I am one of those people who loves spring. I barely survive winters in Indiana and can not wait for green grass, blossoms on trees and signs of life spouting out of the ground. Along with spring and early summer comes an over abundance of two of my favorite foods – strawberries and rhubarb.
We grow strawberries along the side of our house (below are some pictures from last years harvest). They are obviously not ready yet for this year, but there has been a lot of really tasty strawberries on sale recently at our local Earth Fare. So I picked up some fresh strawberries and rhubarb to satisfy my early spring cravings.
If you have read previous posts on my blog, you know I create a lot of crisps, because they are so easy to make and you don’t have to be exact. Typically in gluten free baking, being exact really matters and honestly, I don’t really like to measure things. This recipe is a simple combination of pecan pieces, gluten free rolled oats, tapioca starch and coconut oil. Many celiacs can not tolerate oats, but I can in small amounts as long as they are not cross-contaminated. I use Bob Red Mills certified gluten free oats in my baking. This recipe is also pretty tart as I like to highlight the rhubarb and keep my sugar content lower.
- 8-10 cups of strawberries (cut is halves)
- 4 cups of chopped rhubarb
- 1/8 – 1/4 cup evaporated cane sugar (depending on desired sweetness)
- 1 1/4 cups gluten free rolled oats (I grind to coarse in my Vita Mix)
- 1 cup chopped pecan pieces (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil or butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- later chopped strawberries and rhubarb in a 13 x 9 pan
- sprinkle with an 1/8 of cup of evaporated cane sugar
- in a different bowl, mix together coarsely ground rolled oats, pecans, tapioca, coconut sugar stir.
- slowly pour in coconut oil and vanilla and incorporate until topping starts to clump.
- sprinkle topping evenly across the strawberry rhubarb layer.
- bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 (watching to make sure it doesn’t burn topping) and then reduce the heat to 300 and bake for about 45 minutes, until topping is lightly brown and strawberry rhubarb layer is bubbling.
- **you can increase sugar amounts if you do not like the tartness of rhubarb.
- **you can also add in additional add ins, like chia seeds, ground flax seed or even coconut. if you do you may need to increase the coconut oil slightly so everything is fully incorporated
two of the notes that I put in the recipe:
**you can increase sugar amounts if you do not like the tartness of rhubarb.
**you can also add in additional add ins, if you do you may need to increase the coconut oil slightly so everything is fully incorporated
I change up our crisp recipes all the time, sometimes I toss in some chai and flax seed, especially if I am going to give it to my kids as breakfast, (I want the higher fiber content) or add coconut, or almond flour etc. You can be pretty flexible.
I can’t wait to see what this year’s garden harvest of strawberries brings!
