Iowa recipes: Rhubarb swirl pie

OK. So I've posted this recipe on the blog before, but I wanted to give it a try again with an easier ready-made graham cracker pie crust.  I've actually seen this recipe more often with the ready-made crust than with the homemade version.  Not only is it convenient, but it also sets up much better.  On my previous attempt, the dessert just looked like pink fluff!  Rhubarb season is pretty much finished here in central Iowa.  I froze the last of my garden rhubarb last weekend.  But I'll be making this rhubarb swirl pie again next spring.  It's very easy and very good! 

Here's my original post with the homemade graham cracker crust, if you prefer.  If you use the store-bought crust, then you probably won't have enough space inside the crust for all the filling, because I didn't.  Maybe you could use the rest to fill up one of those mini-graham cracker pie crusts.  Enjoy!

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Rhubarb Swirl
From the Deer Creek Lutheran Church Cookbook (from Carpenter, Iowa -- my grandmother's home town)

• 1 (3 oz.) box strawberry Jello
• 3 C. diced rhubarb
• 3/4 C. sugar
• 1 (3.4 oz.) box instant vanilla pudding
• 1-1/2 C. milk
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 8 oz. Cool Whip topping 

Graham cracker crust:

• 2 C. graham crackers, crushed
• 1/3 C. powdered sugar
• 1/2 C. melted margarine (I use butter)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 

Pour sugar over rhubarb and set 1 hour. Put in saucepan and simmer until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour in Jello and mix until dissolved. Set aside and cool until syrupy.  Prepare pudding with milk and vanilla. Then add topping and mix well. Pour rhubarb mix into pudding and gently swirl. Put into prepared graham cracker crust and chill overnight.

Crust:  Mix together ingredients. Press all but 1/4 C. (for topping) in a 9x13-inch pan. Chill 1 hour before pouring rhubarb filling on.  Sprinkle reserved crumbs on top.

Iowa recipe: Rhubarb Dream Bars

 

Wish I would have taken a better photo of these rhubarb dream bars.  But I barely remembered to take the photo before we gobbled them all up!

One of my Facebook friends, who is a farmer, posted this recipe for rhubarb dream bars. She said that she brought these bars to her husband and the guys out in the field this spring, while they were planting corn, and they ended up eating the whole pan.  With that rave review, I had to try them myself!

What's great about these bars is I had all the ingredients on hand.  I grow quite a bit of rhubarb in my backyard, so I'm always looking for new recipes to use it up. Seriously, one of the reasons we bought our house is because of the rhubarb plants growing by the garage!  I love rhubarb that much. And these bars are like a rhubarb version of lemon bars, which are my husband's favorite.

Here's the recipe if you want to give these a try at home.  As my friend said: "I'll bet you can't eat just one!"

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Rhubarb Dream Bars

• 2 C. flour
• 3/4 C. powdered sugar
• 1 C. butter

Mix together and press in jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

• 4 eggs
• 2 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. flour
• 4 C. diced rhubarb

Beat together eggs, sugar and flour. Stir in rhubarb. Pour over baked crust. Bake an additional 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and cut into bars. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Iowa recipe: Rhubarb dessert

This recipe for rhubarb dessert is in many of my old church cookbooks, in one variation or another.  It's basically a "dump" dessert, just pile the ingredients on top of one another and bake.  I wasn't exactly sure how it was going to turn out, having never tried it before.  It ended up looking and tasting like a rhubarb cobbler.

First you put a layer of cut-up rhubarb on the bottom of the pan. Then a layer of sugar, another layer of strawberry gelatin and another layer of yellow cake mix. Pour water over it all, and that's it. Very easy.

I would recommend serving this dessert right away, because it starts to get a little soggy the next day.  Here's the full recipe, if you want to give it a try.

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Rhubarb dessert

• 4 C. fresh chopped rhubarb
• 1 C. sugar
• 1 (3 oz.) package red gelatin
• 1 small size yellow cake mix (like Jiffy)
• 1 C. cold water
• 1/2 C. butter 

Spread rhubarb in an 8x10-inch pan or baking dish. Sprinkle the sugar over rhubarb, then gelatin, followed by the dry cake mix.  Spoon the water over the cake mix layer.  Melt butter and drizzle over all. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Serve warm or cold with whipped topping or ice cream.

Iowa recipes: Rhubarb custard pie

As you can see, I'm not that great at making pretty pies.  But I still love to bake them from scratch.  I found this recipe for rhubarb custard pies at my favorite grocery store, which offers copies of recipes featured on a local radio program.  I also found a similar recipe in one of my favorite church cookbooks.  I decided to merge the two recipes into a pie that's closer to my taste.  You can bake this pie with one crust, but I decided to use two crusts. 

The pie turned out perfect on my first attempt, and I think it tastes even better the next day, once the rhubarb has "mellowed" and isn't so tart.  If you're looking for an easy, old-fashioned rhubarb pie recipe, then this is the one to try.  Enjoy!

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Rhubarb custard pie

Beat slightly - 3 eggs

Add 3 Tbsp. milk

Mix and stir in: 2 C. sugar, 1/4 C. flour, 3/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix in 4 C. cut rhubarb

Pour into 9 inch pie crust.  Dot with 1 Tbsp. butter. (Top with another crust, if you choose.)  Bake at 400 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes until nicely browned.

