Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

Strawberries and rhubarb are a classic spring pair, usually in pie, here in a rustic cobbler with a sweet and slightly crunchy topping where cornmeal adds texture and lemon zest contributes a pleasing brightness. Grown men have been known to groan over this addictive, easy dessert served warm from the oven. Just listen: it sings of spring!

A Spring Fruit Cobbler, Made from Scratch, Fresh & Family-Approved. A Budget Friendly Homestyle Dessert on the Table in an Hour. Just One Bowl, No Mixer Required. Extra Welcome When "Supper's a Little Skimpy". Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Vegetarian, Easily Converted to Vegan. Rave Reviews.

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BEST RECIPES

• Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Made the List!
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COMPLIMENTS!

• "May I just say, gorgeous?!!" ~ Karen
• "Who knew rhubarb could be so delish?!" ~ Lelo in NoPo
• "...delicious beyond words." ~ Cher

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"Best Baseball in the Country"

Such is the appraisal of hometown baseball here in St Louis.

Even amid the fustle about steroids and stats, salaries and our new stadium, St. Louis fans remain Redbird-loyal, game-smart and fair-minded toward opponents.

In summer, moms tow kids downtown for weekday day games. Grown women, mothers themselves now, remember precious hours with their fathers at the old Busch Stadium, learning how to keep score and the strategy behind bunts and beanballs. In the stands, white-haired guys tell tales of catching the streetcar to spring for Knothole Gang cheap seats at the even older Sportsman's Park, where posts interfered with every sightline but Stan Musial, Satchel Page, Curt Flood, a one-armed outfielder and even a pitcher-challenging dwarf commanded loyalty.

What bodes for baseball when competition looms? During a dog-walk in Glendale last spring, a single block was a minor league Street of Fame. Two boys in just-washed Little League garb tossed a ball between them. Girls in plaid school skirts lifted bare knees to keep soccer balls aloft. Preschoolers in girly-pink and girly-purple swim suits dashed through a sprinkler. Face-masked boys lobbed lacrosse balls. Three sweaty teens leapt high to whack a tether ball.

What bodes for baseball? A new generation of savvy, stalwart and athletic fans, says intuition.

Go Cards!

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About This Recipe

• Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler pairs two spring favorites, strawberry and rhubarb, in a simple old-fashioned dessert that's a study in contrasts, sweet:sour plus soft:crispy plus warm:cold. It's extra-good served warm from the oven, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream although hey, here, we really love the leftovers served cold with a drizzle of cream or half 'n' half, for breakfast, no less!
• Distinctive Ingredients = ripe strawberries + rhubarb
• This is a time-friendly recipe, just mix the fruit and topping separately in the same bowl, no mixer required, then bake for 25-30 minutes. Start to finish, you'll have dessert on the table in under an hour.
• This is pantry-friendly recipe, if you already have strawberries and rhubarb, you probably have all you need already on hand.
• This is a budget-friendly recipe, no hard-to-find ingredients, no nuts, no fancy flours, etc.
• This is a flexible recipe, it's easy to use the same topping with different fruits.
• This recipe serves eight but, well, that depends on who's eating and self-control.
• Lots of rhubarb but no strawberries? Try my Country Rhubarb Cobbler, warm rhubarb between layers of a sweet biscuit.

Exactly What Is a "Cobbler" Again?

What, exactly, is the difference between a cobbler and a crisp and a crumble and a grunt and a buckle and a ... so many names! for various renditions! of warm fruit! with a sweet! cake-y! biscuit-y! crispy! topping!

There are nuances. Crisps and crumbles often contain oats and nuts. (My own favorite fruit crisp includes oats, nuts and a surprise ingredient, graham cracker crumbs, that makes for an Extra-Crispy Apple Crisp.)

But here's what's for certain. Put the name aside. Just make one, this one if it appeals, whatever it's called. And then just see if there's still energy to debate old-fashioned dessert names while the table goes silent in appreciation of warm, soft fruit with a rustic crackly topping, jumbled up with some freezer-cold vanilla ice cream. Just try that. End of discussion.

What's In Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler? Just Fruit + Pantry Ingredients!

In all my recipes and most well-written recipes, every ingredient serves a purpose. Each one matters. Each one contributes to the overall dish. It's not that an ingredient can't be substituted by something else but when choosing the substitute, it's important to understand why the original ingredient was present in the first place.

• Fruit Finely Diced Rhubarb + Chunks of Ripe Strawberry in roughly equal measures
• Dairy Butter + Buttermilk
dd
• Pantry Sugar + Flour + Yellow Cornmeal + Baking Powder + Baking Soda + Table Salt
• Herbs & Spices & Flavorings Cinnamon + Lemon Zest

How to Make Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

The detailed recipe is written in traditional recipe form below but here are the highlights in three easy steps. You can definitely do this!

• PREP THE FRUIT FILLING Finely dice the rhubarb, toss with sugar, flour and cinnamon, then stir in the strawberries. Arrange the fruit in the bottom of a deep-dish pie pan.
• MIX THE COBBLER CRUST Stir together flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest. With your hands, work in diced, cold butter, then wet with buttermilk. Spoon the batter onto the top of the fruit.
• BAKE for 25-30 minutes at 400F.

For Best Results

For my weekly column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I interviewed chefs and translated their restaurant recipes for home kitchens. The most illuminating question? "How can a home cook ensure the same results?" So now I ask that question of myself, too, for my own recipes. Have another question? Ask away, I'll do my best to answer!

Dice the Rhubarb Really Fine Rhubarb is denser than strawberries, that means it takes longer to cook than the berries. To compensate, cut the rhubarb very small and leave the strawberries in quite large chunks.

