Tang!: Rhubarb Sourdough Coffeecake

Our faithful rhubarb patch.

It's not because of its sweetness that some people really like rhubarb. When I say really like I mean obsessively like. No, it has more to do with its tang, its tingle, its pucker power. 

Everybody issues a warning so I will too. Don't eat the leaves.

We harvest rhubarb for a few weeks each spring when the stalks are about a half inch thick. When we purchased our home, more than 25 years ago, it came with a clump of rhubarb. We have never had to replace it. Last fall at the end of back-to-back summers of brutal heat and drought, it didn't look so good. But it has returned this spring looking just fine. Maybe it will keep going for another 25 years.

I only serve this in the spring, during rhubarb season.

One of my favorite ways to serve rhubarb is Rhubarb Sourdough Coffeecake. It has a nice balance of tang and sweetness with a moist cake and crisp sugary topping. If you love rhubarb, you will love this cake. Even if you aren't all that wild about rhubarb, I think (because I've served it to a few family members who aren't rhubarb fans) that you will enjoy it anyway. And because I know that not everyone has sourdough, I will include recipe adjustments so that you can make it without sourdough if you desire. 
  

Rhubarb Sourdough Coffeecake
(for a printable recipe, click here)

The cast of ingredients for the cake

For Cake:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh sourdough
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped rhubarb

For Crisp Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, if desired

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9X9 inch  or a 7X11 pan with cooking oil spray. 

For Cake:

I used 5 stalks of rhubarb. It was a little over 2 cups but I used it all.

Chop rhubarb into about 1/4 inch cubes. Cream together butter, sugar and egg. Add flour, baking powder and salt. As you are mixing in the dry ingredients, pour in the milk and sourdough. Blend well. Stir in rhubarb. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

For Crisp Topping:
Mix together well and sprinkle over batter in the pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned.

To make without sourdough:
Increase milk to 3/4 cup, flour to 1 1/2 cups and baking powder to 2 teaspoons. Omit sourdough. Combine as directed above.

Where else can you find Rhubarb Sourdough Coffeecake except in your own kitchen?

Interested in learning more about sourdough? Here are a few links to other posts which include more information about sourdough. (Both links also include sourdough recipes.)
Some notes about sourdough
 How to get some sourdough.
 (You can also find more of my recipes if you check out my Recipes on pages located beneath the sign)

A Kansas Country Garden: Mid-May

Poppies bring a brilliant and brief bloom.

Beginnings. Endings. Spring brings them both. A flower blooms and then fades.

A Kansas Country Garden: Early May

Lilac bloom was sparse, but still lovely. And I love our Kansas skies!

A new planting of miniature iris bloom by the fence.

There's nothing like the scent of the lilac.

Balmy May days are some the of the best of the year. Lovely May flowers are a treasure, too.

Eggcellent: Cheesy Crustless Quiche with Roasted Peppers

Cheesy Crustless Quiche with Roasted Peppers makes a lovely dish.

The chickens may be even happier than we are that spring has arrived.

Eggs are excellent! Great flavor, good nutrition and easy to prepare, eggs have a lot going for them. When spring arrives and the days are longer eggs are more plentiful again. Even chickens have renewed energy on balmy days when it's sure that all the frigid weather is behind us for awhile.

The simple ingredients.

My go-to recipe for preparing eggs is Cheesy Crustless Quiche with Roasted Peppers. I don't always call it by its full name. Often Mike will just ask, "Are you making the egg stuff again?" Yup, that's what I'm making--the egg stuff. I make it for a special Easter breakfast. I make it for Christmas Brunch. I make it for an easy supper for two (with leftovers for a day or two of lunches). I make it when we have our monthly card group and we all bring snacks. It is always quick, easy and good.

I keep roasted peppers in my freezer, the fruit of last summer's bounty from our vegetable garden. My favorites are the Anaheims and I don't think its possible to have too many. However, this recipe would be good with any variety of pepper. Choose according to your preference, as hot or as mild as you like. (Here is a link to my post on roasting peppers.) If you don't have roasted peppers, feel free to use a can of green chilies. Here is the simple recipe.

Beautiful eggs.

Cheesy Crustless Quiche with Roasted Peppers
(For a printable recipe, click here.)

6 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded colby jack cheese (or cheddar is good, too)
1/4 cup diced roasted peppers

The mixture will look lumpy.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a bowl beat eggs until light. Add flour and salt and mix well. Mix in melted butter. Stir in cheeses and peppers. Mixture will be somewhat lumpy. Pour into a sprayed  8X8 baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Perfect for breakfast, brunch, supper or a snack. The appliqued tablecloth was among my grandmother's unused "pretties" and it's intended use was as a light bed covering. It is hand appliqued and embroidered. I get it out every spring.

A Kansas Country Garden: Meet Cinco and Mayo

Cinco and Mayo are welcome additions. 

Yellow miniature iris are the first iris to bloom.

First of all, I'd like to introduce Cinco and Mayo our long awaited baby goats born of course on Sunday, May 5. Cinco is a little boy who looks like his daddy while Mayo is a little girl who looks like her mama. New life is just plain amazing whether we're talking about plants and flowers in the garden or animals in the barnyard.