Rhubarb desserts, yes please

Many moons ago I promised a rhubarb crisp recipe and promptly moved on. Disgraceful! I was reminded of my negligence when I arrived here on Mayne Island and Mom promised a new rhubarb recipe that a friend of hers made recently. It was quite lovely, of course, as most things rhubarb are, and so I'm posting both recipes at once. And following it with a future rhubarb recipe as well!


Rhubarb crisp
4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. lemon juice
Topping:
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter, diced into small pieces
Combine the fruit with the rest of the crisp ingredients and put into an 8-inch square baking dish. Mix the topping ingredients together in a bowl and crush the butter into the mixture with your fingers until it crumbles into small pieces. Spread over the top of the fruit mixture and bake in a 375 degree F preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until the top is golden and starting to crisp.
When researching various crisp recipes online, I found a number that had half the "topping" put on the bottom of the baking dish, followed by the fruit mixture and then the rest of the topping on top. I haven't ever tried it that way, but it sounds quite yummy and I think I will give that a whirl sometime. With the juices of the rhubarb, it might be great to have them soaked up above AND below!
Everything's better a la mode, don't you think?

Did I like it? Hmmm.



Rhubarb crunch cake
4 cups rhubarb, cut up
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. butter

Topping:
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten

Mix first three ingredients together. Pour into greased 8 x 11 inch cake pan. Beat egg. Add milk; pour over first mixture. Dot with butter.

Topping: Mix together; will be crumbly. Sprinkle over rhubarb. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
So of course we doubled the recipe. And cut back a bit on the sugar (1.5 cups for both the filling and the topping, rather than a full 2 cups each that it called for, holy cow!), but I think it could have the sugar cut back even further. It is quite sweet. That's not a complaint, really! But a little less sweet, and I bet I might have eaten another helping... Oh, the other caveat: We supplemented the rhubarb with a couple of cups of strawberries we had lying about... that might have contributed to the sweetness as they were in their prime; they added a nice flavor to the dessert.
Here's the last rhubarb recipe, from a delightful blog called Dinner With Julie. I hope to make it soon!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler Cake
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
2 cups halved or quartered strawberries (depending on their size)
2-3 cups chopped rhubarb (about 2-3 stalks)
1/3-1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and starting to get fluffly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each, then beat in the vanilla.

Add the flour, baking powder and salt and stir by hand or beat on low speed just until combined; the batter will be thick. Spread into a 9 x 13 inch pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and scatter the fruit over top. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake is golden and the cakey parts springy to the touch.

Makes 1 big cake.