Peach Berry Crisp

One of the big topics in food blogging today is attribution—recognizing the creator of the original recipe in your post. We honor each other by linking back to the inspirational recipe that spoke to us and said, “Me. Make me. I’m delicious!”

I do have some attributions for this recipe but first let’s just acknowledge that a Google search for Peach Berry Crisp yields 80,000 returns. That’s specifically “peach berry crisp”. Needless to say, crisps are pretty popular.

So, who would I say inspired this recipe?

My number one attribution: Mother Nature. She tempted me with luscious juicy New Jersey peaches, plump blackberries, and firm blond raspberries. She provided the oats, sugar, and flour. She did everything but mix them all together and put them in the oven.

My number two attribution: Isabel Ely Lord. Very little is written about her but apparently she wrote the cookbook, Every Body’s Cookbook: A Comprehensive Manual of Home Cookery in 1921. That’s where, according to Wikipedia, apple crisp is first mentioned. Thank you, Isabel.

My number three attribution: Twitter and About.com and Foodgawker and Tastespotting and Google. That’s where I talk about food, see pictures of food, and read about food. All. The. Time. It makes me hungry. It’s where my friends inspire me with their chatter and keep my foodie synapses popping.

Before we get to the recipe I’d like to share my thoughts on crisps. I really don’t think you need a recipe—just a general road map. Some fruit, sugar, flour, and “butter”. Maybe a little of this (lemon juice?), a little of that (spices?). Pop it in a moderate oven until the fruit is bubbly and the top is beautifully browned. That’s pretty much it. Easy.

I am always inspired by my gluten-free friends because of their creativity and joie de vivre. A few of them have crisp and crumble recipes you might enjoy:

Karina of Gluten-free Goddess: Gluten-free Peach Cobbler

Iris of The Daily Dietribe: Blueberry Cobbler (sugar free)

Shirley of Gluten-Free Easily: Strawberry Cobbler

Elana of Elana’s Pantry: Peach Crisp

Please post a link to your fruit crisp, cobbler, slump, or buckle in the comments below!

Peach Berry Crisp 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place into a medium bowl:

3 large peaches, peeled, sliced and each slice cut in half again

1 1/2 cups mixed blackberries, raspberries, and/or blueberries (more or less to your liking)

Sprinkle the fruit with and mix together:

1 tablespoon tapioca starch

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon lemon

Spoon the fruit mixture into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate.

In a separate bowl stir together:

1 cup GF rolled oats

3/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

a pinch each of nutmeg and salt

Add to the oat mixture and combine with a fork until crumbly:

3 tablespoons Earth Balance

Place the crumble mixture on top of the fruit. Pop in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

The crisp is done when the fruit can be pierced with a fork and the topping is nicely browned.

Serve warm for dessert or breakfast!

Note: The topping is very crispy…almost granola like. It’s definitely got a bit of a chew to it because of the oats.

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Doughnut Muffins (Gluten-Free & Vegan)

Remember last weekend I attended The Big Summer Potluck—a foodblogger gathering in PA? Today I’m featuring a recipe that stole the show that day. 

I didn’t really tell you much about the abundance of good food that was served so let’s talk about it a little before we get to the muffins.

Although Jeanne (Four Chickens) and I were the only gluten-free foodies at The Big Summer Potluck we didn’t starve. We looked longingly at the lovely selection of goodies that were gluten-filled but we had more than enough of our own treats and foods to be pleasantly full throughout the day.

We ate Cinnamon Cream Scones for our breakfast and Chocolate Crumb Cake for an afternoon snack. Our wonderful friend, Amber (Bluebonnets and Brownies), made a marvelous Gluten-Free Goddess dish—Chicken Tropicale. It was fabulous! Thanks to Amber, Jeanne and I had a filling and delicious lunch!

There were many naturally gluten-free snacks, some of which I didn’t have a chance to taste—chips and salsa (another Amber creation) and some pretty amazing goat cheeses and spreads. It was a food lover’s paradise.

Wonderful baked treats, from the kitchens of some of your favorite bloggers, were scattered across the table looking like they were staged for a professional photo shoot. There were beautifully ornamented sugar cookies made by Jen (My Kitchen Addiction). My son’s girlfriend assures me they tasted as good as they looked. There were perfect—and I mean bakery perfect—Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes from Tara (Smells Like Home). There were cookies, cookies, more cookies, and some beautiful crab cakes (Souffle Bombay). Then there were these. They’re Doughnut Muffins courtesy of Jen from How to: Simplify. These made the crowd go wild. Wild. The room was abuzz (yes, I said abuzz) about these muffins. And, all I was able to do is look at them adoringly from afar.

Before I get to the big reveal you need to go ahead and take a minute to click those links so you can see the goodies. Go ahead. I know there’s quite a few. I can wait. (Insert Jeopardy thinking music here.)

Done? Weren’t they awesome?? I know. I know…they weren’t gluten-free. Well, I like to admire them anyway. I need to do more than admire those Doughnut Muffins, though. I need to have them. And, have them I did.

Not two days after I returned from the Big Summer Potluck I was whipping up a batch of those babies—gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. Let me tell you what, I made a simple sub for each ingredient I couldn’t have and they were good. Authentic Foods Multi-Grain Flour Blend for the flour. EnerG Egg Replacer for the egg. Earth Balance for the butter. Very simple. I didn’t even wait until they had cooled before popping one of those bad boys in my mouth.

It’s such a great feeling to realize we can have some of what we think we’re missing by being gluten-free. It isn’t always going to be that a new recipe needs to be created just for us—although that’s fun, too. Sometimes we can simply sub in gluten-free flour for regular flour and have the end result be something that’s delicious. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?

It worked with these babies so I’m giving them “Two Yums Up”!

Check out Gluten Free Gigi’s variation on these muffins—Jelly Doughnut Muffins!! Beautiful.

Doughnut Muffins

Adapted from How to: Simplify, Doughnut Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the muffin tin because you’re not going to use liners for these babies.

Mix together in a small bowl until frothy and set aside to use later:

1 1/2 teaspoon EnerG Egg Replacer
1 tablespoon warm water

Combine in a medium bowl:

1 3/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (I used Authentic Foods MultiBlend Flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

In a separate large bowl stir together:

1/3 cup oil (grapeseed, canola or light olive oil will work well)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg replacer you made earlier
3/4 cup hemp (or other) milk

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir by hand only to combine. My batter was a little lumpy but it worked just fine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

While muffins are baking, melt and place in a small bowl:

1/4 - 1/2 cup Earth Balance

In another small bowl, combine:

1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Shake muffins out of the muffin tin while they’re still hot.

Dip the hot muffins in the melted butter and then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.

Note: I thought the Earth Balance was a little too thick for my preferences. Next time I will brush the Earth Balance over the top half of the muffin and dredge that in the cinnamon sugar mix. Either way these will be delicious!

Also, if you can use eggs and butter go ahead and do it. Use the same measurements—1 egg and 1/4-1/2 cup butter. Live large!

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Update on Aug 16, 2010 by Nancy Kohler

One ingredient— 3/4 cup milk —was inadvertently left out when the recipe was transposed to the post. The recipe has been corrected to include that ingredient.