Peach Crumble: It's Peachy Keen (and Delicious!)

Are you a crisp, crumble or cobbler person? Or do you prefer a clafoutis, a buckle, a Betty, a slump or maybe a pandowdy? (Here's a great little breakdown of each of these desserts at O Chef). Me? I'm usually a crisp or crumble girl because I'm a sucker for any kind of crumbly, oaty, streusel topping.

It's "Time for Dessert" at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week and I wanted to use some peaches I bought on sale at Whole Foods. No, they are not a local fruit in Hawaii and not as near as good as a freshly picked orchard peach, I get that. Still, much as I try to focus on local ingredients and we have so much glorious tropical fruit to work with, sometimes a girl just needs a peach, ... or plum, ... or a few cherries. These were actually pretty sweet and full of flavor. I bought a dozen and ate most of them, but managed to save enough to make a small crisp. The closest Jamie Oliver recipe I could find was his Apple Crumble so I swapped in the peaches and was good to go. With a touch of cinnamon, and just a light kiss of cardamom added to the topping, and served with good vanilla bean ice cream, it was a delicious summer dessert.

Apple Peach Crumble
Adapted from Jamie Oliver.com
(5 Servings)

For the crumble:
35g rolled oats
35g wholemeal flour (I used white wheat flour)
35g margarine or butter
20g caster sugar
(I added a good-sized pinch of cinnamon and a dash of cardamom)

For the filling:
400g cooking apples fresh peaches, peeled, cored and quartered
50g sugar, to sweeten
1 tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Peel and core the apples, quarter and cut in to chunks Peel, pit and slice the peaches.

Put the apples peaches into a pan with the sugar and water. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes and place in a small ovenproof dish.

Place the flour and oats in a bowl and mix well. Cut the margarine or butter into small cubes and add this to the oats and flour. Mix with your fingertips until it resembles an even crumb texture. Add the sugar (and cinnamon and cardamom) and mix through.

Cover the fruit with the crumble mixture. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the crumble is golden and the apples peaches hot.

Notes/Results: Warm sweet peaches, crumbly oat crust, cold and creamy ice cream--it doesn't get much better than this. I liked the extra touch of flavor of the cinnamon and cardamom I added to Jamie's recipe--just a little bit, so they enhanced rather than overwhelmed the peach flavor. An easy, homey, tasty recipe that I would make again.

You can see what desserts the other IHCC participants made this week by going to the post and following the links.

Happy Weekend!