Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Pie


Several years ago I had my first encounter with rhubarb at a neighborhood Chicago restaurant. It was a delicious strawberry rhubarb crumble baked to perfection in a ramekin. It was so good I regretted my choice to share! From that point on I had a whole new outlook on rhubarb. I was very excited to see Tracey's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick this week for Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Pie. I'm a strawberry lover and thought this would be a great opportunity to tackle this crazy vegetable that looks like red celery.

I was a slightly intimidated by the recipe. It requires 3 major components, the crust, the filling and the cobbler topping. I'm pretty much intimidated by anything that resembles dough of any kind and especially if it requires a rolling pin. I have not had much luck with making my own pie dough in the past and have been reverting to my good friend, The Pillsbury Dough Boy, to help me out on all my crust related needs. But this is the first pie I've done for SMS so I sucked it up and went ahead and made the pie dough. I used the all butter recipe and prepared it in my food processor. I diligently followed all of Melissa Murphy's dough making steps, including keeping the dough cold and letting it rest prior to filling it. And you know what? It turned out great. The dough came together nicely and it was easy to roll out. A much more pleasant experience than my previous attempts at pie dough.


The filling was the easiest part of the recipe. So that came together quickly with only 5 ingredients.


I did opt for a different topping than the biscuit recipe. Generally speaking I am not a fan of biscuits. I find them to be too doughy. So I used a crumble topping from another recipe instead. It's almost like an oatmeal cookie topping and it paired nicely with the strawberry and rhubarb filling. This topping recipe came from a co-worker for a dish called "English Apple Pie", however I modified it slightly. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of pecans, which I substituted 1/2 cup oats.

Here's the topping recipe:
1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick of butter
1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons of water

Check out the topping below....it is the consistency of cookie dough.


Based on Tracey's experience in the P&Q I cooked my pie for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. The filling set up nicely, however I felt the crust was a little overcooked. I placed tin foil over the pie to keep it from browning too much, but still ended up with a darker crust than I wanted.


I had a family event on Saturday evening so they got to be my official tasters this week. The pie was a success! Except with my niece and nephew (ages 6 and 8)...they informed me they like apple pie better! Lucky for them I also made an apple pie. The filling for the strawberry rhubarb was very sweet but the topping and dough balanced it out. I might scale back the sugar a bit the next go round.

Thanks to Tracey for the recipe pick this week. Check out Tracey's blog for the recipe and also see what other SMS bakers did here.

12 comments:

  1. Looks great! I love the different topping and the ice cream on top of course!

    I, unlike you, decided to go with a frozen pie crust. Maybe someday when I own a food processor I'll try pie crusts.

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  2. I'm making the pie again today with the leftover rhubarb and strawberries and am going to try it with your crumble! Your slice looks yummy.

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  3. I too am a little weary of pie crusts but didn't get to try this one out due to the glory of final exams :-(

    The pie looks amazing! I think it's going on my short list after this test is over!

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  4. Your pie looks great! I love crumble toppings on cobblers - great swap!

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  5. i'm glad the crust worked out for you! i'm always afraid to try dough-y things, too. this time i took the short cut, but based on your results, maybe i'll try it next time! your choice of topping sounds wonderful, too!

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  6. Oh wow Gloria - can I just tell you how jealous I am that you were able to cut such a beautiful slice from your pie?? Amazing! Mine was too soupy for such a pretty shot. I agree about the filling - I think it'd be fine with less sugar. Also, so glad you had good luck with Melissa's all-butter crust recipe! I've had a ton of trouble with pie crusts but her recipe is one of the first that's worked for me.

    Thanks for baking with me this week :)

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  7. Your pie looks terrific and hooray for conquering your fear of pie crusts! I think Melissa's all-butter pie dough is a fantastic recipe and super-yummy. I love crumble toppings, your recipe sounds awesome.

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  8. I love your crumble topping! It sounds delicious. And your pie looks beautiful.

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  9. I LOVE your crumble topping! What a great idea! Your pie crust is perfect, too. Way to go!

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  10. I love the crumble topping. I prefer crumbles to pies. Pie crust and I aren't good friends.

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  11. Great cobbler pie and I love your change for the topping! Congratulations on your success for the pie crust too. Looks perfect!

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  12. YOUR CRUST IS PERFECT!!! I have a fear of dough too -- i still dont know if i would attempt it ever again. Your pie looks fantastic -- glad everyone enjoyed it.

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