There is so much good, fresh fruit available right now that I just had to take advantage of it with this perfect crumble. I actually had the idea for it while driving through Georgia recently – the state known for peaches! I really love how this came out, and how simple it is to make! I made mine in individual portions just because they’re so fun, but you can definitely make it as one big dish.

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The Recipe

Y’all know my favorite characteristics of a recipe – simple, quick, and beautiful. This one has all three! Let’s look at the elements:

• the fruit – I used a combination of peach and raspberries for this and I love how they play off of each other. There’s not a lot of sugar in the fruit, I don’t think you need it since the ripe fruit is so sweet on it’s own. I also love having a bit of citrus in the fruit, just to brighten everything up
• the topping – I love the textures and flavors that come from using both oats and almonds in the topping! It complements the fruit so well, especially with some cinnamon thrown in just to keep things interesting.

A note about starch

Any crumble recipe is going to have some form of starch mixed in with the fruit to thicken the resulting sauce and give the dish the typical crumble feel and texture. However, the starch you use can change things! I used cornstarch because that’s what I have hanging out in my pantry. If you use cornstarch, you need to make sure you cook your crumble until ALL of the filling is bubbling, not just the filling that’s on the edge of the pan. If you don’t, then the temperature at the middle of the crumble won’t get high enough to activate the starch and thicken the sauce.

Alternatively, you can use tapioca starch. While I haven’t personally used it, from what I’ve learned about it it’s a great option as well. It will thicken your sauce at a lower temperature than cornstarch so you’ll be okay if only the fruit at the edges of the pan are bubbling. Either way you’ll be in good shape!

Variations

• Switch up the flavors
  Crumbles are so fun and you can take them in all kinds of directions! Switch up the type of fruit you use and the citrus you add to make endless versions – blueberries with lime would be delicious. You can also use different nuts in the topping, or leave them out completely, or use all flour and leave out the oats. The sky is truly the limit!
• Use frozen fruit instead of fresh
  You can also absolutely use frozen fruit in this! Just be sure to defrost it FIRST before making the crumble, otherwise you’ll have a bad time getting the middle of the crumble up to the right temperature before the edges are overcooked.
• Make it family style
  I made mine into individual crumbles but you could absolutely pop this into an 8×8 pan instead of the ramekins and just bake it for a bit longer!

I really love how this came out and I hope you do too! Let me know what variations you come up with 🙂