rhubarb & crumb snack cake

I love streusel. Fruit crumble (or crisp, depending on some regional variations, but we said crumble) was the dessert we made most often in my family when I was growing up. I'm not sure if it's the first thing I ever baked, but it was definitely right up there with my first baking experiences. I always wanted to make the crumbs and I really loved to eat a lot of crumb mixture before it made it anywhere near the fruit filling. Raw, buttery cinnamony streusel crumbs are a a rival to cookie dough in my opinion. 

Streusel is pretty good after it has been cooked too. This cake features a very generous layer of streusel, so much that you could snack on quite a bit before you add it to the cake and no one will ever suspect a thing. Go on, give it a try. 

We used to make all kinds of crumbles, but I always especially loved rhubarb. It's tart, pretty rosy pink and goes so well with toasty, cinnamony streusel. This cake reminds me of everything I loved about making rhubarb crumble as a kid, but now with a little base of vanilla cake. Crumble + cake! 

On a not entirely rhubarby note: I have just started a Patreon page for The Verdigris! Patreon is a great way to help the people make things that you enjoy keep making those things. If you would like to help me out making The Verdigris, that would be really amazing and fantastic and I would be so grateful. If you aren't able to, I'm totally thrilled that you are here and I hope you are enjoying it. 

rhubarb & crumb snack cake:

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

rhubarb layer:

• 1/2 pound rhubarb
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Toss all ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside. 

crumb topping:

• 1/3 cup  brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Combine butter, sugars, cinnamon and salt and whisk until smooth. Stir in butter with a fork. Compact mixture into a solid lump of dough and crumble into pea sized clumps with your fingers. 

cake:

• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces

Preheat oven to 325°. Line an 8"x8" pan with parchment paper.

Stir together sour cream egg and egg yolk in a small bowl. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and a little sour cream mixture. Mix until flour is evenly moistened. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two additions, while mixing on low. Scrape down bowl and mix briefly again. 

Spread 2/3 cake batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle rhubarb overtop and spoon remaining cake batter over top. Don't worry about covering all the rhubarb, just blob it on. Sprinkle crumbs over top. 

Bake for 45-60 minutes (mine took closer to an hour) or until topping is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool cake before cutting into squares. 

blackberry & pistachio gateau basque

Gateau Basque is a traditional French pastry from the Basque region. Despite the gateau in the name, it isn't a cake,  it's more like a pie or tart. But the dough is really quite different from other pie doughs, and it is fantastic. It gets puffy and light from a hefty dose of baking powder, but has a lovely fatty, rich toothsomeness from enriching almonds and eggs. It seems like there will be way too much dough, if you made an American style pie with this kind of dough-filling ratio, it would be an overwhelming dough monster. It seems like it would be too dry. But this super enriched dough is not excessive or overwhelming. It melds together with the pastry cream to make an almost frangipane-like alchemy on the inside, and a crisp, caramelized outside. It's just sweet enough without being cloying.

Gateau Basque is traditionally made with vanilla pastry cream and cherries, which is fantastic and feel free to do that instead. But I had some blackberries left over from fall in my freezer, and I needed to clear them out to make way for the rhubarb that is on it's way.  You can also just use jam without any extra fruit, or just use pastry cream (double the recipe), swap out or remove the nuts...choose the flavours that you like best. 

Note: pistachio paste here means pure ground pistachios, which you can buy or grind yourself if you have powerful food processor and a lot of pistachios. Use 6 tbs finely ground pistachios if you can find any paste or don't want to grind it for ages. The tart dough makes twice as much as you need - the extra will last a few days in the fridge or a couple months in in the freezer.  

dough

adapted from Food and Wine 

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tbs baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla 
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup almond flour

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and almond flour in a medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well mixed. Reduce speed and add flour mixture gradually until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape dough out onto a work surface and divide into four equal portions. Form them into disks and wrap in cling wrap. Chill at least 4 hours. 

pastry cream

adapted from Martha Stewart 

• 1/4 cup sugar 
• 2 egg yolks 
• 2 tbs cornstarch 
• pinch salt 
• 6 tbs pistachio paste
• 1 cup whole milk 

Combine sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch, salt and pistachio paste in a small saucepan. Whisk in milk until smooth. Cook the mixture on medium heat, whisking constantly. When the mix comes to a boil, cook for 1 minute, continuing to whisk and scrape the bottom. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve. Chill, plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. 

assembly

• 1/2 cup blackberry jam
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries 
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs milk 

Roll out one disc of dough to 1 cm thick, drape over tart shell so the dough rises up the sides of the pan. Trim away excess. Spread jam in an even layer over the bottom of the tart. Sprinkle blackberries over jam and cover with pastry cream. 

