Rhubarb Crisp and the Lost Art of Simplicity

Trying to find a simple, gluten-free rhubarb crisp recipe is really what inspired me to start this blog. It is ridiculously hard. Not that there aren't recipes out there, but they're either way too complicated to be practical, swimming in sugar, or involve some of the strangest ingredients. (Why, in the name of sanity, would someone put Cayenne pepper in a dessert?) As for cookbooks, mine seemed to be unaware of rhubarb's existence.

Of course, I might be spoiled. When I was a kid, well before I found out about Celiac's disease, Mom made the best rhubarb crisp bar none.

So that gave me an idea. Adapt Mom's recipe to be gluten free. Which I think she got from Betty Crocker, but I'm not sure.

Rhubarb Crisp

6 cups rhubarb
1/3 cup water

Butter 9x13x2 inch pan, pour in rhubarb, sprinkle with water.

1 cup rolled oats (use one that specifies that it's from a dedicated gluten-free processing plant, or, if you can't handle oats as well as the more traditional grains, you can try rolled rice)
1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour (I use Bob's Red Mill, but I should think any all purpose mix should do)
1/2 cup rice bran
1/2 cup honey
2 teaspoon cinnamon

Use a sprinkle of guar or xanthan gum to help hold it together. Not really sure how much, as I'll detail later.

Mix and sprinkle over rhubarb.

Cook at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

It doesn't get much simpler than that, right?

Well, a little experimentation might be in order to get the right texture. When I tried this the result was a much smoother, gooier crust than I remember Mom's crisp having. I might have used too much guar gum. Or maybe the all purpose flour wasn't coarse enough. The original recipe did specify whole wheat flour. But it tasted good, which is the main thing. For something like this, texture is really up to personal preferences. Next time I try this I may add a little millet flour or leave out the guar gum. Maybe mix some coarse oatmeal in with the rolled oats.

What's really great about simple recipes like this is that there's a lot more room for experimenting. At least there is for people like me who still burn things fairly regularly. (I'm getting better, mostly.)