I have to take a minute and brag about my husband. The last two years he has helped Brad, the dad of few guys Donny went to high school with, to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). You might remember last year in August when social media went crazy with the Ice Bucket Challenge….that was for ALS awareness. In fact, according to the ALS Association $115 million was raised in 2014 because of the challenge. Pretty impressive.
Anyway, Brad’s wife had ALS for ten years so the cause is near and dear to his heart. He and Donny put together a BBQ dinner to raise money for ALS. Donny and a couple employees from Cargill, our local beef packing plant, made pulled pork, brisket, chicken, sausage, ribs, beans, coleslaw, and sweet corn. They had the help of a few friends, our nephew’s 14-year-old baseball team, and some kids from the Fort Morgan FFA Chapter. It was delicious and those kids worked their butts off! Last year they raised about $10,000 between donations, auction items, and the dinner. The dinner was last night and so far it looks like they raised $13,000! They are rock stars.
Now I am done bragging.
We bought a 5lb box of peaches from 4-H and they were delivered a couple weeks ago. I decided to enjoy a few now, create some recipes with some, and freeze some for later.
I was feeling really lazy when it came to getting them ready to freeze. I didn’t mind cutting the peaches up, but I really wanted to avoid peeling them. I knew I would mostly end up using the peaches in smoothies so I decided to skip the peel part. Instead I chopped 6-7 up and threw them in the food processor. I basically made a peach puree and then put it in ice cube trays to freeze. It worked perfectly!
I also wanted to try to create some recipes from the peaches. I tried 3 or 4 different things but my favorite was the peach crisp. I love crisps because you get a butter taste, but it takes way less time and effort than making a pie crust.
What I don’t like about crisps is that most recipes are for a crowd. When I am craving dessert, I don’t necessarily want extras or leftovers around for later. If that happens, then I go from eating one serving to eating 14. Yikes! So why not make just one serving of peach crisp?!?!
I love ramekins because they make it easy to portion control. If you make sure that each ramekin holds the proper serving then you are good to go…well and making sure you stop at one! For another recipe using ramekins, check out my Caprese Quinoa Bake.
Make sure you do not substitute the butter with anything else. Butter is good in moderation and really adds to the flavor of the crisp! Butter, in moderation, is alright to consume with a clean-eating diet. I use Kerrygold brand butter, which Irish butter and made from grass-fed cattle. I don’t typically choose grass-fed beef, but do stick to grass-fed butter. I know, I’m a weirdo.
Here is some good news, more and more research has been done these days that has proven that butter consumption doesn’t necessarily lead to heart disease. It is still high in calories, so don’t go too overboard!
I also chose to use almond flour over whole wheat, or oat flour. Almond flour has a different taste compared to the others.
“Well duh Melissa, it is made of almonds!”. Yes, I know. Crazy how that works.
Whole wheat flour and oat flour both have a grain-like taste, which changes the taste of the crisp. The almond flour adds a tiny bit of healthy fat and also a nutty flavor. Not to be too obvious, but I wanted to point that out.
If you do not have almond flour then you can substitute whole wheat or oat flour. I would stay away from coconut flour, because it absorbs moisture differently than other types of flour which will change the consistency.
- 1/2 ripe peach, chopped
- 1 Tbsp quick oats
- 1 tsp almond flour
- 1/2 tsp grass-fed butter
- 1/2 tsp honey
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 6 oz ramekin with nonstick cooking spray. Place the chopped peach evenly in the bottom.
- In a small bowl combine the oats, almond flour, honey, cinnamon, and salt.
- Add the butter to the bowl and, using clean hands, gently incorporate the butter with the other ingredients until combined. Crumble the clumps into smaller pieces.
- Sprinkle the topping over the peaches evenly.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before eating.
- Using your hands to make the crumble allows you to more evenly distribute the butter throughout the other ingredients. You could also use a pastry cutter if you prefer.
Can you use All Purpose flour instead of almond flour?
You should be able to use AP flour, since it is such a small amount!