Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

As I said yesterday, I went a little gung-ho on the strawberries and rhubarb at the farmer's market. While I was making up some Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce for our french toast, I started the prep work for this dessert while I was at it.

I know I've said before my family wasn't huge on dessert, but my brother has always loved apple crisp.  It's really the only thing I remember my mom regularly baking from scratch. I've made a lot of cobblers in the past few months (the mango and raspberry varieties haven't hit the blog yet), so I thought I'd try something new!

What I like about this dish is that you can do your prep work in advance before dinner, toss it in the oven when you sit down to eat, and have it warm and toasty by the time you're finished.

You'll Need:

1+ 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

2 cups chopped strawberries

3/4 cup brown or white sugar

1 cup oats

1/4 cup flour

4 TB cold, unsalted butter cut in pieces

1/2 tsp salt

Start by chopping up your fruit.  I used most of a pint of strawberries, and maybe four sticks of rhubarb?  But feel free to adjust to what you have.  Peeled green apples would also go mighty fine in this.

Throw it all in a dish and mix in your sugar.

Cover and set aside.

Now mix up those dry ingredients.  I added Allspice (I'm obsessed).

Mash it around in your hands until all the powder-y bits are mixed in and you can ball it all up.

This is the point where if you're not ready to eat you can set your two dishes in the fridge and carry on with whatever life brings you and then come back.

By now your fruit dish will be much more liquid-y and possibly look like this:

Technically, that's called "macerating" the fruit, but that sounds weird, and there's no reason to cause unnecessary googling.  In any case, it should sit for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours, but what do I know- try however long you want. It'll taste good with ice cream no matter what!

Crumble up that dough ball on top of your fruit.

And set it in the oven at 350 for 30-45 minutes.  When it's all bubbly and the crunchy bit is golden brown it's done!

There's no egg in it, so there's no reason to fret about how done it is, just make an educated guess and let it cool so you don't burn your mouth.

And obviously, you need ice cream.  If you give a mouse a cookie, baby!

Dig in!

The Recipe

1+ 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

2 cups chopped strawberries

3/4 cup brown or white sugar

1 cup oats

1/4 cup flour

4 TB cold, unsalted butter cut in pieces

1/2 tsp salt

Optional:  cinnamon, allspice, or nutmeg

Cut up your strawberries and rhubarb and put in your cooking dish.  Mix in 3/4 cups of sugar (white, brown, or a combination will do).  Cover and set aside for 20 minutes to two hours.

In a medium mixing bowl combine oats, flour, butter, salt, and any spices you want (go for the allspice!). Mix with your hands until well combined.  

When you're ready to cook, heat the oven to 350.  Crumble your oat/flour mixture over the fruit and bake for 30-45 minutes.

Let it cool a little and enjoy with a bowl of vanilla or chocolate chip ice cream.