ROSY RHUBARB SQUARES – a quick and easy springtime dessert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rhubarb treat is sure to please family and friends alike. The squares go together very quickly when you use a food processor to make the pastry and slice the rhubarb. Serve this spring dessert warm from the oven or at room temperature with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream or a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. To make this dessert diabetic- friendly, use a no sugar jelly powder instead of the regular (Jello) powder called for in the recipe.

*Please note that in the picture, I had made a double batch of the recipe for company. I used a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan and doubled all the ingredients. I needed to add about 10 minutes to the baking time. It turned out beautifully!

What is rhubarb? A number of my Aussie friends say that they are not familiar with this North American favorite.  Rhubarb is a highly versatile perennial plant that is classified as a vegetable, but is cooked like a fruit. A member of the buckwheat family, the leaves are extremely poisonous to humans and must never be eaten. However, the stalks can be cooked, baked, sauced, made into soup, made into jams and chutneys, and can be sliced for freezing for later use.

Not widely grown commercially, rhubarb is most often found in home gardens and the occasional market gardener. However, I have noticed that the occasional grocery store does carry frozen rhubarb in their freezer section.

The stalks range in color from a rosy red to light green. If you have your own rhubarb growing in the garden,when the rhubarb stalks are mature, pull them and leave the immature ones to provide photosynthesis for the rest of the plant. I usually pull the mature stalks, and then wait a week to harvest the next bunch. This way I have rhubarb for about a month. Later in the summer, the stalks get too woody to use.

Rosy Rhubarb Squares:

Pastry:

1 ¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup butter

1 egg beaten

2 teaspoons milk

1. Place flour, baking powder, and butter into bowl of food processor. Pulse until butter is the size of peas. With a fork, beat together milk and egg. Add to processor and pulse until the mixture forms a crumbly dough.
2. Spray a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan with no stick cooking spray. Put the pastry into the pan, bringing up the sides about one inch.

Filling:

Add 3 cups sliced rhubarb. Sprinkle one small package strawberry-flavored jelly powder e.g.(Jello) over the rhubarb.

Topping:

1 cup sugar (if making this for a reduced sugar diet, use 1/3 cup sugar + 2/3 sugar substitute –I use Splenda)

1/2 cup flour

¼ cup melted butter or margarine

1. Mix together in a small bowl with a fork until butter is evenly distributed and it forms crumbles.
2. Sprinkle over rhubarb filling.
3. Bake in a 350 F. oven for 35 to 45 minutes.
4. Serve and enjoy. Be sure to store leftovers in the refrigerator to keep that fresh flavor.

Tags: diabetic friendly dessert, rhubarb, rhubarb squares

Category: Cookies & Squares, Desserts