Gluten-Free Peach Crisp Recipe
If you start following a gluten-free diet, you'll definitely notice some changes when it comes to the baked goods you're now permitted to eat. Swapping out wheat flour for flour made of almond meal, as is the case in this recipe, will yield a different texture. Luckily, in a crisp, you won't notice as much of a textural shift. Recipe developer Sher Castellano tells us that "fresh out of the oven, the texture [of this gluten-free peach crisp] is quite similar. It's chewy and crumbly."
Typically, a crisp includes oats. But wait, aren't oats gluten-free? Well, yes and no. While oats themselves don't contain gluten, they may be contaminated with it during the growing or processing states. As Castellano explains, "most crisps contain some kind of grain, whether it's wheat or oat. But this [peach crisp] is entirely grain-free." She adds that "while [the crisp] uses almond flour, it is not overly nutty," instead describing the taste as "sweet and juicy ... [with] notes of vanilla and hints of sea salt."
Collect the ingredients for this gluten-free peach crisp
Apart from swapping out the oats and/or flour used to top most crisps for almond flour, Castellano says that no other ingredient swaps were needed in this recipe: "All of the other ingredients [in a typical peach crisp] are naturally gluten-free."
The ingredients you'll be using for the topping are the aforementioned almond flour plus salt, baking soda, honey, and oil (Castellano uses an extra-virgin olive oil here), while the filling is made from fresh peaches, cornstarch, vanilla, and more salt and honey.
Make the peach filling
Preheat the oven to 375 F, then slice the peaches and mix them in a bowl with the cornstarch, vanilla, ¼ cup honey, and ¼ teaspoon salt. While Castellano does not specify that the peach skin be peeled off, feel free to do so if you prefer.
One note about this recipe: This is something you should only be able to make when peaches are in season. Castellano insists that "frozen peaches ... are not a swap for fresh peaches in this recipe" due to their moisture levels.
Make the crumb topping
In a separate bowl, mix the remaining salt and honey with the oil, baking soda, salt, and flour. The resulting mixture should have a crumb-like texture. Put the sliced peaches in a baking pan and sprinkle the topping over them.
Bake the peach crisp
Cover the pan with foil and bake the peach crisp for 30 minutes. Take the foil off, then bake it for 15 more minutes until the fruit is bubbly and the crumb topping appears golden brown in color. While Castellano says the crisp can be eaten warm or cold, in her opinion, "the best way to enjoy this is fresh out of the [oven] with something creamy on the side like ice cream or whipped cream."
- 2 pounds yellow peaches, pits removed and sliced thin
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup honey, divided
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
- 1 cup fine-ground almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the peaches with cornstarch, vanilla, ¼ cup honey, and ¼ teaspoon salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining salt and honey with the almond flour, baking soda, and oil. Mix until crumbly.
- Put the peaches in a baking pan and sprinkle them with the crumb topping.
- Cover the pan with foil and bake the peach crisp for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil from the pan. Continue to bake the crisp for 15 more minutes, or until the fruit is soft and bubbly and the topping is golden brown.
- Enjoy the crisp warm (let cool slightly).