Rhubarb crisp, gluten-free

I’m wild for rhubarb. Especially after a sweet fairy went poking around all over Minneapolis a week ago on the hunt for rhubarb for me to bring home to Texas, where rhubarb season lasts about 15 minutes. She came through.

And, now, so will I. As promised in the Rhubarb Fest 2011 post from last week, here are my gluten-free versions of the baked goods in question.

Gluten-free Rhubarb Crisp

Modified from original gluten recipe found in Sherri Brooks Vinton’s book, Put ‘Em Up

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

1. Place 7 cups (1 lb 15 oz) chopped rhubarb into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add to the rhubarb bowl and mix to incorporate:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp potato starch (or corn starch)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3. In a new mixing bowl combine:

• 1/2 cup white rice flour
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch
• 2 Tbs buckwheat flour
• pinch of xanthan gum
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup GF rolled oats
• pinch of salt

4. Chop up a cold stick of butter and then use a fork or fancy pie-crust thingy to incorporate the cold butter into the flour mix. Incorporate until you have roughly pea-sized crumbles of the butter interspersed throughout the dry ingredients.

5. Pour rhubarb mixture into a buttered (or greased) 9” x 13” glass pan and sprinkle crumbles evenly over the top to cover. Bake for 35-40 min (until it’s bubbly and seeping up through the crisp throughout).

Serve with homemade strawberry ice cream! (Thanks to my friend Melanie for bringing the ice cream to the Austin food bloggers book party that Stephanie and Megan threw for me!)

And, remember how I posted a picture of my gluten-free’ified rhubarb streusel muffin on Facebook and you all went wild and said I was teasing by not posting the recipe. Well, my dears, here you are.

I’m not going to re-write Deb’s recipe and instructions. I find them to be clear and understandable, though I will warn you:

1. You’re going to use a lot of dishes to make this.

2. It’s not a particularly easy recipe, meaning, there are a few steps and multiple preparations within those steps. Read through the recipe a few times to get a feel for what needs to happen and in what bowl.

3. You’ll forget all about the work you did to make these because they’re perfect and delicious and even marginally healthy.

Gluten Free substitutions for Smitten Kitchen’s Rhubarb Streusel Muffins

Under Streusel

Instead of:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

Use:

1/4 cup brown rice flour
2 Tbs tapioca starch
2 Tbs potato starch
pinch of xanthan gum

Under Muffin

Instead of:

1 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Use:

3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup white rice flour
2 Tbs flax meal
1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Also of note, I didn’t have the 3/4 cup sour cream, so I subbed 3/4 cup whole milk and added 1 tsp lemon juice (sour cream and buttermilk share the same bacteria and acidity composition, so your no-buttermilk solution will work here too!).

All went deliciously well (many, many dishes later)…