Peach + Plum Crumble

Crumble, crisp, cobbler, a rose by any other name would smell (and taste) as sweet, and while crumbles and crisps and cobblers are actually quite different, they all celebrate the caramelized glory of fresh fruit and buttery toppings in all forms and flavors. This peach+plumb crumble is no exception. Honestly, this one may be toeing the line between crumble and cobbler, though cobbler does specifically distinguish its topping from all the rest as “biscuit” dough, so I think we’re safe here with crumble. While this is a great way to add one final hoorah to stone fruit season, it can be done year round with frozen (and thawed) fruit options.

The recipe was inspired by the king of veg, Mr. Jamie Oliver, who has some of the best, simplest, and most well-explained recipes out there. We’ve changed it a bit to give a more crumble-favorable ratio of filling to topping (we could eat just the topping for days), added a few of our favorite additions to the crumble and the filling flavoring, and, of course, converted the entire deal to be gluten free. Crumbles and crisps are some of the easiest desserts to swap over to be gluten free because the topping relies not on flour, but on other nutty, oaty components that are, happily, sans gluten. If you’re not feeling the nuts, swap in corn flakes or other crunchy bits that will add that rustic, melt-in-your-mouth accompaniment to the bubbling fruit below.

This is also a great treat for a crowd – you can double or triple (or quadruple if you’re really ambitious) the recipe and use a 9×13 (double) plus another pie pan (triple), or two 9x13s (quadruple) for that potluck you forgot about tomorrow and suddenly need a stunning, 20+ serving dessert. Not to fear! This is a straight forward recipe and you can toss it together in no time. And, the best thing about fruit crumbles? All fruit tastes great when thrown together with sugar, crumbly topping, and heat! You can swap in berries, apricots, nectarines, pears, a melange of everything just mentioned, or pair this down to just peaches or just plums (that would be a lot of plums though so unless you’ve got a plumb tree that is over-zealous in production this year, perhaps not the best option).

Print Recipe

Gluten Free Peach + Plum Crumble

Classic crumble with stone fruit and spices

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: crumble, peaches, plumbs, stone fruit

Servings: 10 people

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• Pie pan

Ingredients

For the filling:

• 5-6 Cups pitted and sliced peaches, plums, or other stone fruit
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 4 strawberries hulled
• Juice of an orange
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 Tbsp minute tapioca

For the crumble topping:

• 2/3 Cup chilled butter
• 3/4 Cup rolled gluten free oats
• 1/2 Cup gluten free flour 1-1 mix with xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 Cup almond meal
• 1/3 Cup sliced almonds plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/3 Cup brown sugar

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Pit and slice all of your plums and peaches and toss them in a large bowl. In a nutribullet, blender, or food processor, blitz up the honey, nutmeg, sugar, hulled strawberries, orange juice and lemon juice. Pour the mixture over the sliced fruit, and then add the minute tapioca and stir the entire thing to combine. Pour the fruit and sauce into an empty 9-inch glass pie pan.
• Roast the pie pan of fruit, uncovered, in your 400° oven for 30 minutes until fruit is juicy and softened.  While the fruit is roasting, in the same bowl as before or a clean one, use your hands to knead together all of the topping ingredients. The butter will take a while to get combined or mixed in, so keep crumbling and mashing the mixture until it all sticks together.
• Once the fruit is out of the oven (no need to let it cool), crumble the topping evenly over the fruit – making sure to leave small air holes. Do not create a pie crust, this is a loosely-crumbled topping. It will melt together while baking but should not be one, unbroken crust. Sprinkle the extra flaked almonds over the top of the topping.
• Return the pie pan to the oven and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is deep golden brown. Let it cool slightly before serving, or serve cool the next day with vanilla ice cream!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your crumble!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber