Rhubarb Apple Dessert Bars

They say that kids despise vegetables; I don't recall being that kid. It's possible I simply wasn't allowed to be... growing up we always had the "eat what's on your plate OR ELSE" rule. But maybe I was just the weird kid who didn't mind veggies. Here's to hoping our baby girl has this rare "love for vegetables" gene too!

The thing I do recall rejecting for a time was carrots. But as a whole I didn't hate them, it was the distasteful way they were presented to me. I think any vegetable has flavor potential, but some can taste horrific. It's all in how they're prepared. Or in my case, NOT.

My brother, sister and I were raised by my dad and he did the best he could with our motley crew! This involved feeding us decently healthy grub (not grubs). Being a single dad left little time for food prep. Often, before we could dive into our lunches (which normally consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, slathered with an unwelcomed mass of peanut butter and very minimal jelly), we had to choke down a whole, fat carrot stick. And by fat, I mean FAT. Talk about dry and revolting! The carrots we had couldn't be defined as juicy or flavorful. I'm convinced they'd been hanging out in the produce section at Walmart for years, possibly decades. They were always as dry as the desert and tasted awesomely bitter. Blech!

But my focus today won't rest on carrots. I simply wanted to share an awful vegetable experience in contrast to a great one. RHUBARB!

Ahh... this word and everything it represents makes me drool. It even sounds delicious, the way it rolls off your tongue. I suppose I favor it because it resembles fruit (or dessert) to me. Rhubarb pie = delish. Rhubarb crisp = amazing. Rhubarb cake = yum. Should I go on? 

Rhubarb is a perennial and it's the one edible plant we had growing in our yard. Talk about low maintenance! We never did anything with that plant, except ravage it, and it just kept shootin' up; a tasty well that never ran dry. An endless dessert ingredient until, of course, winter hit. Rhubarb is hardy but few things can withstand -50 temps (including me).

Maybe you share my affinity for rhubarb. Perhaps you're not too familiar with the taste. Either way, I think you're going to appreciate this perfect blend of tart and sweet! Share these bars with friends and family or just pig out on them yourselves (I won't judge). These bars are "melt in your mouth" yum! And go ahead and pretend they're healthy because they contain oatmeal, fruit AND a vegetable. 

First order of events? Get rhubarb. Pick it from your yard, get some from a generous friend who has plenty to share, go to the grocery store- whatever you need to do. I like to soak my rhubarb in a bowl of salty water to kill any creeping germs.

While your rhubarb is bathing, it's time to throw together the oatmeal crumble. Mix the dry crust & topping ingredients, then integrate the cold butter until the mixture is broken down into pea-sized pieces. 

I learned an AWESOME trick to mixing in the cold butter that I'm eager to share (those of you who own a food processor don't need this, but I don't own such a convenient contraption). I used to cut the butter in with two knives- major time consumer and super duper annoying! So I looked around for alternative ideas and came upon this one...

Wait for it...

FREEZE your butter sticks. Yep, freeze em' hard! Then shred the butter with your grater. Stick it back in the freezer to re-harden it, then mix it into your dry ingredients. This method is fast and way easier than cutting in the butter. Use it or lose it, but I feel like I unearthed gold!

Now that I've shared my newly acquired trick, we can move on. Scoop about half of the crumble mixture (around 2 cups) into the glass pan; put the rest in the refrigerator for later. Press the crumble down into the pan so that it's firm (I prefer to use my fingers) and stick this in the oven for a bit.

Then mix together the filling and spread this on top of the first hot layer. Cover and bake this until the rhubarb and apples are oh so soft.

Then, grab the remaining oatmeal crumble from the fridge and spread this evenly on top of the bars. Bake it until the top is beautifully browned. 

Pull the bars out of the oven and wah-lah! Let the bars cool for 2 hours, then dive in.

 

You can also eat these chilled and they're wonderfully refreshing!

 

"Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred."
Proverbs 15:17

 

RHUBARB APPLE DESSERT BARS

Prep time: 20 min.

Bake time: 45 min.

Yield: 16 bars

 

Crust and Topping Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 1/2 sticks cold butter (12 tbsp.)

 

Filling Ingredients   

• 2 1/2 cups washed & diced rhubarb
• 2 peeled & diced Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400. Grease or spray bottom of an 8x8 or 9x9 inch glass pan.
2. Mix dry ingredients for crust and topping. Integrate grated, cold butter until mixture has a pea-sized consistency (read blog for details).
3. Press about half (appx. 2 cups) of the crumble into the bottom of the greased pan. Put the rest in the refrigerator. Bake this first layer for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, mix the filling ingredients. Once layer #1 is done baking, spread the fruit mixture on top. Cover with tin foil and bake another 15 minutes or until rhubarb and apples are soft.
5. Grab the remaining crumble from the fridge and spread it on top of the filling layer. Reduce oven to 375 and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Cool for 2 hours. Serve bars alone or with vanilla ice cream.