I spent much of last weekend visiting with dear friends I haven’t seen in years. We enjoyed lots of great conversation and feasting: it was so much fun! I made this fresh apricot crisp as part of a big breakfast I hosted on Sunday and everyone loved it. If you enjoy fresh apricots, I think you’ll love it, too.
Very ripe, local apricots are one of my favorite summertime treats. One of the local farm stands I frequent has them right now, and I keep making the trip over there to buy more!
If you can’t find fresh apricots, you can certainly make this recipe with a different stone fruit, such as nectarines or peaches or plums. You can also use a combination of different fruits, if you like.
This recipe does not contain all that much sugar compared to other crisp recipes I’ve made in the past. I prefer less sugar because I really want to taste the fruit in recipes like this, even if the fruit is a bit tart; also, as I mentioned above, we had this for breakfast (and I prefer to avoid very sweet things in the morning). Feel free to use a little more sugar if you go for fruits treats like this on the sweeter side, or if you are making this for dessert.
If you don’t eat grains (and therefore oats are out), you could make the crisp topping with ground nuts, such as almonds.
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I bet apricots would also be great in this galette recipe of mine, and here are some additional summery fruit recipes that I can’t wait to try:
Blueberry Buckle from Food Loves Writing
Honey Roasted Peaches with Thyme from Food Babbles
Rhubarb Skillet Cake with Jaggery Crumb from Nourished Kitchen
Blackberry Peach Pie from Tutti Dolci
Nectarine Blackberry Pie from Eat the Love
Mixed Berry Tart from Baker’s Royale
White Peach Crisp with Brown Butter Walnut Crumble
Recipe for Fresh Apricot Crisp
Ingredients
- *5 heaping cups of halved and pitted fresh apricots or use 2 1/2 cups apricots and 2 1/2 cups of another fruit, such as peaches, plums, or nectarines
- *2/3 cup fair-trade organic sugar (or coconut sugar or another unrefined, granulated sugar), divided
- *1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- *1 cup organic rolled oats (real, thick oats: not the quick-cooking sort; be sure to use certified gluten-free oats if you avoid gluten)
- *1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- *1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- *1/4 cup 1/2 stick cold, organic butter, cut into about 8 small pieces
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- 2. In a large bowl, combine the sliced apricots with 1/3 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice. Mix well. Transfer the apricot mixture to the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan.
- 3. Make the crisp topping by first combining the oats with the rest of the sugar, the cinnamon, and the sea salt in a small bowl. Add the butter pieces and work them in with your (very clean!) fingers until the crisp topping resembles coarse crumbs. You want some small rounds of butter to still be palpable/visible. Spread the crisp topping evenly over the apricots.
- 4. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the fruit is very soft, the fruit juices are bubbling, and the crisp topping is lightly browned and very fragrant. Enjoy as is, or with plain or vanilla yogurt. For dessert, top with some homemade whipped cream (or whipped coconut cream) or vanilla ice cream (though it's cool with me if you want to eat ice cream at breakfast).
