Rhubarb Oatmeal Bars

Like so many other East Coast bloggers, I’ve fallen victim to West Coast envy. What is West Coast envy? Well, it’s a special kind of produce envy, where after a long, cold, and extremely snowy winter I surf my favorite West Coast food blogs, downright green with envy at the beautiful local produce they are now enjoying. I know that this disparity in growing seasons has always existed, but this is the first year I’ve been quite so aware of it. I need fresh local produce. And I need it now!

This need has led me to several recent moments of weakness. A few weeks ago there was a beautiful display of California strawberries at Whole Foods. I tried to steer my cart past them, telling myself–probably out loud, cause talking to myself out loud is something I do–the local ones will be here soon, be strong! But then I’m in the checkout line, and I catch the smell of strawberries–I can’t resist the smell! So I grab a pint and some heavy whipping cream and throw them on the belt. The cashier probably thought I was stealing something, as guilty as I was acting.

The next serious bout of weakness happened last Saturday, when I saw that Sweet Mary had posted a status update on facebook about finding rhubarb at a local store. I asked her which store, and she replied right back. Faster than Noel could say “you’re crazy” I was off, in search of a few of the glorious red stalks. Did I care that there would be local rhubarb in a mere two weeks when the farmer’s market opened? No I did not. I was a woman on a mission for the pie vegetable, and I would not be denied!

Now, looking back, I sure am glad there was rhubarb when I got to the store, because it would have been bad to fight the produce guy at Whole Foods. Especially since the cashier who had seen me do the thief act was right there too.

I grabbed my stalks and headed home to find the perfect recipe to start off rhubarb season. After a serious bout of recipe paralysis and indecision, I realized I was making it too hard and I really just needed to look to the expert who had set me off in the first place–Sweet Mary–who I’ve decided should be crowned the queen of rhubarb. She has a whole assortment of AWESOME looking rhubarb recipes on her site and is truly my rhubarb inspiration!

*Remember to enter the Market Bags Giveaway!!*

Rhubarb Oatmeal Bars
Adapted from Sweet Mary

These bars are awesome. Truly one of my favorite desserts of late. I could probably eat the whole pan without any trouble. But the real star of this recipe? The rhubarb sauce, which has so much potential, I’m having a hard time not making vats of it. It’s perfect not only in these bars, but also poured over a plain yellow cake with a dallop of fresh whipped cream, and I’m sure it would be equally perfect with ice cream, or as the magic filling in operation pop tart. Stay tuned for more adventures with the magic sauce!

Ingredients:

For crust:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup water

For filling:

3 cups chopped rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2-1 tsp ginger (I really like ginger, so I used a whole teaspoon)
3 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13×9-inch baking pan with butter or non-stick spray.

Make filling. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and bring mixture to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat so the mixture is just barely bubbling. Cook until rhubarb has broken down and mixture has thickened a bit. Mine coated the spatula nicely, and took about 10 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes.

While the filling cools, make the crust. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Add the oats and 1/4 cup water. Mix until crumbly. If your mixture is not suitably crumbly (mine was a bit more like batter, less like crumble) add additional flour one tablespoon at a time, using your hand to mix it in and crumble the mixture. Do this until your mixture reached suitable crumbleness.

Firmly pat half of this mixture into the greased baking pan. Pour the rhubarb sauce into the pan and spread evenly over the bottom layer. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture on top of the filling.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until it starts to brown. Cool (haha, that’s a joke, since I know you, like me, can’t wait that long). Cut into bars and share before you devour them all!

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