Oatmeal Cookie Peach Crisp

I've been selfish. I could've shared this with you days ago, but I just kept eating it instead of editing pictures and writing. I'm a baaaad blogger. But! I'm sharing now, k? I know it's not quite fall, which is when I feel like I should be eating oatmeal cookies, so I decided to make it summery by sticking it on top of sweet, summer peaches. Problem solved! (Was that other sentence a run-on sentence? My high school English teacher would quite literally smack me on the head.)

I've always loved oatmeal cookies. Maybe because the oatmeal raisin cookies I grew up eating were full of butter. I wanted the cookie topping to have a nice hit of salt because I knew the peaches would be sweet. You can reduce the salt if you like, but I think it's a nice contrast. Combine that with warm cinnamon and spicy ginger, and you've got a late summer dessert that hits all the right notes.

This...has nothing to do with dessert. This is a baby who so badly wants to feed himself thankyouverymuch. And sometimes he knocks the spoon out of your hand and pureed chicken noodle soup goes flying. Onto his head. And it's the cutest thing you've seen since the last supercute thing he did.

 The peach part is the easy part. Not that the cookie is hard. But all you'll need is peaches, maple syrup, ground ginger, and flour.

 Pour the syrup on top of the peaches, then sprinkle the flour and ginger over them.

 Toss the peaches until they've all been coated by the flour, ginger, and maple syrup. Set it aside while you make the cookie topping.

Okay so the cookie is slightly more involved. You need: Old-fashioned oats, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, an egg, brown butter, chopped pecans, brown sugar, vanilla extract, granulated sugar, and all-purpose flour. Note: If you're new to brown butter, simply heat butter in a saucepan with a light colored bottom until the milk solids have caramelized and turned a light golden brown color. It will smell nutty and glorious.

Whisk the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda together.

Add the oats and chopped pecans to the flour mixture and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl, mix the sugars and brown butter.

An egg will making everything smooth. Psst, did you notice the pretty color of the egg in the ingredients picture? My sister introduced me to this farm stand that sells fresh eggs. I couldn't resist, and they taste incredible.

Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine.

Start adding your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. I did a little at a time, but did not incorporate each addition fully before adding the next. When all the flour mixture was added I did a couple of final turns just so all the flour was moistened.

It's a beautiful, chunky dough with a hint of caramel flavor. I stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to make it easier to handle.

Very lightly butter a 9x9 baking dish. Pour in your peaches.

Top the peaches with tablespoonfuls of cookie dough. Cover the entirety of the peaches, filling in the cracks with bits of dough. Any leftover dough made it into my mouth, so none was wasted.

Bake until the cookie top is golden and the sides have just started to crisp.

Tell me you don't want that corner.

Peach crisp should always be eaten warm and with ice cream. Some choose vanilla bean (a wise choice indeed), but I go for the french toast.

And then I go for my mouth. 

Oatmeal Cookie Peach Crisp (serves 8-10)

Oatmeal cookie adapted from Flour Bakery's cookie via David Lebovitz

Peach base:

4 c peach slices

3 tbs maple syrup

2 tbs all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Oatmeal Cookie Topping:

3/4 c + 2 tbs all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 c + 2 tbs old-fashioned oats

1/3 c chopped pecans

1/2 c butter, browned

1/2 c brown sugar

1/3 c granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• Begin by mixing peaches, maple syrup, flour, and ginger in a large bowl. Toss until all the peaches are coated. Set aside.
• For the cookie topping, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir in oats and pecans.
• In a large bowl, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Stir in vanilla extract. Gradually add flour mixture and stir until flour is just moistened. Chill in the freezer about 10 minutes. While dough chills, heat oven to 350º.
• Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Pour in the peach mixture. Scoop tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto peaches. Fill in gaps with bits of dough. 
• Bake 25-35 minutes, checking at 25 minutes for doneness. The cookie topping should be lightly golden brown with crisp edges. Let cool in the pan 10-15 minutes and serve warm with ice cream.