{this not too sweet crisp relies on the natural sugar of the nectarines whose concentrated flavor is so perfect with vanilla ice cream, we ate this all week until it was gone, yum!}

If it’s before 7:00AM, I cannot be held responsible for my behavior. My speech is choppy, I’m unable to form complete sentences or even stand upright, yet my senses all have a penetrating awareness of my surroundings.

I might look totally checked out, but trust me, I am dialed in. I can hear a pin drop and both my sense of smell and hairstyles are heightened like a werewolf’s might be under the glow of a full moon.

The market is the one place I’m allowed to go in such disheveled states. This morning, while lurching through the produce aisle, the smell of nectarines was so intoxicating, drool. Grunt. Mmmm, like nectarines, buy nectarines, come home with me now, fill cart now, make plans later…snifff….snooooort.

For the fruit:

6-8 nectarines
1 tb flour, heaping
1/3 c white sugar

Cut the nectarines in half and remove the stones. Slice each half into thirds and then cut accross into small sections. Sprinkle flower and sugar over the fruit and mix well. Spoon the fruit evenly into a pan.

For the topping:

1/3 c dry oats
1/2 c unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 c brown sugar
2/3 c flour
1/2 ts flake salt like maldon or fleur de sel

Heres where things got a little tricky for me. I bought steel cut oatmeal because early morning it look same and want has shiny can, but in the afternoon it does not at all have the consistency of regular oatmeal. I spent about 20 minutes using a mortar and pestle pulverizng this grainy and hard oatmeal. Once done, it was perfect but save yourself the trouble.

Mix together the dry ingredients, cut butter into small cubes and incorporate until mixture is sandy with small bits of butter throughout. Spoon over the fruit and bake at 375F for about 45 minutes until the top is crispy and the fruit is bubbly. Let cool to just warm before serving with vanlla bean ice cream to those you love the most.

{tags nectarine recipe nectarine crisp}