Strawberry and Rhubarb crispy Bars..

I need to start this recipe with a warning – these bars smell so heavenly while they’re baking that you’re going to want to dive right in, and of course you can, if that’s how you roll..But truthfully, they’re supposed to be best eaten from the fridge!

They’re from a favourite site of mine – The Smitten Kitchen – but I’ve changed the quantities to suit metric lovers, such as myself!

For this very reason, if you have kids/adults with no willpower (me!) in your house, you might want to do as I did and make these in the evening, chill them overnight, and produce them – like a magician – for lunchbox snacks, or even as an on-the-go breakfast bar. If you’re taking them on a picnic, keep them in the cool box if you can.

The combination of Strawberries and Rhubarb is completely delicious, and as this recipe has a load of porridge oats in it, you can almost fool yourself that it has a ‘healthy-eating’ vibe going. It’s a great ‘breakfast-on-the-run’ choice too, as the oats and fruit will keep you happy until lunchtime.

Of course you can use your own choice of fruit – I just happened to have a couple of sad sticks of Rhubarb and a carton of Strawberries within a day of their best-before date, so my choice was easy!

I’d definitely recommend this great little recipe. These are scrumptious!

EQUIPMENT:

• A 23x30cm (see NOTES)baking pan, lined with a sheet of Baking parchment which extends past each side of the tin – see picture – it makes it really easy to get the finished product out of the tin                                       
• A large bowl
• A medium-sized bowl
• 2 small bowls
• lemon squeezer

INGREDIENTS: These quantities will give you 24 good-sized bars

• 160g rolled oats
• 190g Plain flour
• 180g light brown/Muscovado sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170g  unsalted butter, melted
• 250g rhubarb, diced small
• 300g strawberries, cut small
• 2 teaspoon corn flour (optional, but helps firm up the filling)
• Juice of half a lemon.
• 2 tablespoon Demerara sugar.
• Icing sugar, for decoration – I didn’t bother, but you knew that, right?

METHOD:

• Heat oven to 180Fan
• Chop up the Rhubarb and Strawberries into smallish dice, and mix together in the medium bowl

Chopped Strawberries and Rhubarb, mixed together..

• Measure 2 teaspoons of Corn flour into one of the small bowls
• Squeeze half a lemon, and put the juice aside
• Put the oats, flour, sugar and salt into the large bowl, and combine really well.
• Pour in the melted butter, and stir with a metal spoon until all the butter has been evenly absorbed. It should be fairly dry – if it looks a bit wet, just mix in another tablespoon of Flour.
• Put 2 heaped tablespoons of the crumble mixture into one of the smaller bowls, and set aside..
• Press the remaining crumble mixture evenly into the bottom of the baking tin. Use the back of a tablespoon to make sure that it’s pressed into every corner. Put it in the heated oven and bake for 20 minutes.

The Oat mixture pressed into the tin, and 2 heaped tablespoons left for the crumble-style topping

• Remove the baking tray from the oven, and spread half the prepared fruit over the base.
• Sprinkle all the cornflour evenly over the fruit, then sprinkle over the lemon juice, and half of the Demerara sugar.
• Put the remaining fruit on, and top with second half of the sugar.

Ready for the oven!

• Scatter the reserved crumble mixture evenly over the fruit.
• Pop in the oven for 40 minutes,  until fruit is bubbling and the crumble part is golden  and crunchy – you might need to give it another 5-10 minutes if the crumble isn’t crunchy enough.
• Remove from the oven, and using every bit of willpower that you possess, allow to cool fully, then put into the fridge to chill (I gave it overnight)
• To cut it up: remove from the tray using the long lengths of the baking parchment and place on a cutting board.

• Using a sharp knife, cut them as desired – small squares or fingers – while still on the parchment.
• Pack into lidded boxes, with each layer separated by a sheet of baking parchment.
• Keep in the fridge, where they become crisp once chilled.
• Sprinkle with a little sifted icing sugar before serving if you like.

NOTES:

• Baking tins: I used a fairly large 23x30cm tin, which gave me 24 quite thin bars – as in the picture above, which are about 5x5cms – with the corner ones a little smaller. This suited me well, and I was happy with the size. However, if you would prefer to have slightly deeper bar, I’d suggest a square 23x23cm tin. To ensure that the base remains crisp, I’d be inclined to give it extra cooking time – say 10 minutes extra – check it and see. The bars from the 23x23cm tray will be deeper but smaller.