Brown Butter Bourbon Peach Crisp

This brown butter bourbon peach crisp is my OFFICIAL dessert of summer this year. It’s been…literal years since I’ve managed to get my hands on truly great peaches. And as soon as I did, I knew what I was making.

Have more peaches to use? Make my easy peach jam!

To me, peach crisp is the purest expression of a peach dessert. That marriage of juicy, sweet, spiced fruit with the crumbly buttery topping just can’t be beat.

And while it’s amazing on its own, It’s taken up, like, four notches by using brown butter in the topping and a splash of bourbon in the filling. You can leave both out if you prefer and it’s still delicious, but these make it absolute *chef’s kiss*.

I’ve included this in the notes as well, but the trickiest part with this recipe is that there is squishiness between ingredient amounts and size of your pan. Peaches vary WILDLY in size. I used 6 peaches and filled up a 4×8 pan…but 6 peaches should be way more than that normally.

So broadly speaking I’d double this for a 9×13 pan and for the topping that should work…but you’ll need to eyeball and adjust your filling amounts proportionally by how your peaches size. However, the filling in particular is extremely flexible on amounts. The recipe in general is flexible.

How to make brown butter bourbon peach crisp

First, brown the butter. Cut the 4 tablespoons of butter into pieces and add to a small skillet. Heat on medium until it melts , then continue to heat and stir as it starts to foam, then bubble and crackle, and finally quiet down and the bottom will get dark quickly. Pull before it burns! I have a post on how to brown butter if you need more info. Set aside.

Dice your peaches and add to a medium bowl. Maybe sneak a few bites, I won’t tell.

Add the spices, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and lemon juice, and stir together.

Let sit for 10 minutes or so (you can make the topping while it sits). Then add the bourbon and the cornstarch and stir everything together.

To make the topping, add the browned butter, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, flour, oats, salt, and cinnamon to a small bowl. Use a fork to stir together so everything is moistened.

Pour the peach mixture into a baking dish (mine was an odd size, but just choose one big enough for your filling to be decently thick). Cover fully with the topping mixture.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes…it will very much depend on the thickness of your filling and topping, but you want the filling to be bubbling up around the sides and the topping to get golden and smell amazing.

Let sit for at least 10 minutes (more like 30 is ideal) to let the juices thicken and set.

If you manage to get your hands on great peaches, this brown butter bourbon peach crisp needs to be first on your list to make.

Other fruit crisps & cobblers you’ll love:

• Bourbon Cherry Crisp with Brown Butter Streusel
• Healthy Cardamom-Almond Peach Crisp
• Healthy Pear Cranberry Crisp
• Peach Raspberry Cobbler

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Brown Butter Bourbon Peach Crisp

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

This brown butter bourbon peach crisp is the ultimate version of this American classic, and a pure summer treat! All you need are delicious ripe peaches and only a few minutes of hands-on time. The is the best peach crisp out there. The topping could be made gluten-free if needed.

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Ingredients

• See notes on amounts and size of pan!
• FILLING
• 6 peaches (mine were on the small side)
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar (to taste, see notes)
• 1/8 ginger
• 1/8 cinnamon
• 1/8 nutmeg
• Pinch of allspice
• Pinch of cardamom
• Pinch of salt
• 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• A drop or two of almond extract
• 1-2 tablespoons of bourbon
• TOPPING
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1/4 cup of old fashioned oats
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Instructions

1. First, brown the butter. Cut the 4 tablespoons of butter into pieces and add to a small skillet. Heat on medium until it melts , then continue to heat and stir as it starts to foam, then bubble and crackle, and finally quiet down and the bottom will get dark quickly. Pull before it burns! I have a post on how to brown butter if you need more info. Set aside.
2. Dice your peaches and add to a medium bowl. Add the spices, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and lemon juice, and stir together.
3. Let sit for 10 minutes or so (you can make the topping while it sits). Then add the bourbon and the cornstarch and stir everything together.
4. To make the topping, add the browned butter, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, flour, oats, salt, and cinnamon to a small bowl. Use a fork to stir together so everything is moistened.
5. Pour the peach mixture into a baking dish (mine was an odd size, but just choose one big enough for your filling to be decently thick). Cover fully with the topping mixture.
6. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes...it will very much depend on the thickness of your filling and topping, but you want the filling to be bubbling up around the sides and the topping to get golden and smell amazing. Let sit for at least 10 minutes (more like 30 is ideal) to let the juices thicken and set.

Notes

1. The trickiest part here is amounts and size of your pan. Peaches vary WILDLY in size. I used 6 peaches and filled up a 4x8 pan...but 6 peaches should be way more than that normally. So broadly speaking I'd double this for a 9x13 pan and for the topping that should work...but you'll need to eyeball and adjust your filling amounts proportionally by how your peaches size. However, the filling in particular is extremely flexible on amounts.
2. This can be made gluten-free by substituting a gluten-free flour (a 1:1 mix, oat flour, almond flour maybe best?) in the topping.