Rhubarb Crumble with Custard, aka My Favorite Dessert

This has become my all time favorite dessert.  Yes, of all the wonderful desserts that I love, rhubarb crumble is It for me.  The tart rhubarb, sweet and buttery crumble with a tiny hint of cinnamon, and custard poured on top all just come together to make something truly amazing.  It tastes like joy. comfort, love, and well being.  I urge you to try it if you have access to rhubarb and want a really special treat.  Lucky for us, we have a ridiculously huge and robust rhubarb patch!

 

This recipe is from the book Great British Cooking: A Well-Kept Secret by Jane Garmey.  She apparently got the recipe from a nun in cooking class while in school, very cute little story.  I altered it a bit by moving the cinnamon from the filling to the topping, increasing the filling amount by half, increasing the baking temperature, and baking it much longer than the original recipe states.  The book says to bake it for 20 minutes and you'd be crunching your way through raw rhubarb if you made it like that!

 

Rhubarb Crumble with Custard
 

filling:

1 1/2 lbs rhubarb, cut in 3/4 inch pieces

3/4 C sugar

3 Tbsp lemon juice

 

crumble:

1 1/2 C flour

1 1/2 C dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

6 oz cold salted butter, cut into small cubes

 

topping:

warm vanilla custard (I used Bird's custard powder, but you could look up a recipe)

 

Preheat oven to 350.  You do not need to grease the baking dish.

 

Place filling ingredients in a 2 quart baking dish and toss with a spoon to coat.

 

Combine dry ingredients for crumble in bowl and mix well.  Add butter.  Rub mixture together with fingers until the ingredients are well combined and look like wet sand with pea sized clumps.  Sprinkle evenly over filling.

 

Bake for 45 minutes, then check on it and cover with foil if the crumble starts looking like it's browned enough.  Continue baking until rhubarb is tender and bubbly throughout.  It should be bubbly in the center and a fork stuck in should not meet any resistance from the rhubarb.  This will take about an hour and a half total.

 

Let the crumble sit for 10-20 minutes before digging in.  Serve crumble in a bowl with warm custard poured over top.

  

Yield: 8 servings