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Home » Baking and Desserts

Embracing Summer’s Bounty with Fresh Fruit Crisps

by Beth Lee · Published: Jun 20, 2012 · Modified: Aug 22, 2024

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Today is #PieDay in the blogosphere/twittersphere, and though I have conquered most of my phobia around pie crust, and would jump onto this crusty adventure in a heartbeat, alas my summer schedule so far favors preparing quick crisps.

Another recipe for fruit crisp you might like is my fruit crisp for a summer night.

For ease of browsing, here are all of my baking and dessert recipes in one place.

Fresh fruit crisp on a white plate with a dollop of yogurt.
Yes, we do eat crisps for breakfast with yogurt - yum!
Fresh Fruit Crisp baked in a white rectangular baking dish.

Fresh fruit pie filling and crisp filling really are one in the same. So the real difference lies in working the dough for the crust. Which I’ve discovered is not as scary as it might seem but it takes more time than preparing the crisp topping in bulk, and tossing it over the top of the cut up fruit. So as I’ve mentioned more often than I should in this blog, my hectic schedule dictates what I cook and crisps fill that frantically-paced slot perfectly. If you are inspired by the idea of Pie Day, check out my Pie Dough for Dummies post and start baking! Then come back and tell me what you’ve created please!

A bag of coconut palm sugar.

In the meantime, let’s talk crisp topping. One of the brands that supported the BlogHerFood conference in Seattle was WholeSome Sweeteners and in their gift bag, they gave us some Coconut Palm Sugar which has a low glycemic index (a good thing) and can be substituted one-for-one for brown sugar. After surviving the graduation, conference, graduation scenario, I was too tired to cook, but I wanted to mark the beginning of summer for the kids and fresh fruit crisps do that for us. Since we eat so many, I thought testing this healthier sugar might help me lighten up the topping without losing its usual appeal.

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Here’s what I came up with:

 

Crisp Topping

Lightened-up Fruit Crisp Topping with Coconut Palm Sugar

Beth Lee
After surviving the graduation, conference, graduation scenario, I was too tired to cook, but I wanted to mark the beginning of summer for the kids and fresh fruit crisps do that for us. Since we eat so many, I thought testing this healthier sugar might help me lighten up the topping without losing its usual appeal.
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 15 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Servings 12 servings
Calories 203 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup coconut palm sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour or unbleached white flour or white whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • ½ cup chopped pecans optional but highly recommended
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 8 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
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Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, oats, pecans (if you’re using), salt, and cinnamon.
  • Then, using a pastry blender or if you’re like me, your hands (I wear disposable food-safe gloves), mix in the butter until the topping looks like little pea-sized pieces.
  • You can store the topping in a storage container until you’re ready to use it, either in the fridge or freezer, if you plan to keep it more than a few days.

Notes

NOTE: I used significantly less butter than the Deborah Madison recipe I referred to in my original crisp post. I think it worked and my kids gave the topping a thumbs up, but feel free to modify amounts in this recipe. A little more butter for a slightly richer topping. A little more or less sugar as your taste buds dictate. Perhaps a variation on flavor – more cinnamon, no cinnamon, cardamom perhaps? Variation is the beauty of a crisp, both in the topping and filling.
This post is focusing on the topping but here’s a quick bit about the filling, I use whatever fruit I have around, mixing it a bit haphazardly with some sugar – 3 or 4 tablespoons for a smallish crisp and a couple tablespoons of flour and some vanilla extract and cinnamon. Again – use your imagination with the flavors and sugar amounts. You can’t really go too far wrong. While rhubarb is still around, try a strawberry rhubarb crisp – that was what my daughter and her friends requested last week and not a bite remained in the pan that evening. And for a small pie size crisp, you'll need about 1 cup of topping. For a larger 9 x 12 pan, probably about  1 ½ cups to 2 cups of topping.

Nutrition

Calories: 203kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 124mgPotassium: 79mgFiber: 2gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 235IUCalcium: 17mgIron: 0.8mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

What’s your favorite quick summer dessert or the one dessert that makes it feel like summer to you?

(P.S. In case you are wondering, I am not being paid by Wholesome Sweeteners - though I would be ok with that :-). I wrote this post and created this crisp topping because I wanted to and that's all there is to it! In addition, I appreciated all the brands that came to BlogHerFood to support the conference and meet bloggers so a shout out to them all for that effort and support.)

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  1. Susan Woolf

    July 19, 2024 at 8:37 am

    Update on last night's crisp... should have taken a picture because the combination of fruit (plums, cherries, apricots and peaches) was beautiful. It was still warm when served and everyone LOVED it! No difference in taste, texture or consistency subbing corn starch and almond flour. Yummy!

    Reply
    • Beth Lee

      July 25, 2024 at 9:42 am

      Good job! Hard to miss with great summer fruit but I just knew that would be a winning combo!

      Reply
  2. Tiffany

    July 14, 2012 at 8:07 am

    Oh that looks so good! I love crisps and I've
    never Heard of coconut sugar so I'm going to have to look for that. Thanks for sharing!

    Stopping by from SITS.

    Reply
  3. Georgia B.

    June 21, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    I've never really been a big crisp fan, but this recipe sounds really, really good. And I like the idea of having it for breakfast. OMG! Yummy! If I were to freeze the topping, I could make some smaller sizes for the two of us whenever we felt like heating up the oven. Are there any instructions/tips on the freezing and/or thawing you'd like to impart?

    Reply
    • Beth (OMG! Yummy)

      June 21, 2012 at 3:54 pm

      No need to thaw - just throw it on top of the fruit and bake. As for storage - I usually use a tupperware-type container or you can use a plastic bag or something more eco-friendly than that :-), depending on your "green-ness".

      Always good to hear from you my "beef bourguignon" friend!

      Reply
  4. Hannah

    June 20, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    What a terrific breakfast - I'm going to copy you! I'm excited to use my bag of coconut palm sugar and a fruit crisp sounds like a delicious way to begin. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Beth (OMG! Yummy)

      June 20, 2012 at 6:07 pm

      How fun it has been to see all the unique pie party contributions - too bad I can't just read blogs all day! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

      Reply
  5. casacks

    June 20, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Looks like a perfect summer breakfast, Beth! Hope the schedule settles down a bit for you.

    Reply
    • Beth (OMG! Yummy)

      June 20, 2012 at 11:40 am

      Well - maybe not - wait till I tell you what adventure awaits spur of the moment. Will send you an email!

      This morning, we had crisp and a smoothie before my daughter headed off to soccer camp. Perfect start to the day!

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Beth!

I'm a cookbook author, cooking teacher and preserved lemon lover. My family is a mix of Jewish, Hawaiian and Korean heritage. My virtual multicultural kitchen is always open. Let's cook together! 

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