A Taste of Jane: Vanilla Bean Peach Crisp

It’s summer, and the peaches are ripe. If you’re ready for something warm and cozy or cool and crisp, this is the ideal dish. If you want to serve this in winter, slice and freeze your peaches now. They’ll be ready and waiting for the perfect moment to spice up those cooler days.

Vanilla Bean Peach Crisp

• 3 pounds of peaches, sliced into eighths

• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

• Juice of 1/2 very juicy lemon

• 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (you can use vanilla extract as a substitute)

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1 cup oats

• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

• 1 stick (8 Tbsp.) softened butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large shallow baking dish (approximately 9-inch by 13-inch) and set this aside.

Toss the peach slices together with the cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla bean paste, and white sugar in a large bowl. Pour the peach mixture into the prepared baking dish and set aside while you assemble the oat crumble topping.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Use your fingers to blend these well. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and add to the flour-oat mixture. Blend the soft butter in with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly, forming some larger and some smaller pieces of streusel. Scatter the topping over the top of the peaches, distributing evenly.

Bake the crisp in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the topping is evenly browned and the peaches bubble up to form a thickened syrup. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if desired.