Someone in our neighborhood had an epic apricot harvest, and this is the result, at least at our house. Hello, fruit!

It's a standard thing around here to get overwhelmed by your burgeoning fruit trees. When that happens, you spend an hour or two picking fruit and put the results in a bag in your front yard with a big FREE sign. Then everyone walking past gets to bring home a bounty of fresh fruit. We do this all the time with our annual pineapple guava deluge. It's great: the glut of fruit gets used instead of rotting away on your back lawn.

This time I came across a big tray of apricots, picked out a bagful, and brought them home for delightful baking escapades. Crumble for all!

A huge variety of other fruit would work well here. Strawberry and rhubarb are excellent and seasonal. Cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, or a mixture of any of the above would be delicious. In the fall, apples or pears would work beautifully. And you can always add a handful of blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries to punctuate a panful of stone fruit. Delightful.


Apricot crisp with oat crumble topping

Fruit:
10 apricots, or about 2 cups sliced fruit
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Crumble:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup flour of your choice
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp butter/oil

Start by prepping your apricots. Wash them, halve them, remove their pits, trim off any bruises or other issues, and slice them. I ended up cutting each half apricot into five or six pieces, but you can quarter them or even leave the halves as-is if you prefer. It's all good.

Butter an 8x8 inch pan. Tip in your prepared fruit, sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon, and stir to mix. Flatten your apricots into an even layer.

For the crumble, mix together your oats, flour, and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter, cut into chunks, and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.

Spread your crumble mixture evenly over your fruit. Dot with additional butter if you feel like it (and have more butter lying around).

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until lovely and bubbling around the edges and browned on top.


This crisp is best eaten hot, right out of the oven. The apricots melt into an intensely flavored jam, while the crumble provides a perfect nutty contrast. You're going to want to have some good seed-specked vanilla ice cream with it, too.

What are you doing with your new summer fruit?