Okay, it's Rhubarb Extravaganza time in Upstate New York!
My beautiful niece Amanda has the Taste of Home baking recipe book. Oh mylanta, what a great cookbook, we've been delighted by the recipes! Definitely one worth buying and adding to your cookbook collection and I don't say that often anymore because the Internet hooks us up with amazing racipes, but this book has lots of old-fashioned ideas and because my rhubarb garden is lush right now, I'm sharing this one from their website today because Mandy took the book home...
She really did. She took the book home.
'Sup wi dat?????
So this is a recipe for Rhubarb Custard bars...
We did it without the cream cheese topping and it was wonderful, a delightful cookie-crusted rhubarby-taste-of-goodness! This weekend I'm making strawberry rhubarb pie, so I'll share that next week... And strawberry rhubarb preserves are delicious! And Rhubarb Custard Pie became a classic family dessert when my neighbor Vi Bennett shared the recipe with me over thirty years ago. Do any of you remember how Laura Ingalls Wilder messed up her rhubarb pie the first year she was married to Almanzo Wilder? (Almanzo was from upstate New York, the North Country where my first series of books was set)... She forgot to put the sugar in and one of the farmers who came to help with harvest (because do we ever mess up quietly???? No.) announced that this was his favorite way of having rhubarb pie, so a man could sweeten it up to his liking! And then he proceeded to lift his top crust, sprinkle it with sugar and eat. What a gracious man!
Also for this recipe, we didn't bake the crust first. We just patted it in, added the rhubarb filling, and baked. I liked it better this way, the cookie crust was firm but tender, like a sugar cookie. Delicious!
Thank you, Taste of Home! This is wonderful!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup cold butter
- FILLING:
- 2 cups sugar
- 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 5 cups finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained
- TOPPING:
- 2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
Directions
- In a bowl, combine the flour and sugar; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, for filling, combine sugar and flour in a bowl. Whisk in cream and eggs. Stir in the rhubarb. Pour over crust. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until custard is set. Cool.
- For topping, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth; fold in whipped cream. Spread over top. Cover and chill. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 3 dozen
Oh, this is even better than regular strawberry-rhubarb. It has custard!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing and bringing back memories. I love that scene as well. Poor Laura. Poor newlywed.
I am so jealous. I love rhubarb treats. Growing up, we had it in the backyard. Now I have to buy it at the grocery story. Yuck. The stuff just won't grow in Texas. Too hot.
ReplyDeleteThese sound totally lucious, though. Might be worth a trip to the store....
Sounds scrumptious! We've had rhubarb plants in the gardens of our last three homes but they've never amount to much despite pampering, added manure in the spring and all that. Hubby finally decided to dig the last ones out. :( Fortunately friends keep us adequately supplied with their surplus because I want to try this recipe.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE all things rhubarb! I even checked the produce section at the grocery store but didn't see any rhubarb, thought it was too early, but if you have it just a weensy bit south of me maybe ours will be ready in a week or so. I'm definitely going to try this recipe. Do you think they'd freeze?
ReplyDeleteI just found a rhubarb-buttermilk tea cake recipe that I'm going to give a try. If it works, I'll share. :-)
I can see my neighbor's rhubarb plants from my new office window - do you think he'd notice if I crept over one night and cut a few stalks?
ReplyDeleteBTW - preparing for our older two children to move home, I've moved out of my former office/schoolroom/college girl's bedroom and am now in a corner of the family room. I'm so thankful I still have a window!
OMGosh, Ruthy - this looks splendid - will have to grow some next year as my mother LOVED making anything rhubarb.....will make this recipe and bring in to school - there's always a mouth willing to try something new.
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