Rhubarb Crumble Bars

Five years on and these remain an all time favourite in my kitchen, made on repeat during both rhubarb seasons.

Forced rhubarb is everywhere right now in all its deep ruby beauty and chances are, if you have walked through my threshold over the past few weeks, I will have forced at least one of these bars in your face. Sorry, not sorry.

These dreamy squares are essentially a crumble in a bar but with a little added custardy-ness with the rhubarb in the filling. Plus, they are super easy – no need to pre-bake the filling or the base in this recipe, simply binding the rhubarb with an egg and some sugar absorbs all the juices and ensures a crisp base.

Full disclosure, these are a variation on a theme – starting with Cranberry Bars for the months between summer rhubarb and late winter faced rhubarb and Apricot Bars for the summer months. But you can use this base throughout the year and filled with anything from a glut of fresh or frozen berries tossed with a little sugar and lemon zest, as an emergency treat with a favourite jar of jam or with compote or apple sauce lurking in the fridge.

I also use this recipe to use up ends of flour hanging around in the baking drawer. Feel free to use a half/half mixture of plain and wholemeal flour or adding white or wholemeal spelt flour into the party gives wonderful nutty flavour undertones. Just use any combination you have on hand. 

This version has simply melted butter. Feel free to brown your butter (following the instructions in the Cranberry Bars here), or just flip flop like me, depending on your mood. Whichever way you make them, just do it, I promise they will infinitely improve your afternoon.

Rhubarb Crumble Bars

Servings

16

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• Crumbl Base & Top

• 175g (1 3/4 cup) unsalted butter

• 180g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour (or a mixture of plain and wholemeal, wheat or spelt flours)

• 150g (3/4 cup) soft brown muscovado sugar

• 150g (1 1/2 cups) jumbo porridge oats (not instant cook oats)

• 50g (1/2 cup) sliced almonds (optional)

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• Rhubarb Filling

• 400g – approx 5 long stems (3 cups) sliced rhubarb (1cm, 1/4inch thick)

• 1 large egg at room temp

• 150g (3/4 cup) caster (granulated) sugar

• 30g (2 tbsp) plain flour

• pinch of salt

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• zest of 1 small orange or blood orange when in season (lemon for the summer rhubarb months)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin with parchment paper and set aside
• Make the base and top:
  Start by melting the butter. Allow it to cool slightly. In a medium / large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, oats and half the sliced almonds. Add butter and mix together, keeping the mixture loose like a crumble topping.
• Make the rhubarb filling:
  Slice the rhubarb stalks into 1 cm pieces
  In the bottom of your second mixing bowl, whisk to gather the egg and sugar, adding in the flour, lemon zest and vanilla.  Give it another mix to fully combine.  
  Add the sliced rhubarb and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon to fully coat all the pieces.
• To assemble:
  Tip 2/3 of the crumble mixture into the prepared tin and press down into an even layer with the heel of your hand to make the base of the bars.
  Spread the rhubarb mixture evenly over the base.
  Loosely shower the rhubarb with the remaining crumble mixture to make a crumb topping.
  Sprinkle over the rest of the almonds (if using) and pop into the oven 45 minutes until golden.
• Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars

Notes

• I use a 20cm (8 inch) square baking tin for these, but as you are cutting them in to squares, they also work well in an equivalent size oblong tin or high sided baking sheet . If you are using a larger tin, for example a 20×30 cm sheet pan, increase the ingredient amounts in the recipe by one and a half times so that there is enough crumble and filling for a good base and top. 

A version of this recipe was included in the recently released book, Jewish Sweets, a collection of recipes from writers around the world and their favourite treats.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Pinterest
• Email this Page
• Print this Page