Peach & Plum Crumble with Walnut Streusel

September 23, 2021

Now that it’s technically fall, we are fully in peak fruit bake season. The stone fruits of late summer are perfectly highlighted by these fruit-forward bakes, which really allows their flavors to shine. In this peach and plum crumble, the topping is full of plenty of complementary spices and crunchy walnuts for a rich, cozy treat that can stretch from breakfast to dessert.

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When I first started baking, I wouldn’t dare combine multiple fruits together. I was so scared of working with two different textures and flavors in the same bake that I often just stuck with one. But now, forget it, I’ll just throw whatever I’ve got on hand into a crumble like this one.

Crumbles (and their close cousins, crisps, do you know the difference?) are my absolute favorite fruit bake. They are so easy to throw together. You don’t need any special equipment or ingredients outside of what you probably have on hand already. Plus, they are versatile and a great way to use up extra fruit.

What You Need to Get Started

You can easily find all of the ingredients for this peach and plum crumble at your grocery store:

Produce: Peaches, Plums
Pantry: Flour, Brown sugar, Walnuts
Spice Rack: Cinnamon, Allspice, Ground cloves, Ground ginger, Salt
Fridge: Butter
Equipment: Mixing bowls, Pie pan or cake pan or casserole dish

Let’s Make Peach & Plum Crumble with Walnut Streusel

It’s a universal truth that plums make everything pretty. Their bold color just stands out, making this fruit bake, or whatever you are making with them, a gorgeous pinky red color. Here, their sweet tartness is combined with juicy peaches and spiced streusel for a balanced and tasty crumble.

Crumbles are so easy, so it’s a great recipe to have in your pocket if you need something last minute for a potluck brunch or dinner party. There is very little prep, so it’s a good idea to preheat your oven right away.

You can make a crumble like this in pretty much any pan that can hold the volume. I used a pretty ceramic pie pan, but your standard nine-inch cake pan or even a casserole dish will work well in a pinch.

When it comes to selecting fruit, you want your peaches and plums to be just ripe. If they are a little overripe, it will be okay. Just be sure to cut off any bruised or extremely soft spots while dicing. Underripe fruit may need additional time in the oven to fully soften.

Dice the fruit into large chunks. It’s okay if these aren’t perfectly square or even. Most of the fruit will break down, so the individual pieces won’t really be discernible.

Add these into a large bowl, with some flour and brown sugar as well. The sugar will help the fruit release all of the yummy juices. Then, the flour will get involved to help thicken up the filling alongside the natural pectin as juices from the fruits are released.

Toss these together to combine until the fruit is all coated. Then spread the mixture evenly in the bottom of whatever pan you have decided to use. Set this aside for a minute while you prepare the streusel.

I absolutely adore streusel. You can have one that is super simple, with the just flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter. Or, like we do in this recipe, you can doctor it up will all kinds of fun and flavorful spices.

If your butter isn’t already melted, do that first, and then set it aside for a minute or so to cool slightly. Cooler butter means you can toss the streusel with your hands instead of a spoon, which makes for a crumblier topping.

Then add the flour, brown sugar, and salt into a medium bowl. Then add in the spices: cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ginger. These add a fragrant warmth to the whole dish, making it the perfect summer-to-fall transition. I love all the extra flavor, but if there’s a spice you’re not a fan of, removing it or replacing with more cinnamon won’t affect the texture.

Whisk everything together until it’s uniformly combined. Then, make a well in the middle of the bowl, and pour in the melted butter. I like to knock a bit of the flour mixture from the sides into the butter before getting my hands in there to mix.

You can also stir the streusel with a sturdy spoon. However, I recommend at least partially using your hands. It has a nice moisturizing and exfoliating side effect as well, so truly it’s a win-win situation.

Continue combining until the butter is distributed throughout the streusel. The mixture will have a wet but crumbly texture throughout, kind of like the type of sand you’d use to build a sand castle, but less rough.

Evenly spread the crumble topping over the fruit in the pan. Again, using your hands for this helps with distributing the topping and getting more crumbly pieces. Pinch pieces between your thumb and first two fingers to allow them to fall apart slightly on top of the fruit.

Once you have used up all of the streusel, it’s time to sprinkle the walnuts on top. These should be fairly evenly distributed as well, so feel free to rearrange them as needed. I love the crunch that walnuts add here, plus the flavor works nicely with the stone fruit.

If you need to make a nut-free version or don’t like walnuts, you can leave them out completely. It will be less crunchy, but still delicious. You can also experiment with other nuts instead. Chopped pecans would be my first choice as a replacement.

Bake the crumble for right around forty minutes. You can tell when a crumble is done because the fruit will be bubbling throughout and into the center, not just on the edges. If you’re not sure, give it another five minutes and then check again.

Set the pan aside to cool on a trivet for at least ten minutes, until the bubbling fully subsides and the fruit filling thickens up slightly. At this point, you can serve scoops of crumble immediately or store them for later.

You can store the baked crumble, covered tightly, at room temperature for a couple days. Reheat individual portions in the microwave until they are warmed through. Whether you are serving now or later, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream on top is always a good choice.

Peaches and plums highlight one another’s flavors in this seasonal spiced crumble, including a walnut streusel topping!

How to Serve Peach & Plum Crumble

A fruit bake like this can be eaten any time of the day and for any occasion. I love a dish that easily translates from breakfast, to brunch, to afternoon snack or dessert. It’s great for a quick meal prep breakfast or served as part of a multi-course holiday dinner.

You can definitely build an entire brunch menu around this crumble. Start with this tasty fruit bake as an appetizer topped with coffee ice cream, and then serve something savory as the main course. Try one of these 35 egg recipes to get started. Finish up with a cute little dessert of plum jam filled macarons. Don’t forget a bourbon peach smash to wash it all down.

On the other end of the spectrum, try serving scoops of this crumble for dessert. You can top it with the peach ice cream from these ginger molasses ice cream sandwiches. Then provide some delicious drinks like a birthday cake martini or chai white hot chocolate.

Use Up Leftover Fruit

Extra peaches are the perfect excuse to make peach cobbler biscuit sticky buns, a zero-proof mango and peach iced tea spritzer, or one of 24 other delicious peach breakfast recipes.
Leftover plums are just as fun in a honey pavlova with chai-poached plums, plum jam whole wheat cookie bars, or a skillet plum buckle with ginger and almond.

Other Fruit Bakes to Try

Looking for something a little different in the fruit bake family? There are so many options to choose from. Here’s a few to get you started:

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