Rhubarb crisp can be a year-round dessert, with strawberries in the spring and apples in the fall.
I learned to love rhubarb long before I could spell it. My dad grew more plants in the garden than we probably needed, but my mom and grandma happily baked all the stalks into delicious desserts and sauces. Rhubarb crisp with oatmeal was one of my grandma’s favorite rhubarb recipes (and in my memory it’s second only to her pure rhubarb pie).
This rhubarb crisp recipe is still one of the first homemade desserts I make when it’s time to harvest stalks from my rhubarb plants, which I divided from my dad’s in the Pacific Northwest and transplanted to northwest Montana nearly 20 years ago. A crisp takes less work than rolling out pie crust, and it tastes just as delicious. The crunchy topping balances the soft fruit and almost screams for ice cream.
Ingredients for Rhubarb Crisp
Sugars: Choose dark brown sugar for a bolder molasses taste in the crumble topping, or choose light or golden brown sugar for a hint of smoky caramel flavor. Otherwise, light and dark brown sugar have the same sweetness and texture.
Cornstarch and flour: In this recipe for rhubarb crisp, cornstarch and flour act as thickeners, one soaking up the fruit juices and the other helping the topping cling together.
Rhubarb: Look for firm, straight stalks with a shiny surface when harvesting rhubarb or buying it at the store. The cut end will dry out as it sits, so use your fresh rhubarb as soon as possible. Rhubarb that has been sliced, bagged and frozen works just as well in this recipe.
Apples or strawberries: Counter rhubarb’s tartness with the natural sweetness of apples or strawberries. Because strawberries also ripen in the spring, strawberry-rhubarb recipes are classic at that time of year. Apples make a tasty substitute if you have frozen rhubarb, or if you get a second crop during the fall harvest.
Oats: Rolled oats add crunch to the top of this rhubarb crisp recipe. They’re often the key difference between crumbles and crisps.
Butter: Butter turns the topping toasty and crunchy when baked. Without it, the topping will be dry and coated with raw flour, which you don’t want.
Cinnamon: There are two basic types of cinnamon: Ceylon and cassia. Ceylon cinnamon’s delicate, complex flavor is ideal for ice creams and simple sauces. The spicier, bolder cassia cinnamon (often labeled simply as cinnamon) is preferred for baking.
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the fruit
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Add the rhubarb and apples or strawberries, and toss to coat them.
Spoon the mixture into an 8-inch cast-iron or other ovenproof skillet and spread it evenly.
Editor’s Tip: If you don’t have an ovenproof skillet, bake the crisp in an 8×8-inch or similarly sized baking pan that can withstand the oven’s heat. Ceramic or glass won’t react to the natural acidity of rhubarb as steel or aluminum bakeware might.
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