Okay, I'm going to keep it really simple... this post is all about summer peaches, baking hacks and yummy, easy desserts. If you're with me, can I please get a thank you from the front and an amen from the back?

Several weeks ago, I had a couple of girlfriends over for dinner. I had picked up some peaches from Simpson's Produce, one of our local farmer's markets, earlier in the week so they were ripe and ready to use. Peach cobbler was the first dessert idea that popped into my head. Being born in the south, I was literally raised on old-fashioned fruit cobblers and absolutely love these simple, delicious concoctions. What is there not to like about sweetened fruit with a buttery, golden baked crust? Over the years though, I've grown to prefer a healthier, lower gluten alternative which uses oats instead. It's actually just as good.

The day of the girls' dinner, we had a busy morning and afternoon around our house. I was a little pressed for time. In other words, looking for any and all the shortcuts I could find! I love cooking and baking from scratch, but sometimes time just doesn't allow for the extra steps. Standing in one of our local grocery stores, The Fresh Market, I had an idea - Why not use some sort of ready-made granola for the topping? I hadn't tried this before, but couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't work. I ended up purchasing a granola with honey and pecans from the bulk food area of the store. I could basically skip the topping-making step of the peach crumble. That's a win!

Arriving back home with my granola and dinner ingredients, I started prepping the food. I left the peach crumble making for last since I wanted to serve it warm. A time consuming step with peaches is the peeling part. It's actually a whole thing wherein some part of the fruit is actually a casualty to the process. Or at least, this has been my experience. It's a lot of work to watch some part of the peach lost. So I got to googling peach peeling hacks. And, what I discovered is a method I'd never heard of before called peach blanching. Basically, you place the peaches in boiling water for thirty seconds, remove and place in an ice water bath. Once the peaches cool, the peel comes right off. Then, it's just a matter of cutting, removing the pits and slicing. Easy!

Once you have the sliced peaches, it's just a matter of tossing those with a few ingredients, placing in a dish, topping with the store purchased granola and baking. The entire prep process ended up taking me around 20 minutes. I promise you this is hands down the easiest peach crumble recipe I've ever made, thanks to the hacks I used.

So head to your local farmer's market while peaches are still in season and throw together a delicious fruit crumble. Oh, and don't forget the ready-made granola and vanilla ice cream!

✖︎ ✖︎

P.S.

If you love desserts and baking as much as we do, you might also like our Apple Pie and Lemon Pound Cake recipes.

THE EASIEST PEACH CRUMBLE WITH OAT TOPPING

Serves: 6-8 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

8 – 10 large ripe peaches
1/2 medium lemon, juice of
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 pounds ready-made granola* (Mine was honey pecan, purchased from the deli section of a local grocery.)
vanilla ice cream, optional

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Prepare peaches by boiling water in stock pot. Carefully drop cleaned peaches into boiling water. Boil for thirty seconds and remove from heat. Drain water and place in an ice water bath until cooled completely. The peels will come right off. Cut peaches into halves, remove pits and cut into slices.

3. Place peach slices in large mixing bowl. Toss with lemon juice, honey, flour and cinnamon. Place in 9 X 13 inch (or some similar size) baking dish.

4. Sprinkle ready-made granola of your choice evenly over peach mixture. You can decide how much you’d like, light or heavy. I actually purchased 2 pounds, but only needed 1 1/ 2 pounds to generously cover my peaches.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 25 minutes, watching closely until top is golden brown and center is bubbling.

6. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. I used coconut ice cream, and it was delicious!

NOTES

*If possible, purchase ready-made granola that isn’t already completely browned. The one I purchased was in a clear container so I could actually see that it hadn’t been fully cooked and browned.