Rhubarb Cobbler

Sooooo, the last few days have been quite hard on me. My boyfriend and I broke up so I haven't exactly been productive. Yesterday AM I woke up and thought to myself, "baking will solve this funky mood!" but I wasn't up for a super complicated recipe. Enter Rhubarb Cobbler.

I have rhubarb growing in my garden that was Marge's (the woman who lived in this house all 88 years of her life) and since I wasn't a baker last year, my Mom was the only one to use it. Not so, in 2010! I plan to blog about Marge one day soon. She was one fantastic lady and I loved her dearly. For now though, I am going to share the recipe that allowed me to enjoy her rhubarb.

Before we begin, let's go over rhubarb. First off, the leaves are toxic. Do NOT use them in any recipes and don't keep them where your pets can get to them. (Look how huge those leaves are!)

I also did a bit of research and found out a couple of cool facts. Is this plant a fruit? A veggie? Wikipedia says: "Rhubarb is botanically classified as a vegetable, however, in the United States a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was used in the United States as a fruit it was to be called a fruit. A side effect was a reduction in taxes paid." Taxes? Pft. This grows in my garden. Taxes, schmaxes.


I got this recipe from http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1837,149168-253203,00.html and although it turned out pretty good, I have some plans to tweak it next time. Here's how it went...

COBBLER:


2-3 c. rhubarb (pieces)
1/4 c. water
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. flour
Nutmeg (This is listed as optional, but seriously. Who would omit this yummy spice?)

TOPPING:

1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. Crisco (The recipe calls for lard. Gross! If that's your thing though, go for it!)
1/2 c. milk
Pinch of salt

Dice up the rhubarb into desired size. I recommend not making the pieces too big here. (I'd like to throw in some strawberries next time too... I just didn't have any.)

Add rhubarb into a large bowl. Stir in water, flour, sugar and nutmeg.

I always use a wooden spoon, so as not to bruise the fruit (or veggie, you decide!).

Add mixture to either a pie or 8" x 8" pan. Set aside.

Using your mixer, combine flour, baking powder, crisco, milk and salt.

The topping will be a bit thick and gooey. I poured it on and then spread it out with a spatula, but next time I might even try to roll it out on some waxed paper (that might be inviting disaster...) or just sort of drop it on in glops so it's more evenly spread out.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Use tin foil under the pan... once again I had a juicy mess on  my hands and my kitchen got a bit smokey. Luckily, it didn't affect the taste.

All in all, this is a good recipe. The topping was too thick in the middle for my liking, but other than that, I think this turned out pretty good! Next time, I'll use strawberries and be more careful when pouring the topping on.