Strawberry Rhubarb Bars

Vicki Delany's Strawberry and Rhubarb Bars

I found it a bit odd to grate the butter, but these turned out just great.  I brought them to a pot luck and they were a huge hit.  Try to make several hours ahead of time because they do have to cool in order to be sliced neatly. 

Crumble mixture

1 cup butter chilled from the fridge

2 ½ cups (390 g) all-purpose flour

¾ cup (95 g) graham cracker crumbs

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (62 g) large flake oats

½ cup (105 g) sugar

¾ cup (144 g) brown sugar, packed

1/8 teaspoon salt

 Zest of one lemon

 1 egg

1 egg white

Filling

3 cups rhubarb sliced into 1-cm pieces

3 cups strawberries halved and sliced

½ cup (105 g) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons corn starch

Method

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9 x 13 tray (I prefer to cover the tray in parchment paper - easier to clean up - V). Use a cheese grater to grate the butter onto a plate and then place the grated butter in the freezer while you mix the rest of the ingredients. 

In a large bowl stir together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, ½ cup oats, brown sugar, white sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the egg and egg white and mix them into the dry ingredients with a fork.

Get the grated butter from the freezer and add it to the crumble mixture. Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbs the size of peas. Remove two cups of the crumble mixture to use as the topping and stir the 2 tablespoons of oats into this mixture.

Press the remaining crumble mixture into the greased pan into an even layer.

Stir together the chopped rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, vanilla and corn starch. Spread on top of the layer of pressed crumble. Top with the reserved two cups of crumble mixture.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.