Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Strawberries are plentiful and the farmers market is filled with them.  They are so delicious right now.  They are sweet + juicy and they are just perfect.  I have never really worked with rhubarb, but it jumped out at me.  And then I thought, rhubarb + strawberries, after all, it is almost summer.



Summer...so looking forward to summer.  Not looking forward to it in the same way that my kids are.  I am looking forward to the lack of structure; no homework, grilling and eat outside, swimming, and long days filled with picnics at the beach, bike rides to the ice cream store and lazy mornings.


This past weekend was the official kick-off to summer.  We packed a lot into the 4 day weekend; the beach, bike riding, bbq's with family and friends and plenty of eating.  Summer is going to be a lot more of this plus lots more!




Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
adapted from many different places

iingredients:

filling:
5 cups strawberries, stemmed + quartered
3 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbls. cornstarch
zest of one orange
2 Tbls. juice from the orange
splash of balsamic

topping:
1 cup butter, cold
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 Tbls. cinnamon
pinch of salt

directions:
• preheat oven to 350*
• for the filling: combine all the ingredients in a bowl.  toss well.  put in a wide, shallow baking dish
• for the topping: in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment mix the sugar + cold butter.  Add the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt and mix well.  Add almonds and whisk 1-2 times.
• pour topping all over strawberry mixture.  put on baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the the filling is hot and bubbly and topping is crisp and light brown.

Mini Apple Crisps

We are on our way to some friends house for dinner and I wanted to bring desserts for both the grown ups and the kids. I had recently bought these cute little cup liners at Surfas and really wanted to use them. I thought about making little bread puddings. Then I remembered that I had all these apples that I had bought at the farmers market. I decided to go with mini apple crisps. I was excited to use my little liners.

I turned toward the Tartine cookbook and she had an easy crisp recipe. I prepared the topping and then put in the fridge. I peeled and cored the apples and then started filling the cup liners.

All looked good. The topping was really easy to work with. The directions said to pat the topping into a flat, pancake type shape. In hindsight, I should have just crumbled it over the top of the apples. When I took the crisps out of the oven, they looked a little messy. I don't like messy looking food. They only looked messy because the juice from the apples and the butter from the topping kind of leaked out all over the baking sheet.

I brought them to our friends regardless. No one seemed to notice the mess that I was obsessing over. The only comments I received were positive, with one party goer asking for seconds!

Ingredients

Filling

• 3 lbs. assorted apples
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp. lemon juice
• zest from one lemon
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Topping

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*. If making one big crisp, butter bottom of a 9"x 13" baking dish.

2. Core, peel and slice the apples. In another bowl, combine sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Add to apples and either spread in large pan or divide among the individual cups.

3. To make the topping, place sugar and butter in a mixing bowl. Use the whisk attachment on medium speed and beat until smooth. Add flour, cinnamon & salt and mix until a smooth dough forms.

4. Top crisps with dough and lay on top of apples.

5. Bake large pan for about 1 1/2 hours. If making individual, check after 20 minutes. If not done, keep checking every 5-7 minutes until the apples start to bubble.

6. Can be served at room temp or cold.

Top with ice cream and everyone will be happy!