This is the best thing I’ve ever made. I know I say that a lot, but it’s only because I taste something that upends the last delicious thing I made. The struggle is real.

I saw the recipe for crisp on the way to the grocery store. “This is happening,” I said to myself. I didn’t have butter or flour, so I bought those. I also got extra peaches, even though I had a few sitting on my kitchen counter on the verge of rotting. It’s always better to have too many than too few, in my opinion.

I made some minor tweaks to the original recipe but otherwise, I mostly followed it by the book. I considered leaving out the step when you take peach juice and combine it with cornstarch and water to make sweet goo, but then I decided to leave it in. I’m glad that I did because I think it was the glue that held the crisp together (for lack of a better word). It also gave the peaches a nice sheen when they came out of the oven.

I’d *highly* recommend serving this crisp with a scoop of vanilla bean gelato. The cream cools down the crisp and the vanilla complements the sweet, cinnamon peaches and brown butter topping. The perfect bite on your spoon will involve crumbly, slightly smoky topping, tender peaches, and a sliver of gelato. I’m almost crying thinking about it.

Before that happens, I’ll leave you with this song. It reminds me of the peach crisp and it’s good for hot summer nights when you impulsively decide to make the best dessert of your life.Peach Crisp with Brown Butter Crumble 

Ingredients

for the crisp:
2 lbs peaches, pitted and sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt

for the crumble:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the peaches, brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a large bowl and let them sit for about 30 minutes, until the sugar dissolves and there’s juice at the bottom of the bowl.

While you’re waiting, make the crumble. Combine the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, whisking constantly, until it’s golden brown and fragrant. Scrape the butter and browned bits at the bottom of the pan into the bowl with the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Drain the peach juice into a small saucepan and add a 1/4 cup water and 1 Tbsp cornstarch. Let the mixture come to a simmer. When it does, whisk constantly until the mixture thickens. Add the peach juice mixture to the peaches and toss to coat.

Pour the peaches into a prepared baking dish and top with the crumble. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until the crisp is golden brown on top and the juices are bubbling. Serve with vanilla bean gelato. Enjoy!