Rhubarb Bread

I was going to make Rhubarb Muffins, but then thought I'd try something different.  So I searched Pinterest for Rhubarb Bread recipes.  There were several that looked delicious, but I settled on this one from Hoot-n-Nanny.  The oatmeal on top was what sold me.  I cut down the sugar and oil just a bit and used some white whole wheat flour. 

Rhubarb Bread
adapted from Hoot-n-Nanny

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup soured milk *
• 2-1/2 cups flour (part whole wheat)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 cups chopped rhubarb

Topping:

• 3 T. butter, melted
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup rolled oats

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°.   While oven heats, place butter for topping in an oven-proof mixing bowl and place it in the oven to melt.
2. In a large bowl, mix together egg, oil and 1 cup brown sugar. Stir in soured milk and vanilla.  Combine flour, salt and baking soda and cinnamon and stir into sugar mixture until combined.  Fold in rhubarb.  Pour batter into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans.
3. Remove bowl with melted butter from the oven and add the rest of topping ingredients.  Sprinkle over the unbaked loaves.
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. 
5. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes then remove from pans. 

* to make soured milk, put 1 T vinegar or lemon juice into measuring cup; add milk to make 1 cup, stirring to combine, and let sit for a few minutes at room temperature.

I used 1-1/2 cups white whole wheat flour and 1 cup unbleached flour.  I buy the Wheat Montana Prairie Gold flour at Walmart.  It's made from hard white spring wheat and finely ground so it's lighter than traditional whole wheat flour but still has all the whole grain benefits.  I think traditional whole wheat flour would add a bit more flavor and texture to this, but I'd probably switch the measurements and use only 1 cup of whole wheat and 1-1/2 cups unbleached. I might add a tablespoon of ground flaxseed for flavor, too.

Other than that, I don't think I'd change a thing about this bread.  It's really good, and I especially like the brown sugar and oat mixture on the top.  It kind of bakes down into the bread in places and gives it a kinda of crunchy/gooey bite, and it's yummy. It does make the bread a bit crumbly, so it's best to use a plate when eating this - or stand over the kitchen sink, so you don't make a mess.

I suppose you could put butter on this, but so far I've just been slicing it and eating it.  Or there was another recipe on Pinterest that included a recipe for Honey Rhubarb Butter - which would probably be great on this and other things too.  I may just need to pull another package of rhubarb out of the freezer...

Update: I had to make the Honey Rhubarb Butter.  I used 1 package of frozen rhubarb (2 cups, mostly thawed), 2 T water, about 3 T raw honey, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. cloves.  I cooked the rhubarb and water until mushy then stirred in the honey and spices.  I did not blend it because it didn't seem to need any blending.  It's really good on the rhubarb bread, and I think it will be really good on other things like toast and biscuits.  I'm thinking I'll cut the cloves in half and only use 1/4 teaspoon next time, because they're a bit strong - not bad, really; I just think I'll like it better with less.

Puffed Oven Pancake with Banana Sauce

I made this for breakfast Saturday morning. It was yummy! But so rich.

Puffed Oven Pancake with Brown Sugar Banana Sauce
adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients:
Pancake:

• 2 T butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 t salt

Banana Sauce:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 medium bananas, sliced
• 2 T rum
  

Directions:

1. Place butter in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet.  Place in a 400° oven for 3 to 5 minutes or till butter melts.
2. In a medium mixing bowl use a wire whisk to beat eggs.  Add flour, milk, and salt.  Beat till mixture is smooth.
3. Pour into the hot skillet and bake 20-25 minutes or till puffed and well browned.
4. For brown sugar-banana sauce, in a small saucepan combine the 1/2 cup butter and the brown sugar. Cook and stir over medium heat until melted. Add bananas; cook about 2 minutes or until heated through, stirring gently. Carefully stir in rum; heat through. 
5. To serve, spoon sauce over pancake. If desired, sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream. Serve warm.

Like I said, this was very good but very, very rich.  I want to try it again but cut down the butter and only use 1/2 of what it calls for.  Also, I think I could use a teaspoon of vanilla instead of the rum.  (I used spiced rum)  Yes, the rum was good, but it seems to be more of a dessert than a breakfast.  The original recipe said you could use 2 T of apple juice, but I didn't notice that until now.  Of course, I didn't have any apple juice.  I wonder how orange/pineapple juice would have worked?  I may just try that next time!

This made a lot of sauce, probably enough for two pancakes.  I poured all of the sauce onto the uncut pancake for picture purposes, but next time I'll just cut and serve the pancake and let everybody spoon the banana sauce on top.  And, yes, this sauce would be good on other things, like waffles and pancakes.  And ice cream.

I used my regular recipe for the Puffed Oven Pancake, which is pretty much the same as the Better Homes & Gardens recipe, just with one less egg and less flour, mostly because I wanted to bake it in my cast iron skillet, which is a 10-inch and not a 12-inch. 

Coconut Lemon Bars

When I was posting that last recipe for Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars, I was planning to link to this recipe.  That's when I realized that I never posted it here.  I have it on my old recipe site, but since I never use that one anymore, I really need to get all the recipes copied over here.  I thought I had, but I guess I got distracted by new recipes before I brought all my old favorites over.

