Baked Nectarines with Vanilla Creme Fraiche

The nectarine lovefest continues with this delicious dessert. I don’t know how to begin- first of all, it is delicious. Simple, yet it includes layers of amazing flavors.

I started with fresh nectarines, cut in half and ready to be stuffed with a mixture of oats, walnuts and brown sugar. I laced the topping with ground cardamom and cinnamon. To me, the cardamom was the key ingredient. It was simply amazing with the walnuts, oats and the baked nectarines- floral and sweet.

It is a great dessert to make in advance. I popped it in the oven as we sat down to eat dinner. Ten to fifteen minutes later, the nectarines were ready to be taken out.

I served them with some creme fraiche. I love using this French style soured cream instead of ice cream- although ice cream would be amazing as well. I added a bit of vanilla sugar into the cream and added a dollop on top of the baked nectarines. The combination was delicious. The cream cut through the sweetness of topping and the soft fruit. All in all- it was a very successful try. I will be making this with other fruits as well in the future- sky is the limit…

Crumble Topping

• ½ cup quick cooking oats
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar
• ½ cup toasted chopped walnuts
• 3 cardamom pods, crushed and the skin taken off
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar, turbinado sugar, walnuts, cardamom, cinnamon and butter. Mix well and mash with fork and keep aside.

• 4 large nectarines, cut into half and pit removed

Place the halved nectarines into a large ovenproof dish. Top each half with the crumble topping. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes till the fruit is soft and the topping is golden brown.

• ½ cup crème fraiche
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

Whisk the crème fraiche and sugar in a small bowl. Serve the nectarines with a dollop of crème fraiche on top.