GINGER CRISP

This really is an easy dessert to throw together and you can use the recipe as a base recipe for all sorts of fruit variations, just follow the recipe and adjust the sugar up or down (1/2 - 3/4 cup should work) depending on how sweet your fruit is.  I chose peaches and blueberries because I love the flavor combination, and added ginger for a little warmth.  

The topping is a typical crisp topping of oats, flour, brown sugar, and butter, with the addition of some cinnamon and almonds for warmth and crispy bites.  This can be used as a base topping for all your crisp.  Don't like almonds, switch to pecans, or leave them out completely.  This makes a really crumbly butter topping that is hard to resist.

Eat this straight from the oven, all warm and bubbly with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Or make it early in the morning to beat the heat, then reheat portions of it in the microwave or eat it cold.  Any way you service it this dessert will be the hit of the menu!

Kitchen Note:  Our peaches here in California are not quite ripe yet so I used frozen peaches.  If your peaches are ripe, by all mean use them. They are the best!  

Enjoy!



Summer Fresh Recipe Series

• Grilled Sirloin Steak with Garlic Herb Vinaigrette
• Grilled Vegetable Platter
• Sirloin Steak topped with Herb Salsa with Roasted Potatoes & Carrots
• Lemon Blueberry Scones
• Grilled Honey Ginger Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Apricots & Brocollini
• Lemon Raspberry Dutch Baby
• Simple Mediterranean Salad
• Grilled Chicken Kofta
• Greek Cobb Salad

Peach Blueberry & Ginger Crisp

serves:  4-6


Topping:
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed

Filing:
1 1/2 lbs. frozen peaches (or fresh peaches)
1 pint blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp lemon juice
4 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare topping.  In a medium bowl add oats, almonds, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Cut in 6 Tbsp cold butter with a pastry cutter or 2 forks, until mixture is crumbly.  Set aside.

To a large bowl add your peaches and blueberries.  Top with the sugar and ginger and stir until coated.  Add lemon juice and cornstarch and stir until all combined.

Place mixture in a pie pan or an 8x8 baking dish.  Top with crisp topping and pop it in the oven to bake for about 40-45 minutes, until peaches are tenders and fruit is bubbling.  You may need to cover the top with foil about 30 minutes in to prevent over browning of the topping.  

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  Serve with ice cream if desired.

Lighter Strawberry Crisp

Yum

They've been saying that we've had so much rain here in Southern California that the strawberries have taken a hit this year, but I'm here to tell you "nuh uh!, this year's strawberries are super juicy and sweet!"

This leads me to pick up a pound of strawberries each time I go to the store, and I go to the store quite often, so the strawberries are starting to pile up!

Not to worry.  I have the perfect solution for that...

LIGHTER STRAWBERRY CRISP

Oh yes, please!  Let's make a Strawberry Crisp that is bursting with juicy strawberries topped with a light crunchy topping.  It all but screams summer!  This dish is one of my go to desserts.  It will feed a crowd or a family (depending on how much you eat!).  We actually served this at out 4th of July party and it was the first item go.

Fruit is a wonderful item to create dessert from.  I've made this a little healthier by keeping the sugar content down as well as the butter.  It still has that homey, comforting feeling but is a much lighter and lower carb/calorie version.  Desserts don't have to be laden with fats and empty calories to taste good.  Just try this version for yourself and you'll definitely want 2nds or 3rds.  Go ahead...I won't tell!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Crisp

serves 6

6 c (about 1-1/2 pounds) strawberries, hulled and quartered

1 Tbls fresh lemon juice

2 Tbls all-purpose flour

3 Tbls light brown sugar, divided

1/3 c all purpose flour

1/3 c rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

3 Tbls cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Vanilla Ice Cream (optional topping)

Preheat oven to 375F.

Lightly grease an oval baking dish with cooking spray.

Add the strawberries to the bottom of the dish and toss with lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine the flour and 1 Tbls of brown sugar and mix until combined. Add this to the strawberries and mix to combine. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and remaining brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or by rubbing with your fingers until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture over the strawberries. 

Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until top is golden brown and fruit is bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 10 minutes. Serve with ice cream if desired. 

adapted from:  https://diethood.com/strawberry-crumble/

Peach Raspberry Crisp

Dessert is a good thing.

A sweet ending to a wonderful meal. 

When trying to come up with a dessert to take to our picnic at the Hollywood Bowl, I looked to my fellow bloggers for ideas.  When I came across the Peach Raspberry Crisp recipe on Jo-Ann's blog, A Pretty Life in the Suburbs, I knew I had found the perfect dessert.  Jo-Ann has a wonderful blog full of fantastic recipes.  Stop by and say to hello to her sometime!

What makes this dessert perfect?  Natural fruit (good for you) in warm spices topped with a crunch crisp topping! YUM! But the best part?  They are baked in MASON JARS! 

How awesome it that?  I can bake them in the jars, and then pop the lids on them and take them along!!!

The result?  A wonderful warm dessert to end our meal....Tasty too! 

Here's a great tip I tried.  I made the crisps the day before and let them cool and stored them in the frig.  On the day of the picnic I put them in the oven on low for about 30 min to bring the temperature up.  I took the warm jars, topped them with the lids, and wrapped them in a little foil.  I even had a hot/cold bag from the grocery store and carried them in this insulated bag.  At the intermission of the show about 2 hours after we arrived, the dessert was still warm. Yeah!  We each had individual servings and used spoons to scoop up the delicious fruit right out of the jar.  All that was missing was the vanilla ice cream.  I need to work on how to avoid melted ice cream in transport for next time!

So here's how I made them.  I adapted the recipe just a little to suit my taste for cinnamon.  You can adjust it to fit your tastes as well!

Peel and slice your peaches.  Place the peaches, Splenda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Stir to combine.

Add the raspberries and stir gently to mix.

Next make the crumb topping.  In a medium bowl combine AP flour, wheat flour, brown sugar, oats, and melted butter.  Stir until well combined and crumbly.

Divide the peaches evenly in each of the jars.  They should be about 3/4 full.  Top each evenly with the crumb topping.

In a preheated oven at 350 degrees, bake for 30 min. until bubbly.  I put the jars in a baking dish to make them easier to handle. 

Look at these colors...

Treat yourself to something very cute....so delicious!

Peach Raspberry Crisp

makes 6 servings - 250ML jars used

4 cups of peaches, sliced (I used 4 large peaches)
1 pint of fresh raspberries
1/3 c Splenda
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/3 c all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup melted butter

Peel and slice your peaches.  Place peaches, Splenda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Mix to combine.  Add raspberries and toss gently. 

In another medium bowl combine AP flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, melted butter.  Stir until all ingredients are coated and your have a crumbly mixture.

In 6 clean 250 ML jars divide your peach mixture evenly.  You will fill about 3/4 of the way up.  Top each peach mixture with the crumb topping, dividing evenly. 

Place jars (no lids please!) in a baking pan and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Mixture should be soft and bubbly.  Serve warm.  Store any leftovers in the frig by placing the lid on the top!

adapted from:  A Pretty Life in the Suburbs