Roll out second dough disc to 1 cm thick. Place over the top of the tart and press around the edges to trim off excess dough. Gently press around the edges to seal. Score a grid pattern into the tart with a paring knife. Beat milk and egg together and brush all over the top of the tart. 

Bake at 350° on the lowest shelf of your oven for 20 minutes. Wrap the top of the tart in tin foil and move the tart to the upper shelf. Bake around 40 more minutes, until dark gold on top. Transfer to a rack to cool. 

blueberry, white chocolate & pistachio cookies

There are a lot of mediocre cookies in the world. I'm thinking particularly of chocolate chip style cookies - there are a lot of ways to go wrong. I am not a fan of cakey cookies, that don't spread enough and stay high and puffy in the middle. I don't them totally crispy either, they should be thin, just crisp on the outside, but should definitely have chewy, nearly underdone middles. 

These ones, from cookie genius Dorrie Greenspan, really meet all my cookie requirements. They are thin and spready and have wonderfully wrinkly tops. They stay chewy in the middle and have perfectly crisp edges. You can go traditional and use chocolate chips and maybe some walnuts. Or you can try white chocolate, pistachios and blueberries like I did here. Both ways are great. 

You can use dried blueberries if you can't find the freeze dried ones, just don't use fresh or frozen, they'll make the cookies goopy. Freeze dried fruit is kind of hard to find, but you can order it online or check a camping supply store. Feel free to substitute another freeze dried fruit or dried fruit. I think raspberries would be great in these too. 

blueberry, white chocolate & pistachio cookies

adapted from Dorie Greenspan

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp salt

• 3/4 tsp baking soda

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature

• 1 cup sugar

• 2/3 cup brown sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs

• 2/3 cup white chocolate, chopped

• 1/2 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped

• 1/2 cup dried or freeze dried blueberries

Preheat oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, until smooth and fluffy. Add sugars and continue to beat until well combined. Add vanilla, and eggs one at a time, mixing well between after each. On low speed, add in flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in chocolate, pistachios and blueberries with a spatula.

Scoop 2 tbs mounds of dough onto baking sheets. They will spread a lot, leave 2 inches between cookies. Bake around 10 minutes, turning sheet halfway through baking.  

strawberry rhubarb financiers

Happy spring to you! Well, to those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, I don't want to be hemispherist. Happy Fall if you live on the southern half of the planet.  If you live at the equator, which seasons do you go with? Is it Spring, Fall? Neither? Both? I know that there are less dramatic seasonal changes on the equator, but still. What season is it?

Anyway, it's spring!  In this particular chunk of the Northern Hemisphere, cherry blossoms are blossoming in a comforting way, that signals that winter's grip on us has loosened and it won't last forever. And when spring comes, so does rhubarb. Seeing it growing in the garden fills is so hopeful; I love the alien little ball of anemic, pale and slightly slimy leaves, poking through the dirt. 

Financiers are little French almond teacakes. They are pretty casual and unfussy as far as French pattiserie goes. If you happen to be in Paris, or anywhere else with a Maison Kayser, I strongly recommend a bag of their pistachio financiers.  They are so buttery, so pistachio-y. I have tried, but never quite managed, to replicate their glorious pistachiosity. If you aren't currently in Paris, New York or Tokyo (boo) then you can make them at home. They are really easy to make, and they can easily convert to being gluten free with a flour swap, or use hazelnuts or pistachios in place of almonds if you prefer. These ones are are crispy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside and with lovely little strawberry rhubarb centres. 

