Last week we brought home a bunch of first-crop rhubarb from my mom. It is so sweet and delicious this year- Zander keeps nibbling on it straight up, not even dunking it in sugar. I promptly made our old favorite Rhubarb Custard Bars as a way to celebrate the first rhubarb of the season. It was as delicious as I’d remembered, though I did make a few changes. Namely, I got rid of the fat free ingredients as well as the cool whip called for. Instead I used full fat cream cheese and I whipped up some cream from a local dairy to use instead of the frozen product. They are so good, except that my little rhubarb lover is not a fan. He asked me if I could make a strawberry rhubarb pie, so I went in search of a recipe.
I was positive that I’d recently seen a feature for rhubarb in Eating Well magazine, so that was the first place I went to look. I was rewarded with a recipe for Mini Strawberry Rhubarb Pies. I had everything on hand to make the recipe except almonds, and a quick stop at the grocery store remedied that. I followed the recipe almost exactly for a while. The crusts came together easily enough with the aid of a food processor, and they smelled fabulous while baking up. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the crust into the muffin tins and it worked out to be enough for 12 cups exactly.
Once my crust was made, I turned my attention to the filling, and this was where I made my error. I read the recipe that called for pulverizing instant tapioca, and that seemed such an odd step to me. It’s already instant tapioca, why wouldn’t it work just using it right out of the package. Well, it didn’t. I should have pulverized the tapioca like the recipe indicated. It still thickened my filling, but we had small bits of tapioca throughout instead of a nice smooth filling. It was strange. Fortunately, we didn’t notice my error at all in the finished product, but for future reference, follow the directions and grind the tapioca in a coffee/spice grinder.
I also had significantly more filling than what was needed for the cups, but again, that may be my error, as I was pretty generous with the 2 cups of both rhubarb and strawberries called for. I filled the cups, and then sprinkled each up with the reserved topping and baked them. It smelled absolutely amazing in here while they baked! They cooled on a rack, and then because I’d sprayed the cups with cooking spray (coconut oil spray), the mini pies slid right out.
Stunning to look at, we were all eager for a taste. They turned out nicely, and I would love to make these for company or for a bake sale, save for one small detail. These were not sweet enough. It’s strange to say, and I should have expected it from an Eating Well dessert, but there just wasn’t enough sweetness to these to make me think they were dessert. We all agreed they needed more, and it was Abigail who suggested adding a bit of brown sugar to the crust. I totally agree- just 1/4 cup of brown sugar added to that crust would make a huge difference. The filling was fine as is- especially if you served them with lightly sweetened whipped cream. But the crust tasted a bit too savory to me- like it was meant to be a crumb crust for an egg bake or something.
Anyway, overall, the recipe is a hit. We have been enjoying the mini pies, even though they are not quite what we would like in a dessert. I added a small drizzle of real maple syrup to one yesterday and it added the right amount of sweetness. This is a great spring stunner to make while the rhubarb is in abundance.
Mini Strawberry Rhubarb Pies
from Eating Well Magazine
- 1 cup chopped almonds, divided
- 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
FILLING
- 2 tablespoons instant tapioca
- 2 cups chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen (thawed)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cups chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)
- To prepare crust & topping: Combine 3/4 cup almonds, flour, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor; pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add butter; pulse until well incorporated.
- Whisk egg, oil, vanilla and almond extract in a small bowl. With the motor running, add the mixture to the food processor. Process, then pulse, scraping down the sides if necessary, until the mixture begins to clump, 30 to 45 seconds (it will look crumbly). Measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture and combine in a bowl with the remaining 1/4 cup almonds; set aside for the topping.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Generously coat a 12-cup nonstick muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Using clean hands, press about 1/4 cup of the crust mixture into the bottom and all the way up the sides of each muffin cup. Prick the bottoms with a fork.
- Bake until the crusts are set and the edges are just beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°.
- To prepare filling: Process tapioca in a spice grinder, mini food processor or blender until finely ground. Combine with rhubarb, sugar, vanilla and salt in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until bubbling, thickened and the rhubarb is starting to break down, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in strawberries. Divide the filling among the crusts (a generous 2 tablespoons each). Sprinkle with the reserved topping.
- Bake the mini pies until the topping is beginning to brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes. Loosen the edges with a paring knife, then gently pry the pies out of the tin with a butter knife. Serve warm or room temperature.