Big Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake

rhubarb recipe #2

rhubarb filling: 1/2 lb rhubarb, trimmed

1/4 cup sugar

2 tspns cornstarch

1/2 tspn ground ginger

for the crumbs: 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn ground ginger

1/8 tspn salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup bread flour (or cake or regular)

for the cake: 1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt

1 large egg

l large egg yolk

2 tspns vanilla extract

1 cup flour (again, I used a mixture of whole wheat and regular)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tspn baking soda

1/2 tspn baking powder

1/4 tspn salt

6 tblspns softened unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

Preheat oven to 325 F, grease 8 inch square or round pan.

Slice rhubarb into 1/2 inch thick pieces, toss with sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Set aside. 

To make crumbs whisk together the sugars and spices and then add melted butter until smooth. Then add flour with a wooden spoon. It will look and feel like solid dough. Leave pressed into bottom of bowl and set aside.

To make the cake, mix yogurt, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix the dry ingredients separately and slowly add butter and wet mixture to the dry alternately. Scoop out half the batter and set aside. 

Scrape the rest of the batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter and dollop set aside batter over the top. It does not have to be even. 

 Break crumb mixture into 1/2 to 3/4 inch size crumbs. Sprinkle over cake and bake 45-55 minutes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, improved

3 1/2 cups rhubarb, in 1/2 inch thick slices

3 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup tapioca

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk to blend with 1 teaspoon water

2 frozen pie crusts

Preheat oven to 400F

Stir rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon juice, salt, and tapioca in a large bowl and mound into your bottom pie crust. Dot with butter.

Cover and pinch the two crusts together. Brush with egg glaze and bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce oven to 350F and bake another 25-30 minutes.

 

This was seriously the best pie i've ever made. The tapioca gave the filling its nice gel texture and the egg wash crisped and shined the crust to the point of looking made from scratch.

Rhubarb Tart

I impulsively bought rhubarb last weekend at Rouses simply because I saw it in the produce section. It is something you don't often encounter or get to eat living in New Orleans, but because of my mother I can thankfully say I know the deliciousness that is strawberry-rhubarb pie.

With the red stalk at my fingertips I perused rhubarb recipes in my google reader and narrowed it down to four that I was interested in trying: a rhubarb tart, a rhubarb coffee cake, rhubarb streusel muffins, and of course the aforementioned pie.

So far I have been able to make two of them and the first was the rhubarb tart. Mine did not come out quite as elegant looking as the recipe I based this off of, but I think the overall taste of the tart came out nicely. I really enjoyed the crust, but I think the filling could have been handled a bit differently. 

For the crust:

1 cup almonds

1 cup bread flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

9 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of a small orange (or clementine)

For the filling:

4 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 rhubarb stalks

2 tablespoons raw sugar

Combine almonds, flours, and baking powder in a food processor until ground. Add cold butter chunks while pulsing. Add the remaining crust ingredients until dough begins to form. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. (Yes, it will be crumbly.)

Remove dough and preheat oven to 425 F. Press dough into bottom of you pan making the bottom crust thicker than the sides. Freeze for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and sugar and sprinkle over bottom of the crust. Slice rhubarb lengthwise into quarters and trim to appropriate size for your pan. Line pan and sprinkle with the sugar. I also added some leftover sliced strawberries to the tart.

Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 and bake another 10-12 minutes.