Recipe: Julia Roberts's Fresh Peach Crisp

Julia Roberts's
Fresh Peach Crisp

Serves 6

Paul Newman What sets this crisp apart is its topping: It is crusty and wonderful, and there is lots of it. If unpeeled peaches bother you, peel them. Serve this for dessert, of course, and also for breakfast.

7 ripe but firm medium peaches,
unpeeled, pitted, and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Scotch whisky
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup pocked dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Topping
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 sticks (24 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Softened frozen vanilla yogurt
as an accompaniment

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, toss the peaches together with the lemon juice. Add the whisky, sugar, and brown sugar, and combine well. Spread the mixture on the bottom of the baking dish and dot with small pieces of the butter.

To make the topping:
In a bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon until combined. Add the butter gradually, stirring it in to form a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle it evenly over the peaches. Even though the topping should be evenly distributed, you want a rustic, pebbly look to the top.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 to 10 minutes more to brown the top.

Let cool slightly, then serve warm in bowls, topped with scoops of frozen yogurt.

Newman's Own Cookbook
By Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner
Simon & Schuster
Hardback, 240 pages, $25.00
Publication Date: November 1998
ISBN: 0-684-84832-5
Recipe Reprinted by permission.