Roasted peaches with flaxseed meal crumble

 

I love it that stone fruits are in season. Peaches, apricots, cherries are some of my favourite fruits.

Sadly, our climate in Singapore is unsuitable for growing these stone fruits or I would have a field day picking them. My sister was just in Japan a few weeks ago; she and her girlfriends went momo (peach) picking. Well, I wish that were me but I guess I would have to make do with these peaches.

Sometimes, you may end up with peaches that are not that sweet because they are picked before they are fully ripened. Apart from leaving them in room temperature for a day or two to allow them to become softer and juicier, the best way to bring out their sweetness is by roasting or grilling.

 

I have to share this simple recipe with you for a fuss-free and delicious dessert. I have already made this twice in the same weekend because warmed fruit and crumble is so hard to resist.

I would recommend getting donut peaches (see photo below)  if you can; they look like flattened peaches but they are almost always sweeter than your regular peaches. If you only have regular peaches, fret not – a drizzle of maple syrup would do the trick.

 

I like to use pure maple syrup either Grade A (dark amber) or Grade B (Amber) for my baking and my cocktails because they have a more robust, darker caramel flavour than the lighter varieties.

 

 

This is also not quite your usual crumble. I happen to have mace root powder and flaxseed meal on hand so I added it in and it gave the crumble a distinctive nutty flavour that pairs very well with the roasted peaches. But perhaps, you can replace some flour with some ground almond or hazelnut for a similar effect.

The beauty of this dish is that it doesn’t require much of a recipe – it’s the kind of dish that J likes. He doesn’t like baking because he doesn’t like to follow recipes and measurements to a T. This is probably the kind of dessert that he will put together.

Recipe: Roasted peaches with maple syrup and rosemary with a crumble

To call this a recipe is a misnomer. This is a guide and some advice on how I do this. When I’m making a crumble, I don’t use a recipe but go by proportions. This is the recipe you can easily do when you are in your vacation home without a weighing scale.

Ingredients for the roasted peaches:
12 peaches, halved and pitted
drizzle of pure maple syrup
tiny knobs of butter on each of the peach slices
fresh rosemary and thyme
pinch of sea salt

Method:
1.Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. Place peaches on a ceramic tray or equivalent. Add in tiny knobs of butter onto each of the peach slices and drizzle maple syrup all over the peaches. The amount of maple syrup you use depends on how sweet the peaches are and of course, your preference. Sprinkle a pinch salt over the peaches and add in the fresh herbs.
2. Roast in your oven (high rack, near to heat source) for about 25 to 30 minutes until just tender but not falling apart.

Ingredients for the crumble:
1 part unsalted butter, cubed
1 part flour (I substituted some of it with flaxseed meal and mace root powder)
3/4 part sugar (I usually use half brown sugar and half granulated sugar)
pinch of salt
a dash of vanilla extract
Some rolled oats/chopped nuts (optional)

1. Rub in method: Rub the cubed butter into dry ingredient until large crumbs are form. The size of the crumbs depends on how large you like your crumble bits to be.
2. Spread it onto a parchment-lined tray and bake for about 12 – 15 minutes until golden brown.

To serve: Simple spoon your crumble mix over your roasted peaches. I like to drizzle a good aged balsamic vinegar before serving.