This boozy peach crisp is a perfect no-fuss summer dessert, packed with ripe local peaches and a delightfully crunchy oat topping.

Peaches and bourbon were meant to be together. The vanilla-scented sweetness of the bourbon perfectly contrasts the bright acidity of the peaches, and the sweet and salty oat topping brings it all together.

I am not usually one for fruit desserts (if there’s chocolate or caramel or peanut butter on the dessert menu I will, without a doubt, veer in that direction versus the fruity option).

But. However. That said.

Every so often I surprise myself by making a fruit dessert that really hits the spot.

This is one of those desserts.

Complete with sticky sweet bourbon-spiked peaches and topped with a sweet and salty and, most importantly, crunchy topping of buttery oats and brown sugar, this skillet peach crisp is a thing of beauty.

The topping here is actually virtually identical to my dulce de leche crumb bars, if you can believe it. Talk about a versatile recipe!

What makes it a crisp and not a cobbler or a crumble, you ask? Well, cobblers are typically topped with dollops of biscuit-like dough. Crumbles and crisps are very similar, but crisps typically contain oats in the topping (which amps up the crunch factor) and crumbles usually don’t. I say that although the only other crisp/crumble/cobbler I’ve ever posted contains oats and yet I still called that one a crumble, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

(more…)