Peach crisp is a fruit dessert with just the right combination of sweet and tart, especially if you use fresh peaches or canned ones in a tart syrup for the extra peaches. Even if you’re not from below the Mason-Dixon Line, you’ll appreciate this dessert. It’s one of the southern recipes that is a tasty delight for most.
While you typically think of dessert as baking for a considerable amount of time and taking quite some time to prepare, this dessert isn’t like that at all. It’s relatively simple to put together and doesn’t have a lengthy bake time.
This is also an incredibly versatile recipe. Instead of making a peach cobbler, you could make a blueberry, cherry, apple, or blackberry crisp. You could also combine other fruits with the peaches for more flavor.
This dessert is typically associated with summer baking because of when peaches are in season, but you can make it anytime. In fact, once you taste it and see how simple it is to put together, you’ll want it for any-season treat and so will the rest of your family.
Though it’s not a complicated dessert, you could easily bring it to picnics and gatherings, and people will think you’re an all-star baker, even if you’re far from it.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Cobbler crust adds a nice change of texture
- Recipe is highly customizable and can be made with fresh, frozen, or canned peaches
- Simple recipe to follow
- Ingredients are easy to find in your local grocery store
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
The main change you can make with this cobbler is with the fruit. You could also add other fruits to the peach cobbler for more flavor and color. You could also swap the peaches for other fruits completely. You can turn it into a seasonal dessert. Instead of using peaches each time, you could put whatever seasonal fruit you have access to in it.
It’s possible to use fresh, frozen, or canned fruit for this particular recipe and use them with or without canned pie filling. You can do it based on whatever you have available or your preference. Don’t defrost your frozen fruit much first, and dry it before you add it to the crisp. This prevents adding too much liquid to the crisp.
Another option you have is to change the topping. For instance, you could add nuts or oats for extra crispness, nutrition, and flavor. Besides that, you could also change up the spices in this cobbler. Use nutmeg, clove, and/or ginger, or use a premixed pumpkin pie spice.
How to Make It
Your first step of this recipe is to put melted butter on the bottom of the baking pan to prevent the peach crisp from sticking. You can use either unsalted or salted, depending on your preference. Just keep in mind that the recipe does have salt in it already. Adding salted butter could make it too salty if you’re sensitive to salt.
This cobbler usually only takes 30 minutes to bake until it has a golden crisp on the top. However, before you take it out, you’ll want to make sure it’s as crispy as you like it. You may want to leave it in for longer if not.
Make sure, while you’re baking it, that you don’t keep opening the oven to check on it, even though it’ll smell appetizing. Every time the oven opens, the temperature will drop slightly. It’ll take much longer to get the crisp on the top this way.
Tips for Success
For the best results, preheat your oven before you put the crisp in the oven for the best results.
Whenever you put the topping on the cobbler before baking it, spread it out evenly. That way, you don’t have too much in one area and not enough in another.
If you want the top even crispier than it will come out already, brush it lightly with butter or milk.
You’ll notice the fruit filling will bubble before it’s done. The liquid in the filling will heat beyond the boiling point, which causes it to simmer and then bubble.
Storage & Reheating
The first day, you can leave the cobbler out as long as you cover it lightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. After that, you’ll want to cover it in plastic wrap or aluminum foil or place it in an airtight container before putting it in the fridge. You and your family can continue to enjoy it from the fridge for the next three to five days.
If you choose to freeze some for a later date, put it in a freezer-safe container. Enjoy it for up to three months. You can either defrost it in the microwave or leave it out to thaw before you eat it again.
Serving Suggestions
Serve it with either vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, or pile some whipped cream on top to add a bit of creaminess to go along with the crisp. The ice cream especially goes well with the peach cobbler if you just took it out of the oven. If the cobbler is cool already, you can heat it up in the microwave for 15 seconds or so.
Notes
I remember being little and having my mom make this for dessert. I’d anxiously await it to be done and cool off a bit so I could enjoy it. We had it mainly in summer so we could use only fresh peaches from a local orchard.
However, you can have it any time of the year since peaches are readily available year-round, and you always have the option to use canned or frozen peaches only or omit the added peaches altogether and just rely on the ones in the pie filling.
After having such fond memories of eating peach crisp as a child, I’m proudly carrying on the tradition with my son. My mother may have only made it in summer, but I make it all-year round for my son. I love to freeze it and pull it out to surprise him at random.
Southern Peach Crisp
Ingredients
The Peach Base:
- 1 can 29 oz Sliced Peaches, drained (reserve 2 Tbsp of syrup)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Bourbon optional; adds a deep, oaky sweetness
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
The Batter:
- ½ cup 1 stick Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder ensures a fluffy, cake-like rise
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- ¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
The Crunch Topping:
- 2 Tbsp Turbinado Raw Sugar or Cinnamon-Sugar mix
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Pour the melted butter directly into a 9×9 inch or 2-quart baking dish. Do not stir it; the butter acts as a non-stick barrier and fries the bottom of the batter.
- In a small bowl, toss the drained peaches with the cinnamon, vanilla, bourbon, and reserved syrup. Letting the peaches sit for 5 minutes allows the spices to penetrate the fruit.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg. Gradually whisk in the milk until just combined. A few small lumps are fine; over-mixing will result in a tough cobbler.
- Pour the batter directly over the melted butter in the baking dish. Do not stir.
- Gently spoon the spiced peaches and any remaining juice over the batter. As the cobbler bakes, the batter will rise up and around the fruit, creating a “cobbled” appearance.
- Sprinkle the Turbinado sugar evenly over the top. This creates a thin, crackly crust that sets this version apart from the traditional soft-topped style.
- Bake for 40–45 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean.
