Peach Crumble

Peach crumble, not to be mistaken for a peach crisp or a peach cobbler, has a decadent, buttery topping. While they're all a variation of crustless pie, a cobbler tends to have a more solid piece of topping like biscuits or dumplings, a crisp tends to have oats in a more freeform topping, and a crumble usually has topping that forms larger clumps made made of flour, butter, and sugar. Here, I added a bit of ground cinnamon to give some warm, spiced notes and used brown sugar for a hint of molasses comfort. Be sure to pile the topping on generously so you don't get stuck with any lingering naked peaches that are crumb-free.

What People Are Saying:
"This was so incredibly good and ridiculously easy to make. Wouldn’t change a thing. Made last night and it’s gone today. Will be making this again at the beach later this summer—wrote it down so it’s definitely a keeper!” - KatS

How To Make A Peach Crumble

INGREDIENTS

• Peaches: As the name suggests, this classic dessert really depends on the quality of the peaches. While the crumb topping is nice, what we are really looking for is a super fruity, juicy peach so we can taste all of those fresh, floral, slightly tart notes.
• Granulated Sugar: The sugar here is going to sweeten the dish a little bit, but more than that, it is going to slightly break down the peaches and create that syrupy sweet sauce in the bottom of the pan that I can’t get enough of.
• Lemon Juice: Often in baked goods with fruit, you’ll see lemon juice on the ingredients list. This is because the tartness and acidity of the lemon juice helps the flavors of the main fruit, in this case peaches, to pop even more.
• Cinnamon & Ginger: While many fruits go well with warming spices—in this case cinnamon and ginger—I am of the opinion that peaches are the premier partnership. The sweet, mouth-full-of-sunshine flavor of the peaches just goes so well with the warm, slightly spicy, aromatic bite of ginger and cinnamon. I really can’t think of a more comforting combination.
• All-Purpose Flour: The flour is just going to help create a basic crumble. Combined with brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and melted butter, the flour balls into small chunks that bake up into crisp on the outside, soft on the inside crumbles that practically melt against the warm peaches.
• Brown Sugar: For any crumble, cobbler, or crisp, brown sugar is the answer. The warm molasses flavor of the brown sugar makes this baked dessert that much more comforting.
• Melted Butter: Butter, aside from making everything taste better, provides the necessary moisture for the crumble here. It's what helps the crumble stick together and bake into those golden brown bits of goodness.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat your oven, and as it heats, combine peaches, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a large bowl and toss to combine, making sure each slice of peach is coated.

Then, in a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients and pour in the melted butter, stirring to combine until a coarse crumb forms. Don’t overmix here, we are just looking for a crumble, not a unified mixture.

Pour the peach mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle the crumb topping over evenly, taking care to cover the whole top, so that each bite gets both peaches and crumble.

By now your oven should be up to heat. Place the baking dish into the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is golden brown and the peaches are bubbling.

Then remove the dish from the oven and serve while warm, alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired.

The full list of ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Recipe Tips

• The riper your peaches are the sweeter and tastier this easy dessert becomes. If your peaches are a little underwhelming to begin with, the lemon juice will help perk up the fruitiness, so don't skip it!
• Keep the skin! We like to leave the skin on our peaches, mainly because you lose a lot of that delicious fruit flavor and beautiful, blush color when peeling peaches. But if you aren't a fan of the skin, feel free to peel your fruit!
• When should I make a peach crumble? This is best served with a cold scoop of ice cream on a warm summer day, but just in case you get the craving mid-winter, we wrote up the best way to freeze peaches.

Storage

This dessert can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days, covered. While the crumble won't stay as crunchy as time goes on, the peaches will still be sweet and juicy with a little reheating action.