There are a couple of drive-in movie theatres left in Minnesota. One summer a couple years ago, Tory, AJ, Derek & I loaded up our trucks and headed to the drive-in. Now the movies don’t start until dark which at high sun can be at 10 PM but they open the gates at 7 PM. So how do you kill the time? You make dinner. We went all out. First we loaded up our little Smoky so we could grill up some Buffalo Chicken brats from the local butcher. Tory brought a salad with some homemade dressing. We had some veggies and other good food – but the star of the show was our dessert. A rhubarb cobbler.
I pulled this out of the oven right before we left for the drive-in and wrapped it up in some towels so it would stay warm. It was soo good. Warm, tender, a little sweet, the fresh rhubarb sinks to the bottom in an almost custardy layer. It’s become one of my favorite ways to enjoy rhubarb!
I got the recipe from The Pioneer Women’s Blackberry Cobbler recipe – I don’t remember when or how I first decided that I should try to put rhubarb in it instead of the blackberries she recommends but I have been making this dessert this way ever since that night at the drive in. In fact the last time I made it, I treated it more like a coffee cake and totally had it for breakfast.
It’s simple to put together with only 5 ingredients and best served warm. Here’s what you need:
Dice up some rhubarb into about 1/4 inch pieces until you have two cups. Set aside.
Now mix together your dry ingredients. Self-rising flour and sugar in the original recipe. I adapted the original recipe to use buttermilk, I like the extra tanginess you get, but when I went to make it the last time I didn’t have any buttermilk and I didn’t want to go to the store. But I did have buttermilk powder in the cupboard. If you use this, add the powder with the dry ingredients and then water with the wet. If you have actual buttermilk at this point just mix flour and sugar.
Now here is where I added the water, if you have buttermilk then now’s the time to whisk in a cup.
Whisk together until well blended.
Now drizzle in some melted butter, and whisk until incorporated.
Pour into a lightly greased baking pan – I used a 7-1/2 x 11 inch pan.
Now sprinkle on all of that chopped rhubarb. It’s going to sink to the bottom as it cooks.
Sprinkle some sugar over the top.
Bake it in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. After 50 minutes you can sprinkle on a little more sugar – a teaspoon or so. This will ensure it has a delightfully sweet crunch on the top.
Return for the oven for a final 10 minutes.
See those nice brown edges? Those bites are going to have the most delicious caramelized sugar crunch – I would fight for the corner pieces.
This is better served warm, after cooling for 10-15 minutes, so you can get it out in relatively neat squares. Or if you aren’t that patient you can scoop it out with a spoon. My first bite burnt the roof of my mouth but was totally worth it. I learned my lesson though and waited a few minutes more before pulling out the piece that I used for the picture at the top of this post.
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 1-1/4 cup sugar, divided
- 1 c self-rising flour
- 1 c buttermilk
- 2 cups rhubarb, diced
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 7-1/2 x 11 inch baking dish.
- Mix together a cup of sugar and flour into a mixing bowl.
- Whisk in the buttermilk, mixing well together. Pour in the melted butter and whisk well together.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle the rhubarb evenly across the batter in the baking dish.
- Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of sugar evenly across the batter.
- Bake for 1 hour until golden. If desired, during the last 10 minutes you can sprinkle on an additional 1 teaspoon of sugar to add a nice crunch to the top.
- Serve warm.
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