Maple Peach Apple Crumble

another adventure in crumble! also another adventure in, "what the heck am i going to make with these ingredients?"

i bought some peaches meaning to grill them, and then i decided that i didn't want to go through the hassle. so instead i chopped them up and put them into a pan and tossed them in a little cinnamon and sugar (a tablespoon or so). there weren't enough peaches to fill out the 8x8 pan, so i chopped up an apple to add to the mix, again tossing to coat with some sugar and cinnamon.


then, the glorious topping... i used a packet of maple brown sugar instant oatmeal, about 1/4 cup all purpose flour, probably about 1/2 cup brown sugar, about a half a stick of cold butter, with a pinch of salt and a dash of cinnamon. then, i cut it together with a pastry cutter (a fork would also work). i think i ended up adding some more butter and brown sugar, and a bit of flour, because i wanted a lot of crumble. like i've said before, that's the best part anyway.

i threw that sucker in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the topping was crispy and nothing (i.e. apples) was too firm when i stuck a fork in it. really, nothing in this needs to be cooked--you could just eat it raw and be a-ok--it just tastes better warm. so, if you don't cook it enough, it's really no big deal. or, if you take a bite and it's not cooked to your liking, just put it back in for ten minutes or so.


here's a side view, after it came out of the oven. it's pretty shallow, but you can sort of see that there's quite a bit more crumble than fruit, or at least equal parts.


fruity crumbles like this are a shoot from the hip, or fly by the seat of your pants, kind of dessert (you can pick your own idiom there). no real chemical reactions need to happen, like leavening in cakes, so you don't have to worry about proportions too much. nothing needs to be cooked, like eggs in cookies (although i eat raw cookie dough all the time), so you don't have to worry too much about bake times. and most of the flavors are in the fruit, so you don't need to really add anything. and, if you screw up, you can fix it along the way. you can always sprinkle on some more sugar or bake it a little longer.

in short, i'm a fan of making fruit crumbles. easy and delicious! here's the damage done after one evening- about half gone... because it was so tasty!