Gluten Free Peach Crisp

This easy Gluten Free Peach Crisp is a must make summer dessert! The juicy peach filling is sweetened with maple syrup and cinnamon and topped with a crisp oat and almond flour topping. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream of course! 

It isn’t summer until I bake one peach dessert. Last year it was my grandma’s recipe for Skillet Peach Cobbler. This year it’s this Gluten Free Peach Crisp and boy was it delicious! I love making fruit crisps because they’re so easy. No pie dough to deal with, no worrying about the crust being doughy, just cut the fruit, sweeten it and slap a crumbly topping on it. I also appreciate that it only takes about half the time to bake, since I’m not a fan of using the oven in the summer.

Local peaches are everywhere here in Colorado right now. Farmers’ markets, grocery stores and even cars and stands parked along the sides of the road are all selling them. They come from the western slopes of Colorado, primarily from the town of Palisade. Their success and delicious flavor is attributed to the climate, which is warm days and cool nights. 

Picking out the perfect peach hasn’t always come easy to me, but since moving here my success rate has drastically gone up. 

Tips for Picking Out Ripe Juicy Peaches

1. Avoid peaches that still have green on them, they aren’t ripe. They should have a golden yellow color behind the reddish blush color. The lighter the yellow, the less ripe they are. Avoid peaches that have wrinkled skin or are bruised. 
2. Like most ripe fruit, peaches should be fragrant and smell like a peach. If it doesn’t smell it likely won’t have much flavor.
3. Peaches should feel heavy for their size, this means it will be juicier.  
4. The way a peach’s skin gives when you press on it will tell you a lot about how ripe it is. When pressing on a peach remember to treat it extremely gently. There’s a reason for the term “bruise like a peach”. I prefer to press on peaches at the top near the stem. If it gives like a tennis ball it’s probably not ripe enough for eating, but store it in a paper bag on the counter for several days and it should ripen right up. Any more give than this means it’s either ready to eat that day or can be stored on the counter for 1-2 days max.

I decided to make this peach crisp gluten free because lately I’ve been having quite a few issues with foods containing gluten and I know there are many others out there having problems as well. Making a peach crisp gluten free is incredibly simple. You’ll replace your filling thickener, which is generally flour with cornstarch. You’ll also replace the wheat flour that is in the crumble topping with almond flour.

 I also added toasted sliced almonds into the topping. Instead of almonds you could use toasted pecans or skip the nuts if you’re not into it. Melted coconut oil acted as the binder for the topping. If you aren’t a fan of the flavor of coconut oil you can replace it with melted butter.

You’ll need about 7-8 ripe peaches for this recipe (approximately 2 1/2 pounds). I prefer to use peeled peaches, but if you don’t want to it’s not a big deal. If you choose to peel the peaches, here’s my favorite method for peeling peaches without a knife.

The filling is sweetened with maple syrup, but you can also use brown sugar. I would suggest adding an extra tablespoon if you replace the maple syrup with brown sugar as maple syrup is sweeter. The amount of sweetener you add to the filling is completely dependent on the sweetness of your peaches and your own personal tastes.

The crisp bakes for about 30 minutes and will make your house smell wonderful. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or even Greek yogurt!

More Peach Desserts

Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Honey Ricotta

Skinny Peach Milkshakes

Cinnamon Peach Yogurt Cake