Summer Fruit Crisp

Here's a versatile and homey dessert that everyone loves. Chunks of fresh fruit are topped with a glorious brown-sugary oatmeal topping. Wonderful with some vanilla ice cream!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Pretty soon we'll have more summer fruits than we can handle, and a fruit crisp recipe is the perfect way to eat them, preferably with an oat crumble topping.

So when the weather heats up and you find yourself with a couple of apricots, some leftover cherries, a couple of nectarines or peaches and maybe a few berries on the bottom of the basket, take it as a sign it's the time of year to make this recipe! Grab your favorite fruits and make the perfect summer dessert, and just a delicious recipe!

Fruit desserts - especially a warm fruit crumble - is my very favorite, and here's why:

• Warm fruit desserts taste magical in summer, especially with a scoop of ice cream.

• The sweet, crumbly oat topping is a perfect match for seasonal fruits like berries and stone fruits like peaches, nectarines and apricots.

Ingredients You’ll Need:

• Fresh Fruit: A combination of different stone fruits and berries, about six cups of good fruit

• Vanilla: Just a touch of pure vanilla extract to give depth of flavor to the fruit mixture before baking

• Flour: All-purpose flour is insurance that our baked fruit filling won't be soupy

• Sugar: Golden brown (light brown) sugar and just a 1/4 cup sugar are needed for the fruit and the crumble mixture

• Lemon: Fresh lemon zest and lemon juice helps balance the fresh flavors

• Crumb Topping: You'll need flour, regular and brown sugar, a little cinnamon, salt, oatmeal (not instant) and cubed (not melted) butter.

This is about using the fruit you have on hand, so don't stress about the quantities of one fruit over the other!

• Use a combination of stone fruits like nectarines, peaches, apricots and cherries for the majority of fruit you'll need, and cut them into rough-sized two-inch chunks.

• You'll need six cups of fruit total, so shoot for 4 1/2 cups stone fruits, 1 1/2 cups fresh berries like blueberries, strawberries and raspberries or a combination of all three.

• Strawberries will release water with baking, so don't use more than a cup total in this recipe.

• Stone fruits and berries are the best bet for this recipe. Melons, kiwi or other soft, high water content fruits definitely won't work for this baked dessert.

This is an easy dessert that everyone loves! Here's some extra tips for success:

• Frozen, pitted, defrosted cherries are great to use if you can't find fresh. (Or you don't feel like pitting fresh cherries, which admittedly does take a few extra minutes, but it's totally worth it).

• The oat topping portion of this recipe will make more than you need, (you'll use half) and this is not a bad thing. I consider this topping a year-round staple and always have some in my freezer. Just store the other half in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 90 days. So exciting, right?

• If you don' t have a food processor to make the oat topping, use a pastry cutter or your hands to combine the ingredients, pressing and smearing the butter pieces with your fingers into the dry ingredients until crumbly and completely combined.

• It goes without saying that a warm, delicious fruit dessert NEEDS vanilla ice cream, vanilla almond milk ice cream, or even whipped cream. I believe it's against the law to not serve at least one of these, but I'm not sure.

• This recipe is easy to double for a crowd (use two 9" glass pie plates, or a 9 x 13" oven-safe baking dish). That said, you can also make this dessert in small ramekins.

• This recipe is super portable for outdoor cookouts too.

FAQ’s

Can I make this recipe in advance?

You can make the oat crumb topping up to 90 days in advance, keep it in a freezer safe bag or container. I like using fresh fruit that's ripe and ready the day I'm going to make this, but frozen fruit will work too.

What if I can't find all these varieties of fruit?

No worries! Just use six cups of whatever stone fruits and berries you can find. Frozen peaches and nectarines, berries and cherries work well too! Just defrost before using.

How do I store this dessert?

Cover the fruit crisp in cling wrap and refrigerate. This dessert is best eaten the day it's made, but any left over will be good for at least one more day!

Summer Fruit Crisp

This Summer Fruit Crisp is easy to make, super flexible, and the crisp topping can be made in advance and kept frozen until ready to use.

Course: Dessert

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• ▢ 6 cups Sliced nectarines, pitted cherries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries in any combination to total 6 cups See Recipe Notes

• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

• ▢ ¼ cup Flour, all-purpose

• ▢ ¼ cup Sugar

• ▢ 1 teaspoon Lemon zest, freshly grated

• ▢ 1 teaspoon Lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• ▢ CRUMB TOPPING

• ▢ 1 ½ cups Flour, all-purpose

• ▢ ¾ cup Sugar

• ▢ ¾ cup Brown Sugar, packed

• ▢ ½ teaspoon Cinnamon

• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt

• ▢ 1 cup Oatmeal, not instant

• ▢ ½ pound (2 sticks) Butter, cold, unsalted and cut into pieces

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 350F

  Prepare a large pie dish (9.5") or other oven-safe baking dish by smearing a little butter, light olive oil or baking spray on the inside to prevent sticking. You'll also need a large baking sheet to set the finished crisp on before you put it in the oven in case it bubbles over.

  Place all the fruit in a large bowl and add the vanilla, flour, sugar, lemon zest and juice. Toss together gently with a large wooden spoon.

  Place the fruit mixture into the baking dish, and sprinkle with 2 1/2 cups of the crumb topping.

  Bake as directed.

• FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:

  In a food processor, combine the flour, regular and brown sugars, cinnamon, salt, oatmeal and butter.

  Process in the "pulse" mode until well combined and the mixture clumps together. Alternatively, you can use a pastry cutter or two butter knives and your fingers, making sure to press and smear the butter into the dry ingredients until its fully combined, crumbly and sticks together when you squeeze it.

  NOTE: This makes about 5 cups of crumb topping, and you'll use 2 1/2 cups for this recipe. Freeze the remaining crumb topping for up to 3 months.

• TO BAKE and SERVE

  Place the fruit crisp on a baking sheet in case it bubbles over, then put on the lower third rack of the oven.

  Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the topping is light brown and crisp on the edges.

  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes

• Frozen, pitted, defrosted cherries are great to use if you can’t find fresh. (Or don’t feel like pitting fresh cherries which does take a few minutes but is really worth it).

• The oat topping portion of this recipe will make more than you need, (you’ll use half) and this is not a bad thing. I consider this a summer staple and always have some in the freezer. Just store half in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 90 days. So exciting to be half-way done making your next fruit crisp, right?

• If you don’ t have a food processor to make the oat topping, use a pastry cutter or your hands to combine the ingredients, pressing and smearing the butter pieces with your fingers into the dry ingredients until crumbly and completely combined.

• This recipe is easy to double (make two glass pie plates full, or a 9 x 13″ oven-safe baking dish). It’s super portable for outdoor cookouts too.