What is the difference between a peach crumble and a peach cobbler?

Both are baked fruit desserts with a peach filling. Crumble has a simple streusel-like topping made with butter, flour, and sugar. A cobbler has a biscuit dough topping, sometimes with carefully cut-out biscuits, but usually it's more homey with the biscuit dough dropped in spoonfuls over the filling.

What is the difference between a crumble and a streusel?

Crumble and streusel are both made with butter, sugar, and flour and are very similar. How they are used is different: Crumble is added in a solid layer over a fruit filling for the baked fruit dessert known as a crumble, whereas streusel is scattered over a coffee cake, muffin, or pie before baking.

Is melted or cold butter better for a crumble?

The butter for a crumble should not be melted. It should be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to come to room temperature so it will mix better and more quickly when combined with the sugar.

Peach Crumble (With Video and Step Images)

Name: Peach Crumble
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds peaches or nectarines, cut into ½-inch wedges (6 cups); 0.75 cup granulated sugar; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 4 teaspoons cornstarch; 0.5 teaspoon coarse salt; 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature; 0.25 cup light-brown sugar; 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled); 0.5 teaspoon coarse salt

Prep Time:

15 mins

Cook Time:

50 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 15 mins

Servings:

8

Perfect for potlucks, BBQs, and family dinners, peach crumble is one of the easiest summer fruit desserts to make. It's sublime served with vanilla ice cream—or crème fraîche if you prefer a less sweet accompaniment.

If you’re not familiar with crumbles, they're a relative of crisps and cobblers. A simple crumb topping of butter, light brown sugar, and flour goes over sliced fresh peaches (or nectarines) that have been tossed with sugar, lemon juice, and a touch of cornstarch to thicken the juices. The best part is, you don’t need to be an expert baker to ace peach crumble as it doesn't rise and doesn't fall—it bakes just fine if the oven is a little hotter or cooler than the recipe specifies.

The Peaches

Peach crumble is an easy way to showcase summer peaches. The peaches should be ripe, but they don’t need to be perfect because you’re slicing and baking them into a jammy filling. If you want to make peach crumble outside of peach season, opt for thawed and drained frozen peaches rather than out-of-season fresh fruit which tends to have less flavor.

Other Fruits to Use

Nectarines are an easy swap for peaches in this recipe and have a similar juicy, sweet flavor and aroma. You can also substitute an equal amount of fresh apricots.

Skin-on Fruit

We don’t peel the peaches when we make this crumble because we don’t think you need to. Not peeling the fruit saves time, as to peel the peaches you’d need to blanch them in hot water to loosen their skins.

The Crumble

Crumble topping is so easy to make and forgiving to bake. All you need is all-purpose flour, light-brown sugar, unsalted butter, and salt. Mixed together, they create a crumbly, clumpy topping that bakes up toasty and buttery.

Make Ahead

To cut down on day-of prep work, you can make the topping ahead of time. After mixing the ingredients together, refrigerate the topping for up to 2 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.

Since the topping freezes well, we suggest making a double batch and saving half for another day.

Baking Peach Crumble

Our peach crumble recipe bakes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. You can see when a crumble is baked because the topping will be golden brown and the fruit filling bubbling around the edges. If the crumble starts to brown before the fruit filling is cooked, cover the dish loosely with foil so the dessert continues to bake but the topping won’t take on more color. (This technique is called tenting.)

Ingredients

For the Filling

2 pounds peaches or nectarines, cut into ½-inch wedges (6 cups)
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 teaspoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon coarse salt

For the Topping

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup light-brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
½ teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

Peach Crumble Ingredients — Grant Webster

Preheat oven and make filling:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Make the filling: Combine peaches, granulated sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt.

Grant Webster
Add filling to baking dish:

Transfer filling to an 8-inch square baking dish.

Grant Webster
Beat butter and sugar for topping:

In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter and brown sugar on medium until light and fluffy.

Grant Webster

Grant Webster
Add flour and salt and mix:

Add flour and salt and, with your hands, mix until large pieces form.

Grant Webster
Scatter over filling:

Scatter topping over filling.

Grant Webster
Bake:

Bake until center is bubbling, 40 to 50 minutes, covering baking dish loosely with foil if topping is browning too quickly. Let cool 20 minutes before serving.

Grant Webster

Variation

For Peach-Berry Crumble: Add a cup of raspberries or blueberries to the peaches.

How to Store Leftover Peach Crumble

If you have leftovers, make sure they are completely cool before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating. Crumble will last for three days, but you may notice the topping gets softer the longer it sits.

More Easy Fruit Crumble Recipes to Try:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a peach crumble and a peach cobbler?

Both are baked fruit desserts with a peach filling. Crumble has a simple streusel-like topping made with butter, flour, and sugar. A cobbler has a biscuit dough topping, sometimes with carefully cut-out biscuits, but usually it's more homey with the biscuit dough dropped in spoonfuls over the filling.
What is the difference between a crumble and a streusel?

Crumble and streusel are both made with butter, sugar, and flour and are very similar. How they are used is different: Crumble is added in a solid layer over a fruit filling for the baked fruit dessert known as a crumble, whereas streusel is scattered over a coffee cake, muffin, or pie before baking.
Is melted or cold butter better for a crumble?

The butter for a crumble should not be melted. It should be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to come to room temperature so it will mix better and more quickly when combined with the sugar.