More Rhubarb! Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Bars

In my humble opinion, these bars are... well, fantastic. With a slightly cakey bottom, juicy fruity filling and a streusel topping, the combination is just perfect! With plenty of rhubarb in the yard and a pint of strawberries that needed to be used up, I decided to bake last night, despite the fact that I was so tired I could have went to bed at 6.

For this one, I used a Martha Stewart recipe that I found in my purse. Is finding a recipe in my purse a sign that I have taken this obsession to the next level? Maybe, but who cares, right? :)

Here's the link to Martha's recipe. I often wonder how many of the recipes on her site are hers, and how many are from readers or editors, or whoever.

Ingredients:

FOR THE STREUSEL

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

FOR THE CAKE

1/2 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
*I used half rhubarb and half strawberries. Because I don't have a scale, I estimated and used about 2 cups of fruit, which worked out well. Not too juicy, not dry at all.
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter and flour parchment and pan, tapping out excess flour. This step felt totally overkill to me; so much so, that I re-read it about 4 times before I started. The cake turned out quite well, but I'm tempted to not butter the pan pre-parchment next time.


Pre-heat oven to 350.

Streusel:

Whisk together butter, brown sugar, and salt.

Add flour and mix with a fork until large crumbs form.

Don't over or under mix! Over mixing causes the streusel to become too fine, almost like graham cracker crumbs, while under mixing will leave you with giant chunks. After mixing a bit, I used a sort of stabbing motion with my fork to break up the larger chunks, and get it just right. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cake:

In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup flour.

In another medium bowl, whisk 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl (this is a lot of bowls...), using a mixer, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, beat in vanilla, then flour mixture.

Spread batter in prepared pan (it will be thick and smell delicious!).

 Sprinkle with fruit...

 ...and top with streusel. The butter chunks should have become firm and will be easy to spread.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 45-50 minutes. My oven tends to take a bit longer, so I cooked it closer to an hour. Martha says to let it cool completely in the pan, but after about 30-45 minutes I got curious and took it out to try a piece. Nothing catastrophic happened. Using paper overhang, lift cake from pan. Cut and serve!