It’s fresh apricot season. I think apricots are often overlooked, or only considered as a dried fruit. I enjoy a dried apricot, but fresh apricots are such a special fruit. I love how they are so smooth and kind of have a glowy, blushy colour from yellow to deep orange with little washes of rosy red. I love how they look like tiny, cute butts. They are fuzzy like peaches, but the fuzz is so much shorter and softer. They are mild and sweet and taste like summer. Stone fruit generally goes really well with almond, and I thought it would be nice to make an apricot crumble with smashed amaretti cookies to give the crumble a hint of almond flavour.
Crumbles are an unfussy dessert, quick and simple enough to make on a weeknight. They are every bit as delightful as a pie, but a bit more casual and easy, without any delicate pastry to roll out. They have a wholesome quality (I think a crumble is a totally acceptable breakfast), but they are still a real treat. Crisp, crumb topping softens on the bottom where it meets thick, gooey, sticky sweet-tart fruit. Fruit and sugar cook together into a bubbly caramel.
I think an apple crumble with cinnamon scented crumb is the perfect fall dessert, a rhubarb crumble is an absolutely ideal spring dessert. I propose that you consider the apricot amaretti crumble your signature summer crumble. It’s great served hot with ice cream. It’s also great cold directly out of the fridge the next day.
Can’t find fresh apricots? Peaches or nectarines would be an excellent substitute.
apricot and amaretti crumble
filling
2 pounds fresh apricots, halved (about 16 medium apricots)
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract
Toss all ingredients together until evenly combined. Spread evenly into the bottom of a 9” (ish) round baking dish, or other roughly similar sized dish.
crumble
½ cup (30 grams) amaretti cookies, plus extra to crumble over the top
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
Combine butter, sugar, flour and salt in a food processor. Process until evenly combined. Add amaretti cookies and pulse a few times until the cookies are roughly broken up and some larger pieces remain. Crumble the mixture over the filling, breaking it up into rough, unevenly sized pieces, some bigger and some smaller. Add a few bigger chunks of amaretti cookies over the top if you like.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling and looks like golden caramel peeking out between crumbs of crumble. If the top browns too quickly, cover with aluminum foil. Let crumble sit for 10-15 minutes, to allow the filling to slightly thicken. Serve warm with ice cream.