I gasped when I read this recipe on a blog.  There were too many of my favorites to not try this recipe.  I’d have to crawl down into a corner cupboard and risk getting stuck to dig out two of our cast iron skillets, but it might be worth it.  Having our own crumbles in cast iron skillets topped with ice cream sounded like pure fun.  I needed to get peaches!

I bought 4 peaches and my P.S. (Peach Stealer/ hubby) ate two of them before I could make my desserts.  A third one went instantly to over-ripe, dripping nasty juices all over my fridge.  I was down to one peach, but it was a good one and when I actually dug the little skillets out of the farthest corner of the deepest cupboard, they would probably only hold one sliced peach and a cup of blueberries between them.  Good!

I sliced the peach, added the blueberries and rest of the ingredients for the filling and stirred them well.  I set them aside to finish the topping.

I had cut the recipe in half for the filling and halved the topping as well.  I put the ingredients into a bowl and used a pastry cutter to cut the butter into small pieces.  I added a glug of cream to the bowl, stirred well and it looked right.  I wasn’t sure how adding the liquid would make it still a crumb topping but it actually was still little butter pieces of crumb topping!

I divided the fruit between the 2 skillets.  One skillet was slightly larger but my P.S.’s appetite is larger so that worked well.

I spread the peach slices and blueberries evenly in the skillets and they were ready for topping.

I divided the crumble over the fruit then placed a sheet of foil over the sheet pan and placed the skillets on the foil.  I was practicing damage control.  I didn’t want to scrub stuck on fruit from my sheet pans!  I already suspected the cast iron pans were going to be a mess.

I put the sheet pan into the oven that I’d preheated to 375•F.  I set the timer for 30 minutes.  My skillets were shallow so at 30 minutes my crumbles were bubbling away, golden tops and juice merrily bubbling all over the sides of the skillets.

I set the pan on the top of the stove and by the time we were done with dinner the crumbles had cooled a bit.  We garnished them with scoops of French vanilla ice cream and dug in with our spoons.

Oh my goodness they were SO good!  The sweet blueberries, the slightly tart peaches melded so well with the buttery crumble.  Swimming in  melting ice cream, each bite was a “mmmm!”

My only regret was that the skillets weren’t bigger.  I wanted more!  Since they make up so easily I’m sure I’ll be making this dessert more often.  I probably won’t be using the cast iron skillets, however.  They were a mess to clean and my P.S., who is the Cast Iron Nazi here, lectured me on how they now needed to be seasoned all over again.  Poo.  Easily done.

Skillet Bourbon Peach Blueberry Crumble

Fruit Filling:

1-2 peaches; skinned and sliced
1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 cup sugar (or more depending on how sweet your peaches and blueberries are)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter; cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon heavy cream (or milk)

Vanilla ice cream for topping

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a mixing bowl stir together fruit filling ingredients.

In a separate bowl or food processor measure crumble topping ingredients and pulse or use a pastry cutter to reduce to crumbs.  Add cream or milk and stir to bring together a bit more.  It will still be crumbly.

Divide fruit filling between two small cast iron frying pans or baking dishes.  Cover with crumble.

Place a sheet of foil on a baking sheet and place pans on foil.  Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbly around the outsides.

Cool for 10-15 minutes then serve topped with vanilla ice cream.

2 servings

Adapted from Home is Where the Boat Is