Falling in Love with Fruit Crisp

 

When I think about what I really love to eat, there's fruit crisp hovering in my sub conscious. It's the quintessential dessert topping in the summer sprinkled over plump jewel-toned berries, and equally addictive in the fall forming a golden crumb roof over slivers of apples or cubes of quince. 

What I love most about a crisp crust is that it's flexible, allowing for whimsical adaptions or a last minute flip flop of say crunchy walnuts standing in for oats to give the streuselly, crunchy-tender exterior added texture and oomph.

I'd trade fruit crisp for any custard or cake - even a sliver of dense, raisin-pocked carrot cake (easily my second favorite dessert). I'd eat it for dinner if I could, and can knowingly recommend a bowlful for breakfast. It is the food of my childhood - a Sunday evening tradition for a house full of girls - and the food of my adult life as well, made many times over to impress houseguests, beat back loneliness or soothe a sour mood.

So yes, in my mind, fruit crisp is perfect. Well, almost. It does have one flaw: it feels incredibly gluttonous to make a big, rustic pan of crisp for one. 

The solution, I've found, is to hack my favorite topping recipe in half, then halve it again such that I have the perfect amount to crumble over a juicy peach. When my sweet tooth strikes, I split the peach in half and mound the crumb into the gaping indentation leftover by the pit. It's the same idea of combining plump, juicy fruit and an oaty, toothsome topping, only in a petite, personal-size version of my favorite dessert.

Personal-Size Peach "Crisp"

This recipe makes enough for two to four peach halves, depending on the size of your peach. I store the leftover topping in a tiny jar in the freezer so I have it on hand the next time a crisp craving arrives unannounced.

3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of kosher salt

1 ripe peach

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Plop the butter, sugars, flour, oats, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Blitz it all together until the ingredients are well combined, but still crumbly (you want to stop mixing it before it comes together in one uniform ball). Keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Slice the peach in half and remove the pit. Place the halves in a small glass baking dish. Remove the topping from the refrigerator and scatter over the tops of the peaches, about a 1/2-inch deep.

Place the baking dish in the oven and cook for approximately ten minutes, or until the peaches are somewhat soft when poked with a fork or knife and the crust is golden brown.

Serve solo or, better yet, with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.