Peach Crisp Cookie
Warm cinnamon brown sugar and oatmeal cookie, pop of peach jam in the middle, creamy vanilla morsels sprinkled throughout, and the most addictively crunchy toasted almond crumb topping with a hint of lemon to bring out the flavor of peach and cinnamon. This cookie is amazing by itself but if you pair it with vanilla bean ice cream?? Game over. AMAZING.
If you haven’t noticed, I am a huge fan of peaches. I will never tire of including peaches in my baked creations. They are versatile to use and pair well with brown sugar, cinnamon, cream, almond, and lemon. What’s not to like? There are so many flavor combinations and my mouth just waters thinking of all the beautiful, delicious things I can create.
In case you missed it, I came out with Peach Crème Brulée Cookie at the start of peach season, check it out!
Fresh peaches lend their moisture to bake tenderly into cobblers, pound cakes, and pies, but in this recipe, I am using homemade Texas Peach Jam (small batch) to incorporate into a cookie. I opt for peach jam instead of fresh peaches because I would like to cut back on the moisture added to the cookie recipe to keep the cookie soft but not cakey, and the topping to crisp up with out over baking the cookie underneath. Baking science really is a magical place that I get lost in more times than I can honestly admit. I love it!
The extra vanilla chip drizzle is optional for this cookie, it will still be delicious without. I do highly recommend serving this cookie warm with vanilla bean ice cream.
Reasons to Love this Cookie
-Peaches- one of my favorite summer fruits. Using homemade peach jam highlights the flavor of this summertime favorite. The thick jammy middle is very similar to a peach crisp, cobbler, or pie filling.
-Texture-talk about a party in of textures in this cookie! The soft brown sugar oatmeal cookie has some chew to it from the oatmeal but is still soft from the addition of extra brown sugar and cornstarch in the dough. The streusel topping is baked to crisp golden perfection and has extra texture from the toasted almonds that lend a pleasant crunch to the topping. If paired with ice cream you get it all, crunchy, chewy, soft, and creamy, truly a heightened cookie experience.
-Flavor-Cinnamon, peach and oatmeal are classic flavor combinations in peach desserts. The streusel topping adds another layer of flavor with the toasted almonds and the fresh lemon zest brightens up the sweetness of the dough and cuts through the streusel and cookie combination from being too sweet. Also, the jam I am using has lemon in it as well so the lemon flavor, although not pronounced, gives a slight nuance of bright acidity to bring out the flavor of the peach.
Ingredients You Need
-Butter- softened at room temperature
-Brown & Granulated Sugar
-Eggs- room temperature
-Flour-I am using gold medal flour for the cookie dough base and Barton Springs Mill All-Purpose flour for the streusel topping. The Barton Springs Mill flour is stone ground and has a wonderful flavor and texture that add to the final product of the streusel. It is not necessary to use stone ground flour, but I highly recommend it if you want to kick your recipe up a notch
-Baking Soda & Powder
-Cornstarch- I use only a tablespoon in this recipe to soften the dough. It will keep your oatmeal cookie base soft and tall.
-Cinnamon- I use quite a bit of cinnamon because I am a huge fan of warm flavors. You can cut it back to a teaspoon if you want to keep the cinnamon flavor light.
-Oatmeal- I am using old fashioned oats in this recipe. Any cut of oatmeal should work well except steel cut oats. They require a long time to soften and do not cookie well.
Texas Peach Jam (small batch) I used half of the small batch recipe, around 4-ounces.
-Lemon zest-fresh lemon zest brightens up the streusel topping.
-Vanilla Chips- I am using Guittard vanilla chips I found at my local HEB. They have a great vanilla flavor and creamy texture; I highly recommend using them. If you can’t find them, a good quality white chocolate chip is a great substitute.
-Sliced Almonds-I toast and chop these for the streusel topping, they add a great texture and slight nutty flavor to the streusel topping.
-Salt-in the dough and the streusel topping. You can’t taste salt in the doughbut I do like a little saltiness to streusel to break up any stodgy flour bits. You can decrease the salt in the streusel if you are not a fan of tasting salt, but don’t omit entirely as it does help balance the sweetness of the streusel topping.
Let’s Make Cookies
I start with room temperature butter and cream on high with the sugars for at least 3-5 minutes. I like for my butter and sugar mixture to be light, fluffy, and creamy.
I add the eggs one at a time, making sure to scrape down the sides after each addition. I add my vanilla after the eggs and mix thoroughly together.
In a separate bowl I sift the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cornstarch, and pour into the mixer on low. I mix the flour in until it just comes together into a soft dough. It will smell heavenly from the vanilla and cinnamon in the dough.
Next add the oats and vanilla chips and mix on low for a few turns until it is just mixed in, do not overmix. I take the bowl out and give it a few turns from top to bottom with a spatula to make sure the vanilla chips and oats are mixed in evenly.
