This honey-sweetened plum crisp is the perfect balance of sweet, tangy, and warmly spiced. Juicy plums are baked with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a hint of orange zest, then topped with a golden, nutty walnut crumble. It’s an easy summer dessert that tastes just as good for breakfast the next day—no judgment here.
Summer is one of my favorite seasons because of all the wonderful fresh fruits that are in season. And fruit crisps are one of my favorite fruit desserts to showcase summer fruits. Today I am sharing a more unusual fruit crisp, a plum crisp.
I decided to sweeten the fruit base with honey instead of sugar. It isn’t my first time using honey instead of sugar. Some of my favorite honey recipes include my blackberry and honey cupcakes, blueberry honey jam and honey lemonade.
And this fruit crisp made with honey is just as incredible!
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Recipe highlights
- Customize it: I love how easy fruit crisps are to bake. Plus you can bake them all year long using whatever fruit is in season!
- Easy peasy: This plum crisp gives you all the flavors of a pie, but without the fuss to assemble and make. Honestly, I think it is better than a pie because a crisp has that addictive crisp topping.
- Flavorful: The syrup plum base of this crisp is both sweet and tangy. It is scented with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and orange zest.
- Crunchy: The crisp topping is our favorite part, so I offer plenty in this recipe! Along with oats, it includes ground walnuts, too.
- How to serve: You can serve your crisp as is or top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Warm or cold, this crisp is fabulous!
Ingredients you need
- Plums: You can use any variety of plums for this crisp and you do NOT have to peel the plums.
- Honey: I decided to sweeten the fruit filling with honey for this crisp, but you can also use regular sugar or even maple syrup.
- Brown sugar: Honey is too wet to make the crisp topping so I stuck with brown sugar for the topping.
- Old-fashion oatmeal: You want the big rolled oats and NOT quick cooking oats.
- Walnuts: I love adding the extra crunch of nuts to my crisp topping. You can omit or substitute with pistachios, almonds or pecans.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter and keep it cold. This helps keeps the crumbly topping crunchy and flakey.
- Orange: For additional flavor and aroma, I add grated orange zest to the filling.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
- Kitchen staples: All purpose flour and salt.
Step-by-step directions
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- Chop the fruit. Chop the plums leaving the skin on and place in a large bowl.
- Make the filling. Stir in honey, flour, spices and orange zes. Transfer fruit mixture into a 9-inch baking dish.
- Make the crisp topping. In a small bowl, mix together flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, spices and salt. Using your fingers, squeeze butter into the flour mixture until it resembles pebbles.
- Bake. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit and add chopped walnuts. Bake until browned and bubbly.
Expert tips and recipe FAQs
Do let your crisp cool a bit once done baking. It does stay warm for a considerable amount of time, if you prefer a warm crisp. You can also serve it cold or room temperature.
If you want to try more recipes featuring summer plums you should try my plum jam or my plum cake with yogurt.
And if you want to try more fruit crisp recipes, try my apple rhubarb crisp, strawberry rhubarb crisp or my apple grape crisp.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Cover and store any leftover fruit crisp on the counter at room temperature for up to 2 days. Fruit desserts will keep longer in the refrigerator, up to 4-5 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months.
Fresh fruits are usually preferred over frozen. But, if you do use frozen fruit, be sure to thaw it completely and drain the excess liquid. I also add an extra tablespoon of cornstarch or flour in the filling when I do use frozen fruits.
No, this fruit crisp does not require you to peel them first. The skin gives flavor, fiber and color to the crisp.
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Plum Crisp
Ingredients
Filling Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh plums
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 tablespoon all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 orange grated zest only
Topping Ingredients
- ⅔ cup old-fashioned oats
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup walnuts chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoon cold butter unsalted, cut into small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- In a medium-sized bowl mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
- With your fingers rub the butter into oat mixture until coarse crumbs form.
- In another large bowl gently mix together chopped plums, honey, all purpose flour, spices and zest.
- Pour fruit into a shallow 2-3 quart baking dish and sprinkle evenly with topping. Add walnuts.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling.
- Let crisp sit for 30 minutes, then serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