More financiers: apple & hazelnut, raspberry & caramelized white chocolate

strawberry rhubarb compote: 

• 3 cups rhubarb, chopped

• 2 cups strawberries, quartered

• 1/3 cup sugar (or a bit more, to taste)

• 1 tsp vanilla

Cook all ingredients together over medium low heat, until rhubarb is falling apart. Strain liquid off the compote and set aside for another use, like a tasty spring cocktail. The compote and syrup can be stored in fridge for around a week, or in the freezer for a couple months. 

strawberry rhubarb financiers: 

adapted from cannelle et vanille

• 120 grams egg whites

• 125 grams sugar

• 55 grams all purpose flour or white rice flour

• 25 grams almond meal

• 30 grams hazelnuts, toasted and ground into meal

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 150 grams butter, melted and cooled (browning the butter will add extra nuttiness!)

• 1/2 cup strawberry rhubarb compote

Combine sugar, flour, nut meals and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add egg whites and stir to combine. Stir in butter, cover bowl with plastic wrap and age in the fridge overnight. 

Generously grease financier tins or muffin tins. Fill with batter; only about 1/2 inch high if you are using muffin tins, up to the brim if you are using financier tins. Put 2 tsp of compote in the centre of each financier. 

Bake at 375°F for about ten minutes, until the centres are set and the edges are browned. Cool and then run a knife around the edge of the tins and gently remove the financiers.

beef, olive and goat cheese ragu

Ok, so just because something takes ages to cook, it doesn't need to be intimidating or especially involved. This dish takes 3-4 hours from start to finish, but for almost all that time it's quite hands-off. This recipe is ideal to start in the middle of a weekend afternoon - almost all the actual work is at the beginning and takes about 20 minutes. Then you have a lazy afternoon ahead of you while your dinner cooks itself! It really cooks itself, just like in Beauty and the Beast. Your knives and forks will dance all around, your candlesticks will flirt saucily with you while your sauce cooks. 

This ragout simultaneously rich and hearty as well as bright and peppy. Olives add salty bite and balance out the richness of the ragu.

beef and olive ragu with goats cheese

Adapted from Donna Hay Issue 68

• 1 pound fresh tomatoes or two cans tinned tomatoes
• 1 1/2 pounds stewing beef, beef shin or other beef cut suitable for slow cooking, cut into 1.5 inch chunks
• 2/3 cup kalamata or other olives of your choice 
• whole bulb of garlic, peeled and smashed 
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3 tbs grapeseed oil 
• salt and pepper 
• parsley, chopped
• goats cheese

In a large pot or dutch oven on medium high heat, sear beef on all sides until browned. Remove beef from pan and set aside. 

Add shallots and garlic to the pan and sauté until translucent and fragrant. Add tomatoes, olives, beef, broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a very gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for 2.5-3 hours, until the beef is fall-apart tender. 

Serve over pasta and top with parsley and crumbled goat cheese.

Try the grey stuff, it's delicious!

snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are quite a subdued, subtle cookie: soft sugar dough rolled in cinnamon sugar, baked until either chewy or crispy. But the name snickerdoodle sounds boisterous and unruly, like the name of a cookie made out of M&Ms and pretzels and marshmallows. The name etymology is disputed, but possibly stems from the German for snail noodle. I prefer to imagine that snickerdoodle means small humorous drawing. Whatever it means, there is a serious goofiness discrepancy between the name and the cookie. If you can move past this incongruous naming, you will be rewarded with a really fantastic cookie. These ones fall on the crisp side of the snickerdoodle spectrum, they are thin, with a shattery, cracked top and just tender middles. They really spread while baking so I only baked 6 cookies at a time on a baking sheet. The sheet will seem too empty, but they will really expand in the oven. 

snickerdoodles

from Martha Stewart

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• big pinch salt

• 1/2 cup butter

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening

• 1 3/4 cups sugar

• 1 tbs cinnamon

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 400°F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a bowl. 

Cream butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat on medium speed until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

Add dry ingredients and beat until evenly combined. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Scoop balls of cookie dough with a medium cookie scoop or ice cream scoop and roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Place far apart on a cookie sheet and bake for around 7 minutes, turning the sheet half way through baking. 

Store in an airtight container for up to a week, if you have a lot of willpower. Mine didn't last a whole week...