Strawberry rhubarb pie

Almost a month ago (I can't believe it's been that long), I headed out to Berry Patch Farms in Nevada on the first Saturday morning when they offered ready-to-pick strawberries.  I showed up right at their opening at 8 a.m., thinking that I was arriving way too early.  To my surprise, there were already about 30 people out in one of their strawberry patches!

At first, I was directed to a row in the field that didn't have many ripe berries for the picking.  I was a little disappointed.  But when I walked back towards the beginning rows of the patch, I discovered all these berries that other folks neglected for some reason.  (I also stepped on quite a few half-chewed up strawberry stems.  Eww! Can't people wait to eat the berries till they get home?)

Pretty soon, I filled up a box with berries.  I ended up picking 9 pounds of strawberries!  I could have stayed and picked more, but I've learned from experience that one box is enough, unless I want to be making strawberry jam for the next three days straight.

Of course, I made a couple batches of jam.  But I really wanted to make a pie, too.  And my favorite pie is strawberry-rhubarb.  Last year, I didn't have much luck with strawberry-rhubarb pie.  The pie filling was way too runny.  But this year, I followed a tip I discovered on the Kitchn website that suggested draining the juice off the berries after they've sat in sugar for 15 minutes.  It sounded a little strange, but I decided to give it a try.  And guess what?  My pie turned out perfect!  No runny filling!

(I'm still not great at making "pretty" pies. But trust me, they taste good!)

I also decided to try out one of the cute metal pie pans I found at an antique store.  I was hesitant to use them for fear I would scratch them up.  But then I pulled the pan out of cupboard and realized that it was already dinged up.  These pans were meant to be used!  And they are the perfect size.  The only pans I can find at the local stores are 10-inch or deep-dish pie pans. Most pie recipes are for a 9-inch pie.

Here's the recipe for the strawberry-rhubarb pie.  I know it's a little late to pick strawberries, but I found some beautiful California strawberries on sale this weekend.  It's the next best thing to locally grown.

Enjoy!

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Strawberry rhubarb pie
From Iowa State Fair cookbook

• 1-1/4 C. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 T. instant tapioca
• 1 T. strawberry gelatin
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 C. fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
• 3 C. fresh, chopped rhubarb
• 1 T. butter or margarine
• Pastry for double-crust 9-inch pie
• Milk
• Sugar, for sprinkling

In a large bowl, combine sugar, salt, tapioca, gelatin and cinnamon.  Add fruit and let rest 15 minutes, or until tapioca softens.  Pour all into pastry-lined pie pan.  Dot with butter.  Cover with vented top crust.  Flute edges.  Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Use pie bands or foil to prevent dark edges.  Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Reduce heat to 350 degree; bake an additional 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Iowa recipes: Rhubarb coffee cake

So this is kind of a funny story.

I made this rhubarb cake the other night while my hubby was out fishing.  After a couple days, it looked like he hadn't eaten any of it, so I threw the rest of the cake away.. (I was afraid I'd eat it all myself!)  The next morning, I got a call from my husband at work.  He asked why I threw the cake out.  I told him it's because I figured he didn't like it.  But it turns out, he really, really liked this cake.  He's just been too busy fishing, he never got around to polishing off the cake!

I found this rhubarb cake recipe in a local ag newspaper; I found another version of this recipe in one of my church cookbooks.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

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Rhubarb coffee cake

• 3 C. finely cut rhubarb
• 2 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. margarine
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2½ C. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 C. buttermilk
• ¾ C. brown sugar
• ½ C. nuts
• ½ C. evaporated milk

Combine rhubarb and 1/2 C. sugar, and let stand. Cream margarine and 1 C. sugar. Add egg and 1 tsp. vanilla to margarine-sugar mixture. Add alternately to that: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Blend in rhubarb-sugar mixture. Put into greased 9x13-inch pan and top evenly with brown sugar and nuts.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees. While the cake is baking, combine: ¼ C. margarine, ½ C. sugar and evaporated milk. Boil exactly 3½ minutes. Remove from stove and add ½ tsp. vanilla and mix well. When cake is baked, spoon the margarine-sugar-milk mixture over the hot cake.

Rhubarb apple bread

Oh dear!  I have more rhubarb than I know what to do with.

Our four rhubarb plants are growing like gang-busters this year.  Maybe it's because of the rainy, cool spring weather?  Whatever the reason, I still have a lot of rhubarb to experiement with, and plenty to freeze for winter use.

I recently baked up the absolutely best rhubarb quick bread I've ever made.  It's another recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod.  I'm completely smitten by all their recipes.  So much so that I'm trying a new recipe of theirs about every week.  And this rhubarb apple bread was so yummy!  It's got a generous amount of cinnamon, which my husband loves.  And the rhubarb in this bread wasn't very tart, so it's a good recipe for people who aren't rhubarb fans (although I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love rhubarb).

If you have a few extra stalks of rhubarb from the farmers' market, or if you live in a rhubarb jungle like myself, then give this quick bread recipe a try.