It’s October! Or at least I think it is. You don’t always believe the calendar when you live in California because, let’s face it, it’s frequently hotter in Fall than it is in Summer. Don’t believe me? It was 102°F today! Fall is supposed to be the season of sweaters and pumpkin spice everything (yes I am a full charter member of the Pumpkin Spice Obsession Club so be prepared), not short shorts and tropical fruits. But, that’s California for you! So let’s indulge in a couple more summery desserts before we give in to all things pumpkin and cream cheese covered.

Yes, everything with pumpkin requires cream cheese frosting.

Putting the pumpkin aside for now, bring on the last of the peaches. I’ve made what feels like a million peach scones in the year of this blog, so I wanted to mix it up. The first thought was to make a pie, but in all honesty I’m not a fan of peach pie. I am, however, a lover of peach crumble. All I needed to do was figure out a way to make peach crumble portable! Why portable? Well this is a blog about afternoon tea, and there is a dessert tier on all tea stands, so I could use the dessert stand as an excuse to make more desserts! And that reasoning brought the birth of peach crumble bars.

Portable, oaty, buttery, peachy, and oh-so-delicious.

These bars are actually super easy and have so few ingredients! They are just a perfect, simple peach dessert that doesn’t rely on spices or other flavors to stand out. Just beautiful peaches, fluffy oats, and some sugar to make the peaches themselves really shine. Why make things fussy when the fruit itself is so perfect? Everything in these bars revolve around the peaches.

I’ll let the chunks of peaches speak for themselves 😉 Just serve them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or chilled/room temperature for a tea time treat. Hold on to summer for a few last moments!

peach crumble bars

ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick oats!)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large peaches
• juice of one lemon
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch

Peel peaches and chop into small pieces. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the peaches as you cut them to prevent browning. Set aside in a large bowl.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8×8 or 9×9 square baking pan with foil. Either spray with nonstick baking spray or brush with a little bit of melted butter. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, and 1 cup sugar. Pour melted butter over the flour mixture and cut in with a pastry cutter or fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking pan. Press down firmly! This is the bottom crust of the bars.

In the peaches’ bowl, stir in the ¼ cup sugar and the cornstarch, stirring until all ingredients are moistened. Spread the peaches evenly over the crust.

Sprinkle the remaining half of the flour mixture over the peaches.

Bake for 45-50 minutes (mine took 47) until the top is a light golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes on a wire rack, still in the pan, before cutting into 16 squares. Enjoy!