By Marci Lutsky
I always have good intentions at this point in the summer to make delicious fruit desserts. The problem is that fruit does not last very long in my house. Between snacking and adding fresh fruit to my morning oatmeal, it’s usually gone before I can make a special dessert. When I do find myself with an abundance of local summer fruit, I make either a pie, crisp or cobbler depending on how much time I have. You can make everything from scratch or take short cuts. Either way, if you use fresh fruit, that will be the star of the dessert.
So what summer fruits make for the best desserts? My favorites are strawberries, rhubarb, peaches and blueberries. If you’ve ever found yourself confused by all the different kinds of desserts, let’s break down the differences. Pies are probably the easiest to identify. A pie typically has a buttery pastry crust on the bottom and sometimes on the top. Many years ago my kids and I came in second place in the Margate Farmers Market peach pie contest and I wrote an entire blog post about my secrets to the perfect pie. Making your own crust will make your pie standout. It’s not hard to do, just find a good recipe. As for the fruit, once you mix it with sugar and anything else (I add a splash of lemon juice), let it sit for about fifteen minutes to let the flavors combine and use a slotted spoon when adding the fruit to the crust. This will avoid a soggy crust. A pie usually cooks for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.
When I’m short on time and cannot make my own pie crust, I opt for a crisp. A fruit crisp usually has a topping mixture of flour, oats, sugar and butter. One of the nice things about a crisp is that it only cooks for about a half hour and it doesn’t need to look pretty like a pie. Even though it doesn’t have a fancy lattice crust, a fruit crisp is always delicious.
A cobbler is a fruit dessert with a biscuit topping. The topping can be made from scratch with just a few basic ingredients or you can use a biscuit mix like Bisquick. Similar to a crisp, it doesn’t require a lot of fussing because the topping gets dropped by the spoonful on top of the fruit. It’s also quick to assemble and takes about forty-five minutes in the oven.
No matter what kind of fruit dessert you choose to make, one thing is for sure. Besides filling your house with a delicious smell, it will always taste better topped with vanilla ice cream. Next time you visit your local farmers market or go blueberry picking, stock up on some extras so you can make a pie, crisp or cobbler. You don’t need a special occasion to make a fruit dessert. It will make an ordinary night extraordinary!
Ingredients
- 6 cups peaches, peeled and sliced
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- optional: vanilla ice cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Combine peaches, cornstarch and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Pour into a greased 8×8 inch baking dish. In a bowl combine oats through salt. Stir together, will be clumpy. Using a spoon or your fingers, drop spoonfuls on top of peach mixture until most of peaches covered. Cook for 30 minutes or until top starts to brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream if desired.
Marci Lutsky is a food blogger at Vegging at the Shore, www.veggingattheshore.com and can be reached at veggingattheshore@gmail.com.