Anyway, these Coconut Lemon Bars are some of my favorites.  I'm going to have to make them again soon, because I don't have any pictures, but trust me - they're good.

Coconut Lemon Bars

Ingredients:
Crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4cup brown sugar

Filling:

• 3 eggs, well beaten
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon rind

Directions:

1. Mix flour, butter, and 1/4 cup brown sugar together and press firmly into a greased 13 x 9 inch pan.
2. Bake 10 minutes @ 350°.
3. Mix the eggs, 2 cups brown sugar, and salt thoroughly, then stir in the coconut, walnuts, lemon juice, and lemon rind.
4. Spread evenly over partially cooked bottom layer.
5. Bake about 25 minutes until lightly browned.

Cut bars when cool - Makes 24

  Looking at the recipe card, I see that the original recipe called for raisins - 1/2 cup raisins stirred in with the coconut, walnuts and lemon juice.  My mom never used the raisins, so I've never used the raisins.  That, and nobody here seems to like raisins except me.  But now I'm thinking maybe raisins next time...  Probably I will split this into two separate pans and put raisins in one of them, just to see how it turns out.

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Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars

The Food section of our newspaper recently held a Holiday Cookie Contest and published the winning recipes along with several runners-up.  There are some really good looking cookies here, but the ones that caught my eye were these Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars. (can you guess why? yep, it's the cranberries!)

I just had to make these today.  My whole kitchen smelled amazing, and then I was required to taste them, right?  So good!  The perfect combination of crunchy and chewy, sweet and tart - I'm in love!

I pretty much followed the recipe, only cutting down the sugar just a bit, but there are a couple other changes I will make next time (there will be a next time!) and those changes are reflected here.

Cranberry Coconut Pecan Bars

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1-1/4 cups flour (part whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup finely chopped dried cranberries

Filling:

• 2 lightly beaten eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cranberry juice (or orange juice)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup chopped dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Glaze

• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon cranberry juice (or orange juice)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Prepare crust by stirring together flour, sugar and salt in medium bowl. Mix in melted butter and then stir in pecans and cranberries. Press mixture onto bottom of ungreased 13-by-9-inch pan. . Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Leave oven on.
3. While crust bakes, in bowl, beat together eggs, granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons cranberry juice, the orange peel and vanilla. Stir in pecans, cranberries and coconut. Pour over hot crust and spread evenly.
4. Return to oven and bake 25 to 30 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack and let cool slightly (about 10 to 15 minutes) in pan. Cut into bars while warm.
5. While bars cool, mix together powered sugar and 1 tablespoon cranberry juice. Add more sugar and juice as needed to achieve drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cut bars.

Makes 24  

The original recipe called for cutting the butter for the crust into the flour and sugar until it resembles course crumbs.  A lot of bar cookie recipes seem to be written that way, but when I make my mom's Coconut Lemon Bars, I always just melt the butter and mix it in.  It's much easier and works just fine - so I will be making this crust that way from now on.  I used 1/4 cup whole wheat flour in the crust and brown sugar instead of granulated for more flavor - cut down from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup.  I think even 1/2 cup whole wheat or even half whole wheat and half unbleached flour would be fine.

The original recipe called for mixing the eggs, sugar, juice, orange peel, and vanilla for the filling, pouring that over the hot crust, and then sprinkling it with the pecans, cranberries and coconut.  That worked fine, but next time I'm just going to mix the pecans, cranberries and coconut in and then spread the whole thing over the crust - again like those lemon bars.  It will be less messy and easier to spread evenly.  It will still bake up just fine.  I used the cranberry juice this time because I had some in the fridge (cranberry apple, actually), but I think this would be great using some fresh-squeezed orange juice.  You're already using the orange for the peel or the zest, why not squeeze it and use the juice too?

Ready to bake

Also, the original recipe says that it makes 30-35, but I can't imagine anyone actually cutting them that way.  That would be 5 one way and 6 the other or 5 one way and 7 the other.  I have a hard enough time getting things even when I can first cut down the middle.  Cutting them into 24 pieces makes very nice-sized bars - and I still couldn't stop at just one.

 
For more cookie recipes, be sure to check out the Holiday Cookie Contest.

Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp

I've never tried rhubarb and raspberries together. Why? I don't know, but for some reason the idea popped into my head the other day - probably because I was thinking about what I have in my freezer and need to start using. 

So I went looking for a 'raspberry rhubarb dessert' and this is what I found. 

Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cut rhubarb
• 2 cups raspberries, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (or pecans)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

Directions:

1. In a shallow 2- to 3-quart baking dish, combine rhubarb, raspberries, granulated sugar, and cornstarch and mix gently to coat.
2. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. With your fingers or a pastry blender, rub or cut butter into oat mixture until coarse crumbs form. Sprinkle evenly over rhubarb and raspberry mixture.
3.  Bake in a 350° regular oven until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbling, about 45 minutes. 

Serve warm or at room temperature.

original recipe

As noted, I used frozen rhubarb and raspberries, mostly thawed and undrained, but this would of course be great with fresh fruit, too.  I only used half the raspberries the original recipe called for and cut the sugar in the fruit down from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup because I want to taste the tartness of the rhubarb.  I think it turned out great.  A nice dollop of vanilla ice cream would be great on top, but it was yummy just by itself.

Rhubarb and raspberries go very well together.

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