Almond Rhubarb Crumb Bars

The past couple weeks have been so busy for me! Going from full quarantine mode to back to work in a different capacity, I’ve had no time to come up with more quarantine small batch recipes. Our company received their small business loan, so a few of us are back to work in one of our restaurants just doing the take out thing. We’re serving a limited menu with good quality comfort food and some favorite classic desserts. We have the time, so we’ve also been making all the bread for sandwiches in house, which I absolutely love. I have to say, it’s been really nice getting back into a professional kitchen and not bad at all doing something a little different with the take out thing than what I typically did pre-pandemic which was high end catering and high volume pastry. It’s been nice to work with my kitchen family once again, and there are only a few of us working at a time, so it’s been easy to continue with the social distancing and mask/glove wearing. Safety is obviously most important right now and we are trying our best to navigate some kind of new normal in the restaurant.

I absolutely LOVE the spring time. Being from Southern California, I never really appreciated it much before because we really didn’t have distinguishable seasons. Now, living in Colorado, I’ve really come to appreciate the seasons, and what flavors they bring. Rhubarb is one of those things that only comes around for a small amount of time each year. And when it’s here, I try to make the most out of it. Even though we’re in a pandemic, we still have to make good use out of the wonderful flavors out there right now! I love these crumble bars because they’re so easy to make, and the rhubarb just has such a good sweet/tartness to it that is one of a kind. Feel free to sub strawberries or raspberries if you can’t get rhubarb!

Almond Rhubarb Crumb Bars

Yield 1 8×8” baking dish

Crumble Base and Topping

Flour 2 cups

Almonds 1/3 cup

Sugar 2T

Brown sugar 1/3 cup

Baking powder ½ tsp

Salt ¼ tsp

Butter, cubed, cold ¾ cup

Yolk 1

Rhubarb Filling

Rhubarb 3 cups (3-5 stalks)

Cornstarch 1 T

Sugar 1/3 cup

Lemon juice 2 T

Vanilla ½ tsp

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8”-inch baking dish with parchment paper, leaving some parchment going up the sides about 1 inch so you can easily lift out of the pan later.

In a medium sized bowl, combine all the ingredients for the rhubarb filling. Toss with a spatula to coat everything. Set aside while preparing the crumble.

In a food processor, combine all the crumble ingredients. Mix until the butter has completely mixed in and the mixture appears in small crumbles. Pour half of the crumble mixture into the baking dish and press it down evenly throughout the pan.

Evenly distribute the rhubarb filling over the pressed crumble. Top with the remainder of the crumble topping, and press down lightly until all the crumble is used.

Bake for 1 hour. Cool at room temperature for 2+ hours before removing from pan and cutting. Cut into 9 squares. Enjoy!