Peach crumble is delicious dessert that highlights the juicy, sweet flavour of peaches. The peaches are coated with sugar, lemon juice, and a touch of cinnamon and left to macerate. The crumble topping is made from a mixture of flour, sugar, and cold butter which bakes into a golden, layer that tastes amazing with the fruit underneath of it. This gorgeous peach crumble is best served with a dollop of ice cream! Peach crumble is a delicious dessert to be served in the summertime, but with this peach crumble using canned peaches, it can be enjoyed all year around!
In this blog post, you will learn how to make a peach crumble.
What makes a peach crumble different than a peach cobbler or peach crisp? Glad you asked!
Crumble: a crumble is crisp but does not have oats in the topping. The topping is made from a mixture of flour, sugar, and butter which gives it a crumbly texture when baked. Because no oats are used, this topping has a finer texture with a buttery and sweet flavour.
Crisp: a crisp has a fruit filling topped with a crumb topping that is similar to granola or an oatmeal cookie. It is made from a mixture of flour, sugar, butter, oats and sometimes nuts. The oats give this crumb topping its crumbly, crispiness when baked.
Cobbler: a cobbler normally has fruit fulling on the top or the bottom of the batter. The consistency of a cobbler is more biscuit-like or cake-like than a crisp or a crumble. The topping is dropped or spooned over the fruit which then resembles cobblestones. The texture of the batter is soft and cakey and similar to a scone or biscuit.
In some places a crisp and crumble can be used interchangeably for the same dessert. Just remember crumbles are normally consistent of butter, flour, and sugar in the topping. While a crisp will have those same ingredients but include oatmeal. And cobblers differ more from crumbles and crisps because a cobbler has either batter or a biscuit-like dough.
The crumble topping is made up of flour, sugar, and butter. Mix the flour and sugar together well. Then you will want to cut in the butter. The butter should be removed from the fridge right before you need it because it needs to be very cold.
Cutting in butter is a very common technique that is used in baking. Visit my tutorial on How to Cut in Butter for all the methods for cutting in butter.
This peach crumble recipe uses canned peaches. So, to make the peach filling strain your canned peaches through a sieve to drain the juice off of them and put them into a large mixing bowl. Add your other peach filling ingredients, the corn starch, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Give them a good mix, let sit for a little bit to let is macerate, and your filling is ready for the crumble!
Yes, you can. Frozen peaches should be thawed and then merely strain the excess liquid from them. Add to the peach filling as a straight substitute for the canned peaches. Fresh peaches will need to be prepared. See the next heading on how to prepare fresh peaches for your peach crumble.
In order to remove the skin from your peaches, you will need to blanch the peaches.
Blanching is the process of scalding the vegetables or fruit in boiling water for a very short amount of time then transferring them quicky to a cold bowl of water or an ice bath. This process allows the skin to fall off easily.
Below you will find the steps to blanching and preparing your peaches
By using a free-stone pit, it will allow you to more easily remove the flesh from the pit and make slicing up the peaches easier.
Canned Peaches: canned peaches are the main fruit of this dessert. The peaches provide sweetness, flavour, and moisture to this dessert.
Corn Starch: corn starch is the thickening agent used to create a smooth and creamy texture in the peach filling. It helps to bind the liquid from the peaches which helps to prevent the filling from becoming too runny.
Lemon Juice: lemon juice adds brightness and acidity to the dessert which enhances the flavour of the peaches and balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Sugar: sugar helps to sweeten the dessert and enhances the natural sweetness of the peaches. It also helps to balance the tartness of the lemon juice and contributes to the overall flavour and texture of the peach crumble.
Pinch of Salt: a pinch of salt enhances the flavour of the dessert. Consequently, balancing the sweetness and acidity of the other ingredients.
Vanilla Extract: vanilla extract adds warmth and depth of flavour to the dessert.
Unsalted Butter: butter adds the richness and creaminess of to the dessert’s crumble topping. It helps to create a smooth texture.
All-Purpose/Plain Flour: flour creates the crumble’s topping. It provides structure and binds the ingredients together. Therefore it creates a tender and flaky texture in the finished dish.