Tag: Oatmeal

Sweet Treats

Recipe—Peach Crisp

Diva di Cucina
Peach Crisp

Okay, so I am on a total peach kick here. Hopefully you didn’t miss the recipe I posted last week for Peach Margaritas. I am still recovering from those! 

Now, in my opinion, the peach is the epitome of summer fruit. I just love that this time of year when I walk into the produce section or I’m at the farmers market, I get hit with a wall of the sweet sweet smell of stone fruit. Peaches, apricots, nectarines! Yum! There is just something about that sweet fleshy fruit that is so good anyway you have them.

Now when it comes to baking with peaches, I am all about a homecooked peach crisp, not a cobbler. When cooked, peaches get super soft so I like that sweet oatmeal baked to a nice crisp on top with a little bit of cinnamon. This is such a simple recipe, and you just can’t beat it hot out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. Trust me, you will want to too!

Note: As much as I love using fresh peaches in my crisp, I want to be able to have peach crisp year round and you can really only get good quality peaches during the summer. So, with that said, I give you permission to substitute canned or frozen peaches in this recipe. If you want to use canned, make sure to completely drain them and if you use frozen, add 10 minutes to the cooking time. 

PEACH FILLING INGREDIENTS
6–8 peaches, sliced
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp cornstarch

CRISP INGREDIENTS
1/2 c old fashioned oats
1 c flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 c butter, softened

STEPS

  • Preheat oven to 350º.
  • In a large bowl combine all the filling ingredients and gently fold making sure not to pulverize the peaches.
  • Transferthe fruit mixture to the bottom of a greased 13” x 9” baking dish and evenly spread out. 
  • In that same bowl, mix together the oats, flour, and cinnamon.
  • Add the softened butter to the oat mix and using your hands, or a large electric mixer with a paddle, combine everything until it is all evenly mixed and nice and crumbly. 
  • Distribute the oatmeal topping over the top of your fruit. (It is okay if it is all rough and crumbly. Do not push or pat it down.)
  • Bake uncovered for 30–35 minutes. 
  • Remove from oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. 
  • Serve in bowls topped with vanilla ice cream or whip cream.
Sweet Treats

Recipe—Craisin White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (AKA Santa’s Favorite)

Diva di Cucina

Craisin White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

One of my favorite things about Christmas is all the traditions that go along with it. Gingerbread house building, baking, listening to Christmas music, hanging the stockings, you catch my drift. There is just so much magic in the month leading up to Christmas. Well, ever since my son with 10 months old we have taken him for annual photos with Santa. They are all framed and sit in chronological order (have a mentioned I have OCD tendencies before? LOL) along the entertainment center leading up to Christmas.

Santa

This year he is 10 years old and he still wanted to go take a pick with Santa. With COVID I didn’t think we could make that happen but sure enough, we found a place that was doing physically distanced photos by appointment only. Yay! Anyways, ever since my son could talk he would make sure to ask Santa what kind of cookies he wanted us to leave out for Christmas, it never fails, he ALWAYS says oatmeal. Now one thing I will fess up to is that I despise raisins! I cannot eat them! Even as an adult I will pick them out of trail mix. I refuse to contaminate a good oatmeal cookie with raisins! However, I do love me some craisins. So, ever since that first time Santa said he wanted oatmeal cookies, this recipe made it into the baking rotation. These are delicious, buttery, and just the right amount of chewy and sweet. To me, these cookies are the cookie of Christmas and I guarantee you they are Santa approved!

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c + 6 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 c oats uncooked
1 c craisins
11 oz white chocolate chips

STEPS

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
  • In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy.
  • Add eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture.
  • Gradually start to fold in the flour ingredients into the butter mixture.
  • Add oats, craisins, white chocolate chips and mix well.
  • Drop dough by the spoonful onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  • Bake for 8–10 minutes or until light golden brown.
  • Allow cookies to sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cutting board or cooling rack.