Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

First of all, thank you ladies for letting me share this little gem! To introduce myself to anyone else who might be reading- I'm Abby, these cuties Cousin/niece, its great to be here! It makes it even more fun to share a recipe when there is a special story to go with it. I especially like using ingredients that are local and fresh when I can!

Growing up, my Dad's favorite summer dessert was strawberry rhubarb pie. Mom always had a big rhubarb plant in the backyard that she was cut and cook up. Well, here in Northern Michigan they haven't yet planted the rhubarb but one day Mom and Dad (TQ and PopPop) were out on a walk in the woods and Mom spotted some wild rhubarb on their property! It still needed a few weeks to mature so the other day John and Mom went on a walk in the woods, armed with a knife and a basket to harvest the wild rhubarb!





I spent the next day making a pie crust, but unfortunately I had a bad pastry day (I'm told they happen to everyone) and alas, there was no crust for the pie. We were not deterred though, Mom went quickly to the Internet to her trusted source on foodnetwork.com and found a recipe courtesy of Anne Burrell for strawberry rhubarb crisp. It was quick, easy, and GREAT!

Ingredients::
Filling:
- 1 quart strawberries, stemmed and quartered
- 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch lengths
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/4 C cornstarch
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

Topping:
- 1 1/4 C whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 C rolled oats
- 1 C brown sugar
- 1 1/4 sticks butter, cut into pea sized pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1-2 TBSP water

Directions::

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling: Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir to be sure everything is well combined. Spoon the filling into 9 individual ramekins or 1 wide shallow baking dish.


Topping: In a food processor combine the flour, oats and brown sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter, vanilla and salt and pulse pulse pulse until the mixture looks dry and crumbly. Add 1 TBSP of water and pulse until the mixture starts to come together and look crumbly. If the mixture still seems dry add 1 more TBSP of water and pulse to combine.

Crumble the topping over the filling. Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is hot and bubbly all the way through and the topping looks crispy and light brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm and with whipped cream or ice cream.



*note* I made this one with splenda sugars and olivio instead of butter due to the dietary restrictions of PopPop, and it was still fabulous!