Some of you might remember that Brandon and I recently moved to Charlotte, North Carolina from Birmingham, Alabama. One of the things we were looking forward to most about the move to Charlotte was being close to great outdoor activities. Last weekend we decided to head to the Pisgah National Forest to hike and camp.
We were extremely pleased to discover that it’s blueberry season in the mountains and the trail we hiked was FULL of blueberry bushes. You would not believe the amount of blueberries we saw – mountains full! We snacked on blueberries on our hike in and out from our campsite and picked two gallon bags full to take home. It was totally worth the extra weight in our packs!
So despite being tired from the weekend on Sunday night, I was eager to bake something with my blueberries. I had been planning on making a peach cobbler and had some peaches in the fridge. I was looking for blueberry peach cobbler recipes online when Brandon mentioned he preferred cobbler with “crunchy topping.” I informed him he had a crisp in mind and began looking for crisp recipes. I saw this recipe on Use Real Butter and knew I would look no further.
It was awesome. The flavor of the blueberries really shined and the pecans added just the right nutty taste. You don’t toast them before adding them to the crisp topping but they get a great toasted flavor as they bake. With a scoop of ice cream, this is a heavenly dessert!
Blueberry Peach Crisp
(Recipe source Use Real Butter, originally from Fine Cooking)
Ingredients:
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened – plus more for greasing pan
3 ounces all purpose flour (this is a little shy of 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
2/3 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
3 cups (about 1 pound) blueberries, rinsed and picked through
3 medium peaches (about 1 pound), peeled and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square pan, or a comparable size baking pan (I used an oval baker).
To make the topping, mix together flour, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Work butter into the mixture until clumpy.
For the fruit, mix together blueberries, peaches, sugar, cornstarch and nutmeg. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.
Sprinkle topping over fruit and bake for about 40 minutes, or until topping is lightly browned. Serve warm with ice cream.
Yield: 6 servings
bakin' and eggs 