Streusel in a Skillet

My greatest dessert weakness is for crisps and cobblers. Do any of you feel the same way? I can walk away from chocolate torte or pass by a cheesecake without a twinge of longing, but put a bowl of apple crisp in front of me and I’m a goner.

Crisps and cobblers are pretty simple to make, but you’re looking at more than an hour’s time commitment, between preheating the stove, making the topping and filling, and baking. I wondered if there might be a shortcut—a way to get the thrill of the crisp without the wait.

Readers, I’ve done it. A streusel topping you cook in a skillet in 15 minutes. You can make a batch,  use a little, and freeze the rest. You can put it on ice cream, yogurt, or pudding. You can cook up some blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, or peaches in a pot with sugar for just a few minutes, then top them. Today, I had some fresh rhubarb, so that’s what I used (I cooked it with sugar to taste and a little lemon juice. Simple.). In the amount of time it took to “toast” the streusel in the skillet, the rhubarb was cooked.

Skillet Streusel

Total time: 15 minutes

Active time: 15 minutes

Makes: 8 servings

• 1/2 cup pecan halves, chopped fine
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 7 tablespoons salted butter, melted

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, stir together the pecans, flour, brown sugar, and salt.

Add the butter and stir with a fork until small clumps form.

Set a large skillet over medium heat. Pour the mixturel into the pan. At first, it will look quite pale.

Cook the mixture, stirring almost constantly. It will soon begin to darken in color. If the mixture starts to stick or burn, reduce the heat to low. When it turns a nice toasty brown, remove it from the heat.

Spoon the topping over cooked fruit, yogurt, ice cream, or pudding. Transfer any unused streusel to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 6 months (warm it briefly in a skillet over medium heat to defrost). Enjoy!

Enjoy these other related recipes too:

Bourbon-Sweet Potato Casserole with Streusel Topping

Plum Cake with Almond Streusel

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

Amy Traverso

Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee and cohost of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with GBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.

More by Amy Traverso