There are so many tasty flavors out in the world, including vanilla, chocolate, strawberry – plus many, many more!
A personal favorite flavor of mine is peach. I love pretty much anything peach.
Pie? Of course. Cobbler? Delicious. Ice cream? Yes, please. Basically anything peach, from food to drink, makes me happy. Especially desserts.
So when I saw this recipe for Peach Crumble Bars from Pastry and Beyond, I HAD to have it.
And guess what? I loved that too.
So please, PLEASE, let me share it with you guys, because it needs to be shouted from the delicious peach rooftops.
For the ingredients, I used peaches (of course), granulated sugar, plant butter, corn starch, lemon juice, old fashioned oats, all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.
To start off, I needed to get the skins off the peaches. There’s a pretty easy way to do this that doesn’t involve a sharp knife and endless amounts of patience!
Enter blanching. Blanching is basically scalding a food, usually a fruit or vegetable, in boiling water and then placing them in ice water immediately after removing them to stop the cooking process.
So for the peaches, I started with a pot of water and got it boiling. While it was heating up, I set up a bowl with cold water and tossed a bunch of ice cubes in it.
Then I washed off the four peaches I was planning to use, and I scored one end of each peach with a knife in an X pattern. This will help to remove the skins after blanching.
After submerging the peaches in the boiling water for about 30 seconds, I fished them out with a pair of tongs and immediately dropped them into the cold water. I left them in there until they cooled completely.
At this point, it was super easy to remove the skins. I simply peeled the skins off, starting with the scored end, and they came right off!
Once the skins were off, I removed the pits. I used the same knife that I originally used to score the peaches to cut them in half and pull the pieces off of the pit.
Then I cut the peaches up into chunks. Smaller chunks work best, but if you like larger chunks, it should be fine!
Next I added the lemon juice and vanilla extract. The original recipe called for almond extract, but my husband has some issues with almonds, so we went the vanilla extract route. I love almond extract, so in the future, I plan on trying it that way as well!
After mixing the peaches and wet ingredients, I added the corn starch and sugar.
These ingredients got mixed up as well and then set aside so they could thicken up a bit before going in the oven.
Next was the crumble base and topping. The same mixture was used for both the base and topping, so just one bowl was needed for this.
I measured out the flour in a fresh bowl, and then I added the oats, sugar, and cinnamon. I didn’t end up using the salt like the original recipe called for, since my plant butter was not unsalted. The dry ingredients then whisked together.
Before I went to add the butter to the dry ingredients, I had to melt it in the microwave. Once it was melted, I added it to oat mixture and made sure to mix really well. The butter keeps everything together, so you don’t want to miss some of the dry ingredients!
In a glass pan I prepped with avocado oil and parchment paper (which overlapped on the sides for easy removal), I put about two thirds of the oat mixture into the pan and pressed it down into the corners with a spoon.
Then the peaches went on top of that. I spooned them out of the bowl, which left me with some juices in the bottom. I decided to make a drizzle with that, so I set it aside.
The rest of the oats went on top of the peaches, and I spread it around in a thin layer. You’ll want to make sure you press them in a little bit to get them stuck on the peaches.
Ready for the oven! I put them in for 35 minutes.
I checked them around 30 minutes or so, and I noticed that they weren’t browning as much as I wanted them to, so after I checked them again at 35 minutes, I let them go another couple minutes hoping to brown them up a little more.
The topping wasn’t quite as crunchy as I would have liked, but I was entirely too impatient to try them.
Back to the drizzle! I took the remaining liquid from the peaches and put it in a pot. I probably should have used a smaller pot. Whoops.
After cooking it down on the stove for a bit, it became thicker and ready to be a delicious drizzle. I poured it into a Ziploc bag, and after cutting a corner off, I spread it over the bars.
I let the bars cool for about a half hour (I suggest going longer than that!). After removing it from the pan by pulling the parchment paper up and out, I sliced the bars and, as impatient as I had said before, I tried one.
My love for peaches has never been as strong as it was right then. Look at this thing.
Don’t just take my word for it, though. Try it yourself! You’ll thank me and yourself later!
Peach Crumble Bars
Peachy heaven. Take a bite of these delicious peach crumble bars and revel in the delicious vanilla, peach, and cinnamon.
Ingredients
Peach Filling
- 450 g (2 c) peaches, skinned and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 30 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Oat Base and Topping
- 140 g (1 c) all-purpose flour
- 130 g (1 ⅓ c) old fashioned oats
- 155 g (¾ c) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 150 g (⅔ c) salted plant butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Prep a square baking dish with oil and add parchment paper with an overhang on each side for easy removal.
- Place the cut peaches in a bowl, and add the vanilla extract and lemon juice. Mix together.
- Add sugar and corn starch. Mix well and set aside.
- Add the flour, oats, sugar, and cinnamon to a new bowl. Whisk them together.
- Pour in the melted butter, and mix everything well, making sure to incorporate all of the dry ingredients well.
- Using about ⅔ of the ingredients in the bowl, press the oat mixture into the bottom of the baking dish.
- Next spoon the peach filling over the base evenly. Reserve all of the remaining liquid.
- Spread remaining oat mixture over top of the peaches and press into the peaches.
- Place the dish in the oven for 35 minutes or until the topping crisps.
- While baking, pour the peach liquid into a sauce pan and reduce.
- Remove the dish from the oven, and using a zipped baggy, drizzle the peach liquid over the bars.
- Let the bars cool completely (place it in refrigerator if needed).
- Using the overhanging parchment paper, remove the bars from the baking dish.
- Cut the bars into 9-16 pieces.
Enjoy!
Notes
The drizzle is optional! Feel free to discard the remaining liquid.
If it’s preferred, replace the vanilla extract with almond extract.
If you’re using unsalted butter, you should add about ¼ tsp of salt to the oat mixture.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.