Food and Recipes Desserts The Difference Between Crisps, Crumbles, Buckles, and Slumps By Patricia S York Patricia S York Assistant Food Editor Pat is an Assistant Editor at Southern Living and has been a part of the team since 2006. She works with the Senior Food Editor to plan monthly print food features and stories that will highlight Southerners making a difference through food, share delicious recipes that utilize seasonal produce, and offer exceptional reader service. Pat also writes digital content on a variety of topics including cooking, gardening, and pets.One of the reasons Pat enjoys living in Birmingham is because it is centrally located between the mountains and the Gulf coast. She spends her free time gardening, hiking with her dogs, and pursuing her goal of becoming a better horsewoman. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on May 15, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner; Food Styling: Mary Claire Britton Any way you slice (or spoon) it, a fruit dessert is your go-to option for a sweet and easy treat. You could say these desserts are members of the same family - while they all look a little different and some even have funny names, there are more similarities than differences and, with relatively few ingredients, these cobbler-type desserts allow the sweet natural flavors of seasonal fruit to shine through. 01 of 07 Slump Photo: Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones This Ginger-Plum Slump is the stovetop version of a cobbler and the only thing you'll want to make when it's too hot to turn on your oven. Made in a large cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven, slumps are also a popular dessert to make on the campfire or grill. The fruit is cooked down in the skillet until sweet and syrupy, then topped with mounds of soft dough, and covered. As the fruit bubbles away, the dumplings bake and "slump" down, giving the dessert its name. 02 of 07 Buckle Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones More like a crumb cake than a syrupy crisp or crumble, a buckle is still all about the fruit. These streusel-topped cakes are usually baked one of two ways. You can pour the cake batter on the bottom of the pan and spoon the fruit over it or stir the fruit into the batter. We created a third method for this Peach-Raspberry Buckle where half of the fruit is folded into the batter, which is then poured into the pan, and then the remaining fruit is arranged on top of the batter. As the cake bakes, the batter puffs up, then collapses, or "buckles," around jam-like pockets of fruit. 03 of 07 Brown Betty Getty Images In its purest form, a brown betty is simply gussied-up baked apples. There are many variations, but most recipes are similar in that they call for halved or sliced apples, sprinkled with sugar, spices (usually with cinnamon or nutmeg), and soft, fresh breadcrumbs, topped with butter, then baked until the fruit is soft and the topping lightly toasted. This is the perfect recipe to use up that odd piece of bread or leftover biscuits. 04 of 07 Crisps and Crumbles Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner; Food Styling: Mary Claire Britton There is often some confusion between crisps and crumbles - they are a lot alike and, once baked, their textures are very similar. Both start out with fruit topped with a mixture of flour, sugar, and butter. But here is the main difference: while both have a topping of flour, sugar, and butter, crisps, historically added whole oats to the topping (which "crisped" when they baked) and crumbles only used flour. The lines have blurred over the years and what was once called a crisp is called a crumble and a crumble is now called a crisp. Regardless of the name, it is still bound to be delicious. 05 of 07 Crunch Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones This Blueberry-Lemon Crunch Bar may look like a bar cookie, but you'll need a fork to eat it. Similar to a crisp or crumble with baked fruit and a crumbly topping, a crunch goes one step further and sandwiches a fruit filling between two buttery layers. While other fruit desserts are on the syrupy side, this fruit is cooked down into a thick preserve. The bottom layer should be firm enough not to crumble when a piece is cut from the pan, so you can eat it as a cobbler or cut it into bars. The top layer can duplicate the bottom, or it can be a simple streusel topping made with flour, sugar, and butter. 06 of 07 Pandowdy Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones Flawless pastry crusts are expected when you are making a lattice-top or double-crust pie, but if you're in need of a more forgiving fruit dessert, try this Cherry-Nectarine Pandowdy. Popular in the 1800s and early 1900s, it is essentially cooked fruit under a pastry crust. When making a pandowdy, the cook uses a fork to break, or "dowdy" the crust. As the dish cools, the broken crust absorbs the sweet juices from the cooked fruit, creating a deliciously messy dessert. 07 of 07 Sonker Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer; Prop Styling: Mary Clayton Carl Jones These desserts are popular in a very particular part of the South—Surry County, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to be exact. Those who know the dessert agree that it must be baked in a large, deep pan and topped with a creamy vanilla sauce called "dip." Make this Triple Berry Sonker with Dip this weekend and you will wonder why this dessert has been kept such a regional secret for so long. This is where the agreements end, however. Opinions vary as to how it is made: some declare it has to have a bottom crust; others argue it only needs a top crust, and the rest insist that a true sonker is made only with sweet potatoes. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit