This year I discovered a wonderful thing called rhubarb. I have heard about it, and maybe had some in a store bought pie before, but had never actually bought any. I signed up for a CSA this summer, and our first two weeks both included rhubarb, so I have been working to find ways to use it. Last week I made some strawberry rhubarb muffins, which were great. This week, its crisp bars. I was hoping to make a sort of oatmeal cookie, but was worried about the amount of liquid from the fruit, so a crisp bar was a compromise.
The hardest part of this recipe was dicing up all the fruit. Seriously. Also I peeled my rhubarb this time, although I didn't in the muffins and they turned out perfectly fine. I like a little fruit texture to my bars, so I only quartered the strawberries, although the rhubarb I diced pretty finely. In retrospect, the strawberries should probably be smaller as well. You live you learn.
The crust / topping can be mixed directly in the pan, using your hands. Less dirty dishes is the name of the game around here folks. After mixing I took out about a cup worth, and pressed the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan. I didn't grease the pan at all because I planned on serving them directly out of it, but if you wanted to take these somewhere fancy you could do that or line it with parchment paper.
Then, dump in your fruit, sprinkle with some sugar and lemon juice, and crumble the reserved topping on top. It was that easy.
On a side note, I hope that my next kitchen has much better light for taking food photos. We get tons of natural light, but unfortunately I do most of my cooking at night, and most of the artificial light comes from a lamp across the room. Maybe after we move I will have some better pictures.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Bars
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup diced rhubarb
1 cup diced strawberries
powdered sugar for topping
1) Heat oven to 375 degrees. If desired, line or grease 8x8 inch square baking pan
2) Place oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt in bottom of baking pan and mix. Melt butter and pour over top. Mix together with hands to form clumps (careful to avoid butter burns). If dough is not sticking together, add more flour approximately 1 tablespoon at a time.
3) Remove approximately 1 cup of mixture. Press remaining mixture flat into bottom of pan.
4) Spread diced fruit evenly over crust. Sprinkle with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch.
5) Sprinkle remaining topping over the fruit. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.
6) Let cool in pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, and store leftovers in the fridge.
