Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012

By Request Rhubarb Bars

I call this recipe "By Request" because I made these bars yesterday for an event at church, and got so many requests for the recipe that I knew I had to write about it.  I've been spending a fair amount of time on Pinterest lately, and recently I searched for a rhubarb bar recipe without finding one I liked, so I decided to  adapt a recipe that I got from my sister which called for a can of fruit cocktail. Since I have a great fondness for all things rhubarb, and access to a very healthy rhubarb patch, I decided to try this substitution, and by all accounts, it was quite successful!





 Step 1: pick yourself about 15-20 stalks of fresh, tender rhubarb and chop into small pieces. Add about 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (more or less to taste) and set aside in the refrigerator (I left mine overnight) until a nice sugary syrup develops.













Since I was getting up early (6:00 AM) to make these before a morning event at church, I found a hot cup of coffee an essential part of the process. Drink the coffee (or whatever your beverage of choice is) - don't add it to the bars!







Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 1/2 C. sugar
1 1/2 C. chopped rhubarb (include some of the sugar syrup - enough to "fill in the gaps" of your measuring cup)
2 1/2 C. flour (I used unbleached all-purpose, I think whole wheat or a combination of flours would be good too)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla


Beat eggs and sugar together until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Batter will be thick.
Spread into a prepared (greased and floured) baking pan. If you use a 9x13 the bars will be thicker and more cake-like. My baking pan is slightly larger than that. (10 x 15?)
Bake at 350 degrees until surface is lightly browned. A 9x13 pan will take approximately 25 -30 minutes. For my larger pan, I baked the bars for 16-19 minutes. If going for a brownie-like consistency, it is preferable to slightly undercook these. If going for a cake-like consistency, cooking a little longer is preferred.

While the bars are baking, prepare a glaze using:

3/4 C. sugar
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter
1/4 C. evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla











Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Note: I didn't have evaporated milk so I used fresh whole milk and it worked just fine.















Here are the bars after baking. I allowed them to cool a little bit as well before pouring on the glaze. When glaze and bars are both sufficiently cooled (they can both still be warm - just not hot off of or out of the stove/oven), pour the glaze onto the bars and spread until evenly covered.


Cut bars, serve and enjoy!  They are very moist and yummy. Another variation I would like to try would be to use a lemon-butter sauce poured over the bars (similar to bread pudding).  I would probably make the bars in the 9x13 pan (more dessert-like) and pour the sauce on the individual pieces just before serving.  Here is a recipe for lemon butter sauce.  Another variation I want to try it to substitute this for the sugar.  I think many fruits could be used in place of the fruit cocktail or rhubarb - I can see trying this with raspberries and blueberries, possibly apples (with the addition of some cinnamon), even peaches. For sweet fruits I might add a little lemon juice for added tartness.





All experimenting aside, the original recipe, using the can of fruit cocktail, is also quite delish, and the beauty of it is you almost always have all of the ingredients needed for this tasty treat on hand in your pantry!

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