Lemon Rhubarb Squares

Jam

Jam can be made up to 5 days ahead. Store in air tight container and refrigerate.

In a medium saucepan, combine lemon zest and juice, sugar (3/4 cup), salt (1/4 tsp.), and vanilla (1/2 tsp.), stirring occasionally. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to simmer until sugar is dissolved.

Set aside 1/2 cup of rhubarb, add the remaining rhubarb (2 1/2 cups) to the pan and simmer. Using wooden spoon, stir often and mash until rhubarb is softened and saucepan content is thick and jam-like.

Remove from heat and stir reserved rhubarb into jam. Set aside and let cool.

Squares

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or coat with nonstick spray) 8x8 inch pan, then line with parchment paper that overhangs about 2 inch on the sides. Grease parchment paper. This will help to remove the squares once they are done.

Toast nuts (1 1/4 cup) on baking sheet until slightly darkened, but be careful not to burn (about 5 minutes). Then let cool and coarsely chop.

Meanwhile, cook butter (3/4 cup) in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir often, until it foams, then browns (about 5 min). Then pour into heat-proof mixing bowl, ensuring to include the browned butter.

Separately, whisk together flour (1 1/4 cup), both sugars (1/4 cup each), salt (1 tsp.), and baking soda (1/2 tsp.). Once mixed, add nuts and butter, stirring mixture with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until it's clumpy and wet. The mixture should hold together when pressed together with hands.

Transfer 3, unpacked, cups of mixture to pan. Softly pat down layer with hands. Spread jam over base. Then crumble remaining mixture over the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, turning pan halfway through, until golden brown on top and cooked through.

Let cool in pan, then use parchment paper to transfer to cutting board to slice into squares.

Bars will keep for about a week refrigerated in sealed container.

Never before had we cooked with rhubarb, but there it was in our weekly surprise CSA order. We googled around for recipes, but were missing quite a few ingredients to any that caught our attention. We didn't have strawberries, or pie crusts, oats, or cream, oranges or apples.

We settled on making a dessert and decided to take inspiration from one of the first Bon Appétit recipes that came up after "bon appetit rhubarb" was entered. We were missing about half the ingredients for it, but experimented with some substitutes and it worked out pretty well.

You could try substituting the lemon with other fruit that has some sourness/citrus to it as well, like strawberry or orange.