A pleasant morning, a good book, a hot cup of joe and a favorite snack.
The rhubarb is on, growing like crazy all over town! It feels like a wild plant ready to be foraged. In fact, rhubarb grows exceptionally well in our sub-arctic rainforest biome. Like our lovely foraged ingredients, it comes back every year without much tending.
I did not grow up with rhubarb. Tasting a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie from a local pie shop, my young mind couldn’t get past the idea that the filling consisted of pink celery sticks – rendered rather gloppy in the pie. My original assessment – yuck! Good thing young taste buds grow up.
These days the bright pink and red stalks are an absolute favorite. The lemony flavor paired with the colorful hue make for a winning combination.
Rhubarb happens to freeze quite nicely. So, in the doldrum days before spring growth got started I dug into my freezer and turned out a batch of rhubarb crumb bars to bring along to a sunny day picnic gathering of friends. The bars were a hit. I was happy with the flavor, but I thought they looked boring. Covering an 8 x 8 baking pan, the rather nondescript bars could have been anything. I wanted these tasty treats to visually beckon.
The solution? Same recipe, but this time baked in parchment-lined muffin cups and topped with toasted pecan accents. My neighborhood taste-testers agreed!
Do you have a favorite take-along picnic treat?
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I remember picking rhubarb with my mom and dipping it in sugar.
Food often conjures lovely memories. Thanks for stopping by, Catherine!
If I move next door to you to quietly perish in an Alaskan winter, will you leave treats on my porch for as long as I last?
Love the content and form of your creations; nice to see careful attention to aesthetics as well as sustenance.
Your comment made me giggle. I would absolutely leave you treats! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
For years, my sister and I searched unsuccessfully for our mother’s rhubarb custard pie that she made in the early 1950s. During the baking process, the rhubarb separated and formed a nice tart crust on top of a rich custard base. A month or two ago, it occurred to me to ask A.I. which promptly came up with a recipe. I made it. It was one of those rare things that lived up to a memory.
That sounds delicious! My grandmother had a stuffed cabbage recipe that she never shared. After many trials, I finally came up with a close replica. I could imagine how you felt when you tasted that rhubarb custard pie once again!