A very easy, accidentally vegan summer fruit crisp recipe. Bright summer berries are topped with crunchy olive oil granola and then baked until bubbly.

I have three criteria for summer desserts. 1) FRUIT! Give me all the berries, cherries, and stone fruit that the season has to offer. 2) Simple is better- I want easy, toss together, pantry recipes that can be made quickly, adapted easily, and shared with a crowd. 3) Topped with ice cream. All good summer desserts should be able to be topped with a big scoop of ice cream.

Lucky for us, today’s new recipe meets all of our stringent summer dessert criteria. This olive oil granola fruit crisp, is ridiculously easy to mix together, is accidentally vegan and can very easily be made gluten-free. The crumble topping is so versatile and you can use it with any of your favorite fruits, and fruit crisps and vanilla ice cream go together like PB&J.

what is a fruit crisp

When it comes to a baked fruit dessert (ie. cobblers, crisps, crumbles), it’s all about the topping. According to my personal dictionary of dessert words, the definitions for each are as follows: cobbler- fruit topped with a biscuit or cake like topping (this would include a liquid ingredient, like buttermilk or heavy cream, in the recipe), crumble- fruit topped with a thick, streusel like topping (when developing recipes, if I include cold butter, I generally consider it a crumble), and crisp- a lighter streusel topping, generally with oats and some sort of nut.

Again, these are my personal working definitions and opinions may vary (we haven’t even included buckles and clafoutis!). Ultimately, a fruit crisp consists of fresh summer fruit topped with a lighter, crunchy layer, making it 100% okay to eat this for breakfast.

how to make an olive oil granola fruit crisp

You guys know how I feel about olive oil in baking. I was actually thinking about it the other day and I think that olive oil might be my number 1 favorite baking ingredient. It’s ridiculously versatile and I just love the tiny, savory quality it gives to sweet recipes. It’s the simplest way I know to elevate a recipe.

For the crisp topping, olive oil and maple syrup (you could use honey) are whisked together and then poured over a bowl of granola-esque goodies—oats, walnuts, coconut, brown sugar. There is a touch of flour in this recipe, which helps to bind everything together, but you could easily substitute buckwheat flour or a cup-for-cup gluten free flour. Everything is tossed together until just moistened and then spooned over some macerated berries. It’s baked until crispy and golden and bubbly, then topped with vanilla ice cream, a glug of olive oil, and a pinch of flaky salt.

You can very easily use another fruit, like peaches or cherries or nectarines. I recommend eating this outside for maximum summer vibes.