A Fruit Crisp for Fruit Season

I don’t know about you, but when so many fruits are ripe and available all at the same time, I go a little crazy. That’s where fruit crisp comes in. I can’t resist the color and aroma and juicy goodness of peaches, nectarines, strawberries, blueberries, apricots, cherries—so I buy too much of everything.

What I need is a simple, quick recipe to use that fruit that is threatening to shrivel up before we get around to eating it fresh on our cereal in the morning, as snacks throughout the day, or simply sliced for dinner.

Mom’s fruit crisp to the rescue. It is the very simplest of the wide array of baked fruit dessert that I wrote about a couple years ago in “American Fruit Desserts. Is it a Crisp, a Crunch, a Slump, a Grunt or a Buckle?”

As I pointed out then, sources told me that what my mother made was called a fruit Crisp, even though she always called it a “Brown Betty.”  Those same sources told me that Betties were made with bread crumbs instead of flour and oats, but that is not the way my mother or my grandmother made them.

So here’s one of the easiest recipes you’ll ever find for one of the most delicious deserts your family ever loved. Call it fruit crisp or call it Brown Betty. Feel free to change the fruit. I think mother usually used apples in her Brown Betty/ fruit crisp. I use part blueberry only because I rarely have enough fresh peaches left after indulging myself and I always have blueberries in the freezer.  But do your own thing.

Peach and Blueberry Crisp

Serves 9
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 30 minutes
Total time 40 minutes
Allergy Wheat
Meal type Dessert
Misc Child Friendly, Serve Cold, Serve Hot

Ingredients

  • 4 cups Blueberries and Sliced peaches
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter, cold
  • 1 cup oats (regular or quick cook will work)

Directions

1. Slice peaches and mix peaches and blueberries together, set aside.
2. Whisk together flour, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
3. Slice cold butter into flour mixture. Cut in with two knives or pastry blender.
4. Stir in oats
5. Arrange peaches on bottom of buttered 8" pan.
6. Put the flour and oat and butter mixture on top, patting it even with your hands, and pressing it into the fruit.
7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until top is slightly browned, and no longer looks moist. (Longer if using a Pyrex pan).
8. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream topping or plain, either while warm, or cooled.

Note

I use about 1 1/2 cups fresh peaches and 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries. No need to thaw the blueberries before cooking, but add 5 minutes to cooking time if you are using frozen.

Good way to use over-the-hill peaches.

No need to peel the peaches.

Crisps are adaptable--use any fruit you have at hand.

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About Vera Marie Badertscher

I am a grandma and was named for my grandma. I've been an actress, a political strategist and a writer.I grew up in various places, went to high school in Killbuck, Ohio and graduated from Ohio State University. My husband and I moved to Arizona after graduation and have three adult children. I love to travel and read. I ponder family as I cook. Look for my DNA profile on Ancestry.

One thought on “A Fruit Crisp for Fruit Season

  1. Kendra Schmidt

    This is one of my favorite desserts. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I usually eat the fruit fresh and it never makes it into fruit crisp. Maybe I need to buy extra so I have a good reason to bake.

    Reply

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