Skillet Peach Blueberry Crumble (Sugar Free)

I know, I know. On January 2nd I gave you my list of New Year’s Resolutions, which included a commitment to blog more. Yes, I am aware it’s now January 19th, over 2 weeks later. BUT… I hadn’t forgotten! I was steadily cooking and snapping pictures and fully committed to blog more. I was just also incorporating some of my other resolutions and getting used to adding those into daily life too. I’m 6 for 6 this week with taking intentional time out of my day to not be in my apartment having idle time and to be somewhere else without distractions where I won’t find TV shows to watch, things to clean, or things to eat (aka Starbucks, and another coffee shop once). I’m starting to like being at Starbucks more than being at my apartment… I get a little upset when I walk in and someone is at MY table. I mean don’t they know?! Since Starbucks breeds productivity for me apparently, I decided to try it out for blog stuff too. So productive! In addition to reading, journaling, praying, and listening to my Bible app, I also edited pictures for 3 blog posts, prepped all 3 to go out this week, AND organized all my other pictures into folders labeled with the recipe (or DIY project) and put them all into a BLOG ME folder! Aren’t you proud?!

First up… Sugar Free Skillet Peach Blueberry Crumble!

A healthy one to kick off my commitment to blogging! You know I love sugar and am by no means committed to a sugar free lifestyle. I mean I do want to open a bakery the summer of 2014 and buy stock in sugar. However, this is one of the best sugar free things I’ve ever made and/or eaten! One of my RAs made a New Years resolution to not eat sugar. I like a challenge, so I decided to try and make something yummy and sugar free that she could eat and that the rest of us would like. AND I got to use one of my new cast iron skillets to do it!

Don’t be fooled though. I start boot camp next week, so I’ve been taking every last moment to eat unhealthy things while I can. Confession – my first thing to make in a cast iron skillet was donuts. Fried biscuit dough donuts covered in glaze. And I made them twice in two weeks. I also ate Zaxby’s for lunch today. Monday. Monday things are getting serious! I mean it is a competition and one of the winning prizes is a gift certificate to take a class at a cooking school. I’m gonna win, duh! And thus the cast irons will only be used for healthy things until April. They probably would have been mad at me if I didn’t use them to make donuts at least once though right??

Skillet Sugar Free Beach Berry Crumble

Recipe adapted from myrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen blueberries (12 oz)
1 bag of frozen peaches (16 oz)
2/3 cup Splenda (can replace with equal amount of sugar)
1/4 cup plus 2/3 cup water
1/4 cup corn starch
Zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar (can replace with brown sugar, increase to 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup light butter (I used Brummel and Brown), melted
Optional – vanilla ice cream for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 10-inch cast iron skillet with cooking spray. Combine frozen blueberries, frozen peaches, Splenda, and 1/4 cup water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Whisk together the cornstarch and remaining 2/3 cup water in a small bowl until smooth. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the peach berry mixture. Gently stir in the lemon zest and reduce heat to low. Continue simmering the fruit, gently stirring, until the juices have thickened and the mixture is more on the clear side than the creamy side. Remove the saucepan from the heat and scoop the mixture into the prepared skillet.

Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Add the melted light butter, stirring until butter is mixed evenly. Using your hands, work the butter into the flour mixture, squeezing until crumbly. Sprinkle the topping over the peach berry filling.

Bake until the topping is nicely browned, 30 to 40 minutes. Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream or eat just like it is!

My personal preference, is to top it with a small scoop of ice cream and let it completely melt until it looks messy and not quite as pretty and picture perfect. I love melted ice cream with berry desserts.