Tart and Sweet Taste is Anything but Crummy
Our kids are now grown but the taste of strawberry and rhubarb always take me back to those wonderful Midwestern summer days.
While it is easy to want to take a few shortcuts on ingredients such as swapping our butter for margarine, Annalise starts out with great ingredients.
Real, quality butter is an absolute daily part of my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Let’s face it, butter makes just about everything better.
STRAWBERRY RHUBARB CRUMB BARS
INGREDIENTS:
CRUMB BASE AND TOPPING:
- 3 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup C & H packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Morton salt
- Zest from 1 orange (optional)
- 1 cup (, 2 sticks) Challenge unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
FILLING:
- 3 cups sliced strawberries
- 2 cups sliced rhubarb- about 1/2 inch pieces
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup granulated C&H sugar
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish and line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the butter and use a fork, pastry blender, or fingertips to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the pieces are about the size of peas.
- Add the beaten egg and continue to blend until combined and mixture can be clumped together with your hand. Press half of the crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- In another bowl, toss together the strawberries, rhubarb, cornstarch and sugar. Dump on top of the crumb base, spreading it out evenly as needed. Use your hands to clump the remaining crumb mixture together and sprinkle evenly over the strawberry rhubarb filling.
- Bake until topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. About 50-60 minutes.
- Let cool and keep in the fridge, or serve warm with a dollop of whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yeah..I think that is what Ginger would do!
Quick Tip: If you happen to have extra rhubarb, cut up and
place in freezer bags for next time.