Don't Forget the Ice Cream! Or whipped cream! Or something creamy to contrast with the warm, sour fruit.

You Might Wonder Be Wondering ...

Have another question? Ask away, I'll do my best to answer!

• Is this cobbler worthy of the very best (and pricey) local strawberries? Yes! The better the strawberries, the better the cobbler. But don't worry, if you only have access to supermarket strawberries, it's really so so good. Just be sure the berries are really ripe, we have great luck with the ubiquitous Driscoll strawberries, especially during the second crop that comes mid summer.


• Will this recipe work with frozen rhubarb and/or frozen strawberries? Maybe. I haven't tried these two frozen fruits but have found this recipe to be extremely versatile. For example, frozen mango worked very well, one time. That said, with both rhubarb and strawberries, which both tend to get a bit watery in the freezer, I would think about some extra tactics. First, I'd use the fruit in its frozen state, without thawing. Second, I'd add an extra tablespoon or two of flour for thickening. Third, I'd start the fruit off by itself, without the topping, for 20 or 25 minutes or whatever it takes to get the fruit very hot and even bubbly. Fourth, finally, I'd add the topping and bake until it turns golden. No guarantees here, but this represents my instincts based on many years of cooking and baking.


• Alanna, you're kinda famous for the no-topping Naked Peach Cobbler. What about skipping the topping here, too? I think so. Peaches are sturdier, meatier, less likely to fall apart in the face of heat. So to try this, I think I'd use bigger pieces of rhubarb, bake them on their own until soft, then add the softer strawberries. Again, no guarantees. Just thinking in pixels!

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STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COBBLER

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Oven time: 25 minutes
Time-to-table: 1 hour
Makes 1 deep-dish pie panful, to serve 8

FRUIT
• 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons (23g) flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2-1/2 cups rhubarb (250g), diced very small (see ALANNA’s TIPS)
• 2-1/2 cups ripe strawberries (290g), hulled, cut in pieces if large

TOPPING
• 1 cup flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 125g
• 1/3 cup (75g) sugar
• 1/4 cup (36g) yellow cornmeal (or another finely not stone-ground)
• 1 tablespoon (yes, tablespoon) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• Zest of a lemon, optional but decidedly delicious
• 3 tablespoons (42g) cold butter, diced
• 1/2 cup (65g) buttermilk

Heat the oven to 400F/200C.

FRUIT In a large bowl, toss the sugar, flour, cinnamon and rhubarb with a large fork (like a meat fork) or spoon (like a serving spoon). Gently stir in the strawberries and transfer to a glass or ceramic deep-dish pie pan.

TOPPING In the same bowl (no need to wash it out), combine the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest with the large fork or spoon. (Since your hands are going to get a bit messy here, you might want to get out the buttermilk beforehand.) Switch to your fingers, rub the bits of butter into the flour mixture until a coarse, even meal forms. (If making ahead, stop here and refrigerate.)

Drizzle the buttermilk over top of the flour-butter mixture. Use the fork or spoon to mix in the buttermilk just enough to moisten the flour and clumps begin to form; it'll be a bit dry and crumbly. Spoon the Topping evenly over the fruit.

BAKE for 25-30 minutes until the Topping is golden and the Fruit is bubbly.

Serve immediately with a splash of cream or a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

ALANNA's TIPS Cut the rhubarb small so it’ll cook all the way through while the topping bakes. Be sure the strawberries are well-drained. I love cinnamon as much as the next person but other spices work well too. A reader suggests ginger, very nice! Star anise or cardamon? Let me also recommend two spice blends from Penzey's, Cake Spice and Baking Spice, they're quite similar but both make you sit up and pay attention whenever they substitute for plain cinnamon. I've loved these two blends for, well, maybe thirty years? Yikes. This is a great any-fruit-goes cobbler. I’ve mixed frozen mango with rhubarb; peaches and blueberries; apples and cherries; once a mélange of leftover fruit salad. All good! If you're generous with the fruit, be equivalently generous with the flour that thickens the fruit mixture.

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2008/05/strawberry-rhubarb-cobbler.php .

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving: 185 Calories; 5g Tot Fat; 3g Sat Fat; 35g Carb; 2g Fiber; 422mg Sodium; 12mg Cholesterol; 25g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 5 & future WW points.

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Seasonal Cooking: Late Spring Across the Years

Easy-Easy Jam Tart Chameleon Ice Cream Rhubarb Sorbet Raspberry Morning Cake Strawberry Banana Chocolate Crumble Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Poppy Seed Cake Recipes Fish with Herb Butter Herb-Coated Broiled Fish Strawberry Salsa with Sweet-Cinnamon Baked Tortilla Chips Savory Cauliflower Cake Finnish Strawberry Whipped Cream Cake Deep Mexico: Ingredient-Driven Mexican Meal Prep Lime Crema Best Quick Tomato Salsa (Red Salsa) Healthy Smoothies: Recipes & Tips Raspberry Muffins

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More Easy Strawberry Recipes

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• THE RECIPE Mojito Strawberries Inspired by a mojito, the Cuban cocktail.
• ANOTHER TAKE Strawberry Banana Chocolate Crumble Fruity chocolaty goodness, oh my.

• THE RECIPE Strawberry Ice Cream No-cook ice cream with big strawberry flavor and pretty pink color.
• ANOTHER TAKE Strawberry Shortcake Iowa-Style With shortcake biscuits and half & half.

• THE RECIPE Strawberry Milk Not a smoothie, almost a milkshake.
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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ rhubarb ~
~ strawberries ~
~ cornmeal ~
~ buttermilk ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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