This Blackberry Peach Crisp is Summer in a Pan
Is there anything better than a hand-written recipe?
When my mom got married, her father's co-workers gave her a bunch of handwritten recipes that she still has. And here on Eliza Island, where we're on our last full day of summer vacation (which we're lucky to have, considering what's going on in the world), it's not just the crab cake recipes that are handwritten. The dessert recipes are handwritten too.
Behold this recipe for raspberry crisp cobbler.
From looking at it, you may have mixed feelings at first. Clearly, this is a well-loved recipe (it comes to us from Craig's Aunt Verna by way of Katie V., whoever that may be) but the author crossed out "crisp" and wrote "cobbler." So which is it?
Truth is: doesn't matter. In person, we're calling it "cobbler," but on the internet, where everyone has their knives out when it comes to such distinctions, this is clearly a crisp. The truth is it's a formula for taking the sweetest, tangiest summer berries -- in this case, blackberries that we picked ourselves -- cooking them with enough sugar and corn starch to give them a jam-like consistency and then topping them with a mixture of sugar, flour, egg, and butter to get that beloved crispy, crunchy surface.
The peaches came to us from our friends Todd and Jessica's tree, when we visited their backyard in Ashland, Oregon on the way to Washington. It was Julee's (Craig's mom's) idea to add them to the blackberry mixture as the blackberries were cooking. It was Kristin (Craig's sister) who sliced them up.
As for the topping, I'd never seen anyone mix an egg and flour before and then pour the melted butter on top, but it worked.
The cobbler... sorry, crisp, came out of the oven burbling and bubbling and giving off that loveliest perfume of summer fruit cooking together with butter. And though the recipe calls for raspberries, clearly this works with blackberries, peaches, and, I'm guessing, blueberries, nectarines, and any other summer pie fruit you want to throw in.
It's a lot of sugar, but so is candy, and candy doesn't taste like summer. So trust the authority of the handwritten recipe and make yourself this cobbler/crisp. Whatever you call it, you'll be clinging on to it as we ride into the fall.
Summer Blackberry Peach Crisp
An easy summer dessert using blackberries, peaches and a simple, crispy topping.
For the fruit:
4 - 5 cups blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries
3 peaches, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
3 Tbs cornstarch
For the crisp:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 stick butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a pot, cook the berries and peaches with the sugar and the cornstarch until thick. Pour into a 9 X 13 baking dish.
To make the topping, mix together the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, the salt, and the egg until crumbly. Sprinkle over the berries and drizzle with the melted butter.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top, with the juices bubbling. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Related Posts:
Vanilla Bean Brown Butter Nectarine Blackberry Crisp (Amateur Gourmet)
End-of-Summer Plum Cobbler (Amateur Gourmet)
Elise's Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler (Amateur Gourmet)
Summer Berry Buckle (Melissa Clark, New York Times)
Breakfast Berry Summer Pudding (Ben Mims, LA Times)
