brown butter rhubarb ginger bars – spring, finally.

brown butter!

First, I want to thank all of you for your NYC comments and emails packed full of suggestions. I received so much good stuff that I’m sure I’d have to spend another month to get to try everything. Thank you for your kindness and tips. But now, let’s talk about spring.Β Spring came to a slow start here in Vancouver. April and May were cold and rainy with only a couple sunny days to spare. The sad thing is that the past few months have been so busy that I haven’t made it out to our local farmer’s markets and so I felt that all the bounty of spring produce: asparagus, ramps and rhubarb were passing me by. Luckily, I found some gorgeous stalks of rhubarb in my local Chinatown market and remembered a recipe passed along by my amazing friend in Seattle. The original recipe calls for blood orange and vanilla bean in the rhubarb compote. My friend subbed in ginger and my god, ginger! I did the same, but snuck in meyer lemons instead of orange because that’s how I roll. So the meyer lemon and ginger? Revelatory!! So damn good.

rhubarb ginger brown butter.

I should warn you that this recipe is a bit of a time suck. First you make the compote. Then you make the brown butter crust which requires you to freeze the brown butter before you go any further with the rest of the crust directions.But wait, there’s more! There’s the brown butter filling which requires more brown butter but thankfully no more freezing. So don’t be like me and decide to make these bars at 10pm because you won’t be pulling the final result out of the oven until nearly 1am. Also, if it isn’t obvious from the recipe, there is a ton of butter involved which makes these bars super rich. So slice ’em small and give them away. A few small slices fit nicely into a pretty jam jar and your friends will be thankful for the treat.

But if you want to skip the hassle and time of making these bars as is, I have a suggestion. One, make the rhubarb-ginger compote. Put it over ice cream. Dollop it over yogurt and granola. Eat it with a spoon. It’s pink and it’s perfect, it really is. Second suggestion, the brown butter crust is amazing. It smells like Christmas and tastes even better. It’s crisp and brown-buttery. See the close up photo above? Flecks of vanilla bean in the filling but the brown butter is flecked with it’s own magic too. Magic you can see and taste.

elsewhere: Over at ReadyMade I’ve got 2 recent posts. Hanger steaks – what are they? I’ve even got a recipe that includes a whiskey sauce. Yup. And I know I’ve got a lot of granola recipes already, but who couldn’t use another? Salty & sweet and oh-so delicious. Get the recipe.

25 comments to “brown butter rhubarb ginger bars – spring, finally.”

  1. 1
    Becka   June 7, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    Ahh! This sounds and looks so amazing! Can’t wait to try, yum!

  2. 2
    NicoleD   June 7, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    Wow! It certainly looks worth the effort.

  3. 3
    Molly   June 7, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    I started to read how long the brown butter baked part of this recipe took, and decided then and there to just make the compote part and enjoy it over some yogurt. So happy to know I was on the right track, as you suggested to us lazy folks to do just that with ice cream.

  4. 4
    Jacqui   June 7, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    My mouth is literally watering at the moment. mmm, brown butter and rhubarb.

  5. 5
    sweetsugarbean   June 7, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    I love brown butter, and I love rhubarb, and yes, the ginger would put it over the top. Now I know what to do with the ample supply of rhubarb growing away in my garden!

  6. 6
    Kasey   June 7, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    I’ve been wanting to get this cookbook for, I feel like, forever. I love how much love rhubarb gets in the food blogging world – I swear most of my ‘not foodie friends’ think I’m crazy for loving it. But it is so delicious!

  7. 7
    Foodess   June 7, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Oh my god I am drooling. And it’s 10:37… That takes me to 1:37… Hmmm… Seriously though! Rhubarb + ginger + brown butter + shortbread??You knocked it out of the park…

  8. 8
    Joanne   June 8, 2011 at 2:25 am

    So much brown butter…what more could a girl ask for in a bar cookie?

    I need to save some rhubarb now so that when meyer lemons come back into season, I can make this!

  9. 9
    Bijoux   June 9, 2011 at 4:33 am

    I know I’ve mentioned this before but I’m really not a rhubarb fan. Too sour for my taste buds. That being said these bars looks so inviting. Gotta love all that butter and ginger and vanilla. I love everything about these, except for the sour stalks. Perhaps another sweeter fruit would work for my uber-sweet baklava loving taste buds πŸ™‚

  10. 10
    lo   June 9, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    Dear deliciousness. I need to bookmark this recipe. I’ve been making the same three recipes for years and years, and they’re fantastic. But, it’s time to branch out. And what better reason than for browned butter? πŸ˜‰

  11. 11
    CookiePie   June 10, 2011 at 7:58 am

    LOVE rhubarb – I just posted a strawberry-rhubarb crumble myself! Your bars are so pretty and sound so delicious, I bet they’re worth every minute!!

  12. 12
    Mrs. L   June 10, 2011 at 11:44 am

    I bought my first ever rhubarb this past May and now I’m totally hooked! Alas, I think the season may have already passed me by…if not, I need to buy some and make these (and be bad and not cut them up small OR give them away πŸ™‚

  13. 13
    christine [the sugar apothecary]   June 11, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    Aww, love the jam jar idea! My goodness. Those bars look SO delicious, and perfectly seasonal. Mmmmm, why does everything sound better with “browned butter” in the title?!

  14. 14
    Nicole @ itsfeedingtimeatthezoo   June 12, 2011 at 4:51 am

    Wow, I just found your blog, it’s really beautiful, and this recipe looks amazing.

  15. 15
    Grace   June 12, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    Thank goodness I am eating right now, or I might try to eat my laptop! I love love love your blog. Thank you for blogging so consistently for so long. I would really miss it if it weren’t there. I really must try rhubarb.

  16. 16
    Crystal   June 12, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    They’re so cute in the jam jars! I would totally eat these for breakfast. πŸ™‚

  17. 17
    Melanie   June 13, 2011 at 11:47 am

    My 8-year-old daughter and I made these over the very rainy weekend here in the Boston area, and they are AMAZING! We did not have meyer lemons so used two small oranges instead with fabulous results.

    The commenter who is worried about sour rhubarb need not…there’s nothing here but sweet deliciousness!

    Time suck? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.

  18. 18
    Patricia Scarpin   June 14, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    These bars look amazing! I’m a complete sucker for all things rhubarb, and ginger, too. Beautiful!

  19. 19
    my spatula   June 16, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    Um, brown butter and rhubarb?! YES, PLEASE! They look wonderful.

  20. 20
    Laura [NovelBite]   July 2, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    I love anything made with brown butter. Oh, and anything made with rhubarb. Ginger, too?! This looks fabulous and your photographs are beautiful!

  21. 21
    kickpleat   July 2, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    Thanks everyone for all your comments! Melanie, so glad you made them – with oranges they’d be wonderful! And yes, these aren’t sour at all. Sweet deliciousness all around!!

  22. 22
    Ashley   July 14, 2011 at 6:52 am

    Yumm I love the overhead shot where you can see the bars delicious edges.

  23. 23
    Lindsay   June 8, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    Mmm, I made these last night for a teacher appreciation gift and they turned out looking exactly like these pictures. I did need to add red food coloring to the rhubarb mixture because the rhubarb I bought (from the local farmer’s market) was mostly green.

    So yummy! Rave reviews!

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