Tag: Baking with Rhubarb

Rhubarb Crumb Coffeecake

February 13th, 2024

We love rhubarb. At our house, pies and muffins and coffee cakes go into the freezer every Spring and Summer, to last into the Winter. This is one of our favorite coffee cakes, adapted from a recipe in the New York Times. Get the family involved: one person prepares the crumb, another prepares the wet mixture. One person prepares the batter, another prepares the fruit. Then everyone helps to assemble it for baking and everyone enjoys eating it!

A perfect Sunday breakfast with fruited yogurt and chicken sausages.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter a 9” springform pan. Serves 12-16

for the CRUMB: 1/3 cup dark brown sugar + 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + ½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt + ½ cup/1 stick butter, melted
¾ cup all-purpose flour + 1 cup white whole wheat flour In a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl. Set aside THE CRUMB.

For the FRUIT: 16 oz [1#] rhubarb, sliced ½-inch thick
¼ cup sugar + 2 tsp cornstarch + ¾ tsp ground ginger Toss these ingredients together. Set aside THE FRUIT.

for the WET mixture: 1/3 cup plain yogurt OR sour cream 1 US Large [2 oz] egg + 1 egg yolk from a US Large egg 2 tsp vanilla extract In a small bowl, stir these ingredients together to form the ‘Wet Mixture.’ Set aside THE WET MIXTURE

for the BATTER: ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup white whole wheat flour + ¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar + ½ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp baking powder Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix these ingredients together. 6 Tbsp softened butter + 1 Tbsp of above Wet Mixture
Cut butter into 12 pieces. Add these to above. Mix on medium speed ’til flour is moistened. Increase speed, beat 30 seconds. ½ of Wet Mixture = 3 oz other ½ of Wet Mixture = 3 oz Add Wet Mixture in 2 batches, beating 20 secs after each addition, scraping down sides of bowl. Pour batter into pan.

to ASSEMBLE: Spoon rhubarb over batter. With your fingers, break/squeeze crumb mixture into big crumbs, ~½” -¾” in size. Sprinkle over rhubarb and cake.

Bake 45-55 min until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (it might be moist from rhubarb). Cool ~10 mins, then remove collar of pan. Cool completely before serving.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on March 12, 2024. If you click the ‘Subscribe’ button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month for free.

Rhubarb Pudding

July 4th, 2023

Now, when the English say ‘pudding,’ they mean any sort of dessert — unless they are discussing Yorkshire Pudding or Blood Pudding. When Americans say ‘pudding,’ we narrow it down to a milk-based dessert to eat with a spoon — such as tapioca or a blanc mange. Here is a real New England recipe from Haydn Pearson, who grew up in Greenfield, NH, just the next town over from Bennington.

First, Rhubarb Pudding as part of a lovely breakfast. Secondly, Rhubarb Pudding as served for dessert. This pudding is a good way to use the ‘mush’/solids from when you prepared Crushed Rhubarb.

Rhubarb Pudding Breakfast: Haydn Pearson has a wonderful dessert called “Blanche’s Super Rhubarb Pudding” in his iconic Country Flavor Cook Book. This is a scaled-down version that is fit for breakfast: slightly tangy, lightly sweet. Plant Based Gluten Free – if using GF flour

6 Tbsp cooked, mashed rhubarb OR mush from Crushed Rhubarb 1 two-oz egg + 1 egg white 1½ Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp flour OR 2 Tbsp white whole wheat flour 2 Tbsp milk ½ tsp baking powder per person: 1 slice Canadian Bacon [= ½ oz back bacon] several slices of strawberry

Cut up 1 cup rhubarb and stew it in a little water. Drain thoroughly and mash. OR, use the mush from Crushed Rhubarb. Measure the 6 Tbsp you need and save the remainder for another use. [Add to a smoothie; serve with yogurt] Whisk the egg and white, then add all the other ingredients [but not the bacon!] Spoon into a baking dish which has been sprayed with non-stick spray. HINT: I did all this the night before. A real time-saver. Bake at 350 F until the batter is firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. While the pudding bakes, cook the bacon and prepare the optional beverages. Delicious. FYI, here are the food values for the breakfast: 142 calories 3 g fat 2 g fiber 10.6 g protein 24 g carbs 155 mg Calcium

Blanche’s Super Rhubarb Pudding: Blanche was Mrs. Pearson and her husband was delighted with this dessert. You will be too.

Rhubarb Pudding in a single-serving ramekin. What a treat!

Serves 6 in a casserole, 6-8 in ramekins
½ cup sugar 2 Tbsp butter	Cream together.
1 cup milk	Add to creamed mixture.
1 cup flour [white whole wheat is a very good choice] +++2 tsp baking powder +++½ tsp salt	Sift these together, then stir into creamed mixture to make a batter.
1 quart rhubarb, sliced in ½” pieces ++¾ cups sugar ++¼ cup water OR use 3 cups Rhubarb Mush	Cook together over medium heat about 7 minutes. Stir. Pour into a buttered oven-proof dish or into 6 buttered ramekins.
	Pour batter over the sauce.
	Bake 20 minutes at 350F.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on August 1, 2023. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Tag: Baking with Rhubarb

Rhubarb Crumb Coffeecake

Rhubarb Pudding