Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars

Greetings, friends! In my last Friday Favorites, I shared a preview of coming attractions...which was these amazing strawberry rhubarb crumb bars. Oh my goodness. They're my new love.

A few weeks ago when I was home in upstate NY, I was fortunate enough to take home some fresh rhubarb from a neighbor. Yummmm. When I subsequently returned to Boston, I sadly didn't have time to bake or cook with it at the time, so I sliced and froze it to use later. Then this past week strawberries were on sale at the store, so I knew it was time to "marry" the rhubarb and fresh strawberries to make these strawberry rhubarb crumb bars! 

The recipe is from an amazing blog, White on Rice Couple. Check out the photography on that blog. Wow!

Here's your recipe. ;-)

Ingredients

Streusel:

-1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 

-3/4 cup packed brown sugar

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Bars:

-1/2 lb. rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (this was about 1 and 1/2 cups)

-1/2 lb. strawberries, hulled and sliced 1/4 inch thick (this was also about 1 and 1/2 cups)

-1 and 1/2 Tbsp. brown sugar

-1 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

-3/4 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

-1 and 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar

-2 large eggs, beaten

-3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides of the dish. It may help to butter the sides of the pan before putting the parchment paper in so the paper will stick. Butter the inside of the parchment and flour it as well.

Make the streusel by first whisking together the butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add the flour and mix together with a fork or your fingers to make large crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the bars, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar, and 1/3 cup of flour. Sift or whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs and vanilla extract. Next, slowly mix in the combined dry ingredients until just incorporated.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan, then top with the strawberry rhubarb filling. Finally, crumble the streusel topping on top.

Bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until lightly golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan, and then lift it from the pan using the overhanging parchment paper on the sides. Cool completely before cutting into bars of desired size. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if you'd like...or enjoy as is! :)

Layers!

The crumb topping was deeelicious, and the strawberry rhubarb layer was obviously phenomenal. ;-) The bottom layer was rather cake-like...very light and fluffy. And the three layers together? Perfect!