The Apple Rhubarb Crisp, baked in an 8 x 8-inch dish, did not last long after it came out of the Times Leader test kitchen oven, which, for the uninitiated, is the oven in Mark and MT’s home kitchen.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Apples add sweetness to filling in this crisp
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Here are 4 cups of rhubarb and 2 cups of apples, tossed with sugar and cornstarch and waiting for a topping.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
When I spotted fresh rhubarb at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market last Thursday, I couldn’t resist those pretty green stalks, streaked with red.
So I bought a bunch — and reflected on how I’ve already made and written a food column about a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie in 2020, a Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp in 2022 and Rhubarb Pudding in 2023.
Wanting to try something a little different this season, I was intrigued by recipes that pair the tart rhubarb with fruit other than strawberry. The result was Apple Rhubarb Crisp, which I made following a recipe from garnishwithlemon.com/.
Mark liked it; my mom liked it; neighbor Roger liked it and I liked it … and (sorry, folks) there wasn’t even a crumb left to take to the newsroom taste testers.
Of the four tasters who did get a serving — or two — Roger was the only one who seemed to detect any apple flavor; the rest of us mostly tasted rhubarb in the filling.
But I’d wanted to incoporate some sweet McIntosh apples so I’d feel OK about cutting the sugar in the filling down from 1/2 cup to a little more than 1/4 cup. (The author of the recipe tells the home cook to adjust the sugar to taste.)
By the way, we really seemed to be celebrating the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market even more than usual this week, with my mother stuffing peppers from Zimmerman’s stand, me roasting spaghetti squash from Hoagland’s, Mark cutting up a cantaloupe from Broyan’s and all three of us (Mom, Mark and me) each separately cooking up corn on the cob from O’Malia’s for some meals we didn’t eat together.
As for the lovely rhubarb, that came from Golomb’s, as did the carrot and the red beet that I’ve been eating while I write this.
Apple Rhubarb Crisp
½ cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
3 tablespoons corn starch
4 cups sliced fresh rhubarb
2 cups apples (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup butter (melted)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine sugar and corn starch in a large bowl. Add rhubarb and apples and gently toss to coat. Spoon into a greased 8-inch square baking dish.
In a small bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over rhubarb mixture. Bake for 50 minutes or until bubbly and fruit is tender.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
