Peach and Nectarine Pecan Sandy Crumble
peaches, nectarines, pecans, gluten free, vegan, sponsored
Peach and nectarine season cannot pass me by without making my very favourite thing to make with any fruit - crumbles, crisps and cobblers, easier than pie and thrown together in minutes. With little effort you are left with deliciously sweet and tender peaches and nectarines under a blanket of crunchy flavourful pecan crumble. The fruit gets tossed with a bit of cornstarch or tapioca flour along with some freshly squeezed lemon juice and just a bit of maple syrup or honey, some vanilla and some warm spices. That’s all they need and then they are ready for the topping and to be baked off. Once golden and bubbly this crumble/crisp is ready to be served with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of yoghurt. Good enough for dessert and can easily pass for breakfast as it’s gluten free, vegan and refined sugar free friendly. This is my kind of breakfast!
This is a riff on a recipe by Smitten Kitchen. It’s peach crisp meets pecan sandies. I love all of her recipes and her crisp and crumble recipes are just the way I like them. They are not overly sweet which I love because the fruit is usually sweet enough and we want the star of the crisp or crumble to be the fruit not the sugar. Speaking of sugar - this crumble actually has none or very little. It’s naturally sweetened with either honey or maple syrup depending on whether you want it to be vegan or not. I’m not opposed to adding some sugar to the topping so I have since adjusted the topping recipe to include a little coconut sugar or brown sugar - its totally optional if you want to make it without just leave it out. Extra sweetness and texture is added to the crumble topping via the chopped dates in it. I You read that right - there are dates in the topping and you will just have to trust me on that. I got inspired to add them to my crumble from a recipe by Green Kitchen Stories. They do what sugar and butter do. They sweeten the topping plus when rubbed together with the dry ingredients of the topping, help clump or bind pieces together so the topping is part crumble part sandy.
What You Need for This Peach Pecan Sandy Crisp (ingredients):
- Peaches: I use fresh peaches in my recipe but you can use a mixture of peaches nectarines. Choose firm ripe fruit so the cobbler doesn’t become too watery as it cooks. You can use frozen peaches as well simply thaw and oat fry and use as directed in recipe
- Coconut sugar or Brown sugar: Just a touch for some extra sweetness to the topping - this is totally optional for a truly refined sugar free version leave out
- Dates: Dates add texture and sweetness to the topping - because they tend to be a bit sticky they also help bind or clump together portions of the topping. They are a great add in!
- Maple Syrup: I love to use it in the filling to sweeten. Feel free to adjust the amounts according to taste ad how sweet your peaches are.
- Spices: I use Cinnamon and Nutmeg but feel free to use whatever warm spices you like and adjust amounts to taste
- Oats: I used quinoa flakes for this recipe originally but this recipe also works equally as well with old fashion rolled oats - technically you could also use quick oats too but they absorb liquids a little more freely so you may want to adjust the amount of oil or butter in the toppings recipe accordingly.
- Coconut Oil or Butter: I use coconut oil or unsalted butter for the recipe. You will need some for the peaches and the biscuits - feel free to use a non dairy butter for a vegan version or stick with the coconut oil
- Salt: kosher salt or regular sea salt for flavor
- Vanilla Extract: Always adds great flavor to any baked good
- Lemon Juice: Freshly squeezed is best and always a great flavor tossed along with the fruit
Let’s talk more about that topping. I partnered up with GoGo Quinoa for this recipe and decided I would use a blend of their Buckwheat flakes and Quinoa flakes to make it. Their flakes are quite fine in texture and I love making porridge out of them and thought the blend would make the perfect texture for this sandy topping. Another feature that makes this topping absolutely delicious is the pecans, which must be lightly toasted to emphasize the pecan flavour. I also process most of them so that they are very fine and flour-like, infusing the whole topping with that beautiful nutty flavour. The rest of the pecans get a rough chop and add a little crunch to the topping too. If you don’t have the quinoa flakes feel free to use rolled oats.
