Rhubarb Custard Bars

I have talked about my grandmother’s baking and her recipes in past posts on Dulce Dough.  I can’t help but think of her every single time I bake.  In fact, I have her entire recipe file and love to look through it.  I love seeing her beautiful handwriting on the recipes, and I love remembering her and her baking.  But the truth is that many of the recipes that are in her box I don’t remember her making.  And some of my favorites that I do remember are not there.  So I am left remembering.  And wondering.

My grandma often made pie, and my favorite pie that she made was rhubarb custard.  I found a few recipes that she had for rhubarb pie, but only two were for rhubarb custard pie.  The two recipes were very similar, but one was a newspaper clipping and the other was in my grandma’s handwriting.  The recipe that was in her handwriting had very vague baking instructions—all it said was “bake as a custard pie”.  So I searched online, looked through cookbooks, and looked through her recipes to find out how to bake a custard pie, and in particular how to bake a rhubarb custard pie.  Of course every recipe had different baking instructions—different times and temperatures.  I ended up making the recipe that was in my grandma’s handwriting, but used the instructions that were on on the newspaper clipping since the recipes were so similar.  But my pie didn’t set up like it was supposed to and didn’t appear done after the recommended time.  I continued to let it bake until it appeared done, but then the crust baked too long and was just about impossible to remove from the pan.  As it was when I made my Grandma’s Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies, things were just not the same.  It wasn’t like grandma’s.  I guess I will try again with a different recipe.  If anyone has a good recipe for rhubarb custard pie, please let me know! 

In the meantime, I came across this recipe for rhubarb custard bars.  Since I have lots of fresh rhubarb that I want to use while I can, I decided to give this recipe a try.  The bars are absolutely reminiscent of rhubarb custard pie—especially the crust and the custard layer.  In fact, I think without the top layer it would be even more like pie.

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Rhubarb Custard Bars

by Jill {www.dulcedough.com} June-26-2011

Rhubarb bars that are reminiscent of rhubarb custard pie.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, cold

          Filling:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 5 cups fresh rhubarb, finely chopped or frozen, thawed and drained

          Topping:

• 1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 9-in. x 13-in. baking pan.2. Prepare crust by combining the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Lightly press into prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes in preheated oven.3. While crust is baking, prepare filling. Combine sugar, nutmeg, and flour in a large bowl. Whisk in the cream and eggs, then gently fold in the rhubarb. Pour over the crust and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the custard is set. Cool completely.4. Prepare topping by beating cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth then fold in the whipped cream. Spread the topping over the top and cover and chill. Cut into bars before serving. Store bars in the refrigerator.

Details

Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.
Updated

June 26 2011