Friday, February 20, 2015

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (GF, DF)

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
(Gluten-free, dairy-free)

I developed this recipe for a cooking demo at my local farmer's market, in an effort to promote strawberries and rhubarb! This dish tastes like summer to me!

You can use any sweetener (honey, sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, etc.) in this recipe; I chose coconut palm sugar as an unrefined substitute for brown sugar. While on the topic of sugar, this recipe used approximately a quarter of what is called for in traditional recipes.
Ingredients
Fruit layer:
3 C strawberries, sliced (almost 1 quart of fresh berries)
3 C rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch chunks (about 4 large, tall stalks)
1/2 C sugar, or less (I used coconut palm sugar)
Crisp layer:
1 1/2 C rolled oats (gluten free)
3/4 C shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/4 C coconut oil (you can use butter if dairy isn't a concern)
1/4 C sugar (I used coconut palm sugar)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Combine fruit and sugar, mix well and set aside.
  3. Combine ingredients for the crisp layer in a separate bowl and stir to prepare a homogeneous mixture.
  4. Grease 8x8 baking dish (glass or ceramic/stone. If using cermaic/stone, place dish in stove to preheat for five minutes).
  5. Add the fruit mixture to the greased dish, and spread evenly.
  6. Add the crisp layer on top, spreading evenly.
  7. Cover with foil and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake 30 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown. If you question whether it needs more time, poke down with a fork a few times to ensure that the rhubarb is soft. If not, cool a bit longer.
  8. Let cool one hour before serving.
If dairy isn't a problem for you, consider topping with whipped cream! (A quick and easy recipe: 1 C heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp sugar, optional. Blend or whip until you have whipped cream!)

A generous scoop of Trader Joe's canned Coconut Cream is a lovely dairy-alternative!

I made probably seven iterations of this dessert, and continually failed to take photos. Here's one that I snapped this morning while doing a cooking demo at my farmer's market.