Rhubarb raspberry crisp

A few years ago, my in-laws brought us some rhubarb plants from their yard in San Diego. Most of the plants couldn't handle the Bay Area winters, but we do have a few that are still standing. I had enough rhubarb in the yard to put together this rhubarb and raspberry crisp.

This recipe is similar to most other fruit crisp recipes that you'll find. There are a few ingredients that make this one a little more unique. The raspberries and rhubarb receive a healthy dose of orange zest, and toasted hazelnuts go in to the crisp topping.

The end result was delicious, with a perfect topping to fruit ratio. I served this with black raspberry ice cream. I was out in the yard yesterday and noticed that our largest rhubarb plant has grown some more stalks, which means I can make another rhubarb dessert in the near future.

Rhubarb crisp

This recipe is from the Everyday Food cookbook. I have to say, as much as I've been enjoying this cookbook, this dessert wasn't my favorite. It was good, but not great. My first issue was with the amount of sugar in the rhubarb filling. I think it was excessive, my rhubarb was swimming in about an inch of sugar. I ended up removing some of the sugar so that the rhubarb was evenly coated, but not sitting on a mound of sugar. My other issue is that I don't think there was enough sugar in the crumb topping, The topping tasted mostly of butter and flour. I think I'd make this again, but next time I'd add an extra tablespoon of sugar to the topping, and reduce the amount of sugar in the filling.

Rhubarb muffins

My husband happens to love rhubarb. I found some really nice rhubarb for a good price over the weekend, so I picked up a few pounds of it. I used some of the rhubarb in these muffins - I coated the chopped rhubarb in sugar before adding it to the batter to temper the tartness. The result is a nice contrast between the sweet and tart flavors.

Rhubarb Muffins
Makes 1 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely grated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 and 1/2 cups rhubarb, small dice
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°. Combine rhubarb and 1 tablespoon of sugar, set aside. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk and next 4 ingredients (buttermilk through egg) in a bowl; add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Fold the rhubarb into the batter. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle the tops evenly with the coarse sugar. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove muffins from pan; cool on a wire rack.