Nurturing my inner... fruit fabulous

Fresh summer fruit dessert - let's go!  (Time is tight these days.  No big intro.)

Peaches.  What a flavorful fruit when it's in season.  (And what a bitter fruit when it's not!)  Lucky for us, it's the perfect time of year for them to be perfect.  (So this better make it to your menu this very week!)

Not sure if I had the idea for this before I went to the Farmers Market or if I got the idea after I saw them at the Farmers Market.  (Eh, chicken-egg, what does it matter.)  Sweet, yellow peaches were in season and on my menu.

Peach Raspberry Crisp

Peach filling:
4 peaches, peeled, wedged
1/2 pint fresh raspberries (I got HUGE, tasty ones at Wegmans)
2 tbsps light brown sugar
2 tbsps granulated white sugar
1 - 2 tsp(s) all purpose flour
One vanilla bean, seeds only (I like Penzey's)
Zest of one lime

Crisp topping:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp granulated white sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 of a stick butter
Dash of salt

I love the natural imperfections of fresh, locally grown, just-picked produce.  It seems so genuine to me.

Honest fruit.

Preparing the peaches will mean first removing them from their natural, fuzzy track suits.  Boil water and drop peaches in for 30 seconds to one minute.

From the Jacuzzi, ahhh...

Remove and immediately drop into cold water.

... to ice bath! Brr!

This will help separate the skin from the fruit and make them really easy to peel with little waste.

Slick as salmon. I love the blush on them.

To add some interesting flavor, I decided to bring out a vanilla bean.  (Yes, a real, live, whole bean.)

Looks like a green bean - with a super tan!

All you do is slice it in half long ways and use the back of a knife to scrape out the seeds.  They are super potent and powerfully packed with deep, rich vanilla flavor.

Concentrated vanilla flavor at its best.
Nothing beats it!

Into a bowl go the peach wedges, brown and white sugars, flour, lime zest and vanilla bean seeds.  Stir it up and make sure the sugars are well incorporated.  (The reason I use a little of each is because the brown sugar adds a lovely caramel hint, but the real sweetness needed to mellow out the tartness comes from the white.)

The peaches are already so fragrant.

At the very end, add in the raspberries and toss gently because they are a very fragile fruit. If the mixture seems too juicy, you can add another teaspoon of flour to thicken.  Let sit for 10 minutes and then pour into a buttered 11 inch oval baking dish.

Blend flavors, blend! Those berries are
just colossal in size!

While the fruit is taking a rest, you can prepare your topping.  Into a small bowl add the flour, brown and white sugars, salt and oatmeal.  Cut the butter into small pieces.  If you have a kitchen mixer with the right attachments, you could electronically blend this together slowly until the butter is in small, pea-sized pellets.  I do not have a fancy mixer, so I used my God-given manual mixers - my hands.

Have to use a quick cooking oat.

It took just a few minutes to crumble it up and get the butter mixed in.  Then I sprinkled it liberally onto the fruit.  So that everything was covered.  Into a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Fruit is still under there, I swear.

Your entire kitchen will fill with the wonderful aroma of warm, citrus-scented peaches.  It's the best air freshener money can buy.  (And the only one you can actually eat.)

Bubbly, crumbly, lovely.

A couple of small scoops of fat free frozen vanilla yogurt (to neutralize your guilt over the butter) and you're ready to serve.  You'll want to share, so go ahead and ask your across the hall neighbor to come over and pull up a bowl with you.  That's what I did.  I'm sure the crisp would have been fine with just the peaches and raspberries, but adding the lime zest and the vanilla bean jacked up the wow factor to outrageous levels!  It's nearly indescribable to explain the unique balance of sweet and tart happening here.  How could anyone possibly prepare their taste buds for that many flavor punches at one time?!

I like it when the yogurt starts to melt.

At this point, I have little else to say.  (Except that I bet you wish you were my neighbor!)