Using a 4-ounce cookie scoop, I portion out 9 balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Using your thumb or the back of a round wooden spoon, make a deep indentation in the center of each dough ball. I don’t want the well to reach the bottom of the dough but very close to it so that the jam has room to bake into the dough.
Fill each cookie dough with a teaspoon of peach jam making sure the well in the middle is deep so the jam doesn’t overflow out of the top of the cookie dough. I wanted the jam to sit just under or right at the edge of the top of the dough.
I set the stuffed cookie dough in the fridge while I assemble the streusel crumb topping.
Almond Lemon Streusel Crumb Layer
I microwave the butter for 30 seconds in the microwave until it is melted then let it cool to room temperature before adding to the streusel ingredients.
In a small saucepan, I toast the sliced almonds until they are golden and fragrant. This step is important to bring out the flavor of the almonds and to crisp up their texture. I give them a rough chop so there aren’t big slices of almond in the streusel.
In a bowl I add all the dry ingredients for the streusel and the chopped almonds. Using a microplane, I zest one lemon on top of the dry ingredients and use a fork to mix everything well. I add the cooled butter on top of the dry ingredients and very lightly fluff the butter into the mixture. I want to use a light hand to stir the butter in so that nice clumps form for the streusel topping. It will be very crumbly.
**Please refer to videos on my Instagram , Facebook , and Pinterest for visuals on how I stuff these cookies and make the streusel crumb topping**
I then take my cookie dough out from the fridge and start layering on the streusel topping. This is very messy and crumbly, but I try to use a light tapping motion to layer on the streusel on top of the dough. I roughly use 1-2 tablespoons of streusel on top of each cookie. I had streusel leftover from this batch and will be baking it on a separate baking sheet as I bake the cookies.
I let the dough rest for at least an hour in the fridge before baking. You can leave them in the fridge overnight as well and bake them the next day.
I preheat my oven to 375*F and bake 4-6 cookies at a time for 14-18 minutes. I am looking for a nice deep golden color on the streusel topping and golden-brown edges of the cookies. I let the cookies set up on the baking sheet for at least five minutes after removing them from the oven then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
I spread the extra streusel crumbles from that were leftover from the cookies and cookie tray onto a silicon lined baking sheet. I bake them for 6 minutes until they were crunchy and toasted. You can serve this as an additional topping with this cookie or use it to add to ice cream or yogurt. It has a wonderful crunch and will keep in a covered container for a few days.
I added an extra drizzle of melted vanilla chips on top of the cooled cookies. This is optional but really does give a nice finish to the cookie. This cookie is best served warm and preferably with cold vanilla ice cream and extra streusel crumbles on top.
If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram and Facebook. New posts every Tuesday and Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!
Peach Crisp Cookie
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter unsalted, room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ cup old fashioned oats can use any cut of oats except steel cut.
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 tspns vanilla extract
- ¾ tspn baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tspns ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2½ cups flour
- 1 cup vanilla chips, plus ¼ cup additional if glazing can substitute white chocolate chips
- 4 ounces Peach Jam
Almond Lemon Crumble Topping
- ¾ cup flour
- 4 tbsp butter melted and cooled to room temp
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp toasted almonds chopped finely
- 1 lemon zest only
- ½ tspn salt
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, cream together room temperature butter and sugars until pale and creamy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix in.
- In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients excluding oats and vanilla chips.
- Add to the butter mixture on low speed until just mixed together. Do not overmix.
- Add in oatmeal and vanilla chips and mix on low for a few turns of the mixer until it is just incorporated.
- Turn off mixer, remove bowl and scrape the bottom and sides to make sure the oats and vanilla chips are mixed evenly throughout the dough.
- Using a 4-ounce cookie scoop, portion out 9 pieces of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- With clean fingers or the back of a spoon, make a deep indentation in each dough round. Place a teaspoon of peach jam into each cookie. The jam should not be overflowing, you want it a little recessed or even with the top edge of the dough.
- Repeat with the remaining dough until all of the cookie dough is filled.
- Set aside in the fridge as you prepare the crumb topping.
Almond Lemon Streusel Topping
- Melt butter in microwave safe dish in 30 second intervals until it is melted. Allow to cool to room temperature for 10 minutes.
- In a small saute pan over medium heat, toast sliced almonds until slightly darker and aromatic. Chop into small pieces.
- Add flour, sugar, salt, toasted almonds, and zest of the lemon to a bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork.
- Pour the melted and cooled butter over the flour mixture and lightly fluff with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. Some bits may be larger than others, that is perfect.
- Remove filled cookies from the fridge and generously pile streusel topping on top. It will be at least 2-3 tablespoons of streusel pressed loosely on top of the cookie.
- Repeat until the cookies are covered in crumb coating.
- Chill cookies for at least an hour before baking.
- Preheat oven to 375*F and bake 4-6 cookies at a time for 14-18 minutes. You want the edges and top to be a deep golden brown.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- OPTIONAL-Melt vanilla chips in microwave in 30 second intervals until melted then drizzle over cooled peach crisp cookies for a decorative finish. Enjoy!
