Take It For a Spin: Martha Stewart’s Rhubarb Crumb Bars

It’s rhubarb season (Ruebarb season?), and one of our very own designers, Melinda, decided to take this recipe for a road test. Her first time making it, the results were a very moist confluence of a little sweet and a little tart – basically, the ideal early-August treat. Here’s what she had to say after the bars came out of the oven.

Next time, I’d opt for a streusel topping that’s heartier, with half oats, half flour, less butter (starting with 1/2 cup – it really just needs to hold the crumble together), brown sugar, and I’d punch up the flavor with cinnamon (which is not mentioned in the recipe).

When I made the cake portion, I misread the instruction to mix the cut rhubarb with flour, and didn’t realize I only needed to mix it with 1/4 cup(and not the entire 1 cup of flour that’s listed in the ingredients section). I had to take the chunks out of the flour to use in the next step. Thankfully, this was not a detrimental mistake.

For me, the cake batter didn’t yield enough to coat the bottom of the pan, so I ended up doing a makeshift “let’s add more batter to this” by using 1/2 stick of butter, 1 egg, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar. Essentially, I cut the recipe’s ingredients for the batter in half and added it to the bottom of the pan. I then kept it in the oven for an extra 60 minutes.

By Melinda Brechbuehler, Rue Designer

Have something you think we should take for a spin? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @ruelala.

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