How to Make this Homemade Peach Pecan Sandy Crisp (step by step instructions)
- Toast nuts and allow them to cool
- Make Topping: Process most of the pecans and some of the oats until very fine then pulse in the remaining oats, sugar if using and spices. Coarsly chop the remaining pecans. Empty processor ingredients out into a bowl then stir in the oil or butter and dates until large and small clumps form then stir in the chopped pecans
- Prepare the peaches: Peel peaches if desired (optional) and slice them, and add to prepared pan along with the cornstarch, maple syrup, vanilla, spices and lemon juice. Toss well to combine.
- Assemble: Sprinkle topping evenly over the peaches
- Bake: Bake crisp until topping is golden and peaches are bubbling, tent with foil if the topping is browning too quickly
Peach Pecan Sandy Crisp Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing
- Storage: Leftover peach crisp should be stored covered in the refrigerator. It will help keep the crisp topping from getting too mushy. It will keep in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days.
- To Make Ahead: This is one of those recipes that should be prepared and baked right away but the crisp can be baked up to 2 days ahead and kept chilled - warm in the oven before serving. The topping can be made up to a day ahead and stored in a sealed container in the fridge - then top crisp as usual before baking.
- Freezing: You can also freeze the baked crisp for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven before serving.
I have partnered up with GoGo Quinoa to bring you this fabulous recipe, but all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Olive & Mango.
More Peach Recipes and Crisps /Crumbles You Will Love
Recipe
Ingredients
For the pecan crumble topping
- 1 cup pecans toasted
- 1 cup GoGo Quinoa Quinoa flakes (or old fashion rolled oats)
- 1 cup GoGo Quinoa Buckwheat flakes (or old fashion rolled oats)
- ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 10-12 dates, pitted and chopped finely
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract or bourbon
- ½-⅔ cup coconut oil or melted butter + more for greasing the dish
For the filling
- 3½-4 pounds of peaches and nectarines (could be one or the other but I like a mix)
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (I like it with two but you can test the flavour with one and add more as you like)
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup of honey or maple syrup (plus more to your taste)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch/or tapioca flour
- ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- ½-1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- A pinch of salt
Directions
For the Topping
- Toast nuts on a sheet pan in the oven or in a dry skillet stove top then allow them to cool.
- Rough chop ¼ cup of nuts and place remaining pecans (¾ cup) in food processor along with about one-quarter of your oats (½ cup) and grind or process the nuts and oats until they’re as powdery as possible.
- Add the remaining oats, sugar, salt, and pulse two or three times, just to combine.
- Transfer dry mixture to a bowl and add melted butter, chopped dates and vanilla. Stir this together until small and large clumps form, then stir in coarsely chopped pecans. Refrigerate until needed. (I usually start with ½ cup of butter and see how things combine if needed I will melt more butter and add it 1 tablespoon at a time)
For the filling
- Preheat oven to 375°F and grease your ovenproof 9x13 baking dish.
- Halve and pit your peaches and nectarines, then slice each half into quarters smaller if they’re firm, large ones if the peaches are already soft. Peeling peaches is optional.
- Place all the peach and nectarine slices in the prepared dish and toss them with the honey or syrup, cornstarch, vanilla extract, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- Cover fruit evenly with topping. Bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling, about 40 to 50 minutes. If your topping starts to brown too quickly you can cover the top with foil until it is done baking.
- Let cool slightly before serving, and serve ideally with a dollop of vanilla ice cream (dairy free to keep it vegan) or yoghurt as this makes a great breakfast.
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge wrapped tight for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- As stated in the post the sugar is optional
- There is a range between ½ cup of oil or butter and ⅔ - the original recipe called for 6 tablespoons of oil or melted butter but I found that wasn’t enough every time so I raised it to 8 tablespoon and that is usually enough - but sometimes the type of oats dictate how much absorption they will have and so I say start with ½ cup and after everything is mixed I recommend assessing whether you need to melt another tablespoon of oil or melted butter for the mixture to lump up - of course the dates help with this too
