I love old recipes. Recipes that my Great (or even Great-Great) Grandmother would have made as they tend to be simple, frugal, natural and comforting. In the Spring and early Summer I crave rhubarb. Interesting since I didn't really grow up eating much of it. I do remember eating it straight from a neighbors patch when I wasn't much more than a toddler, and learning on my own which rhubarb was sweeter and ready and which was green and oh so sour! I think my mother likes rhubarb but she didn't do a lot of baking and I don't remember having it often. I looked forward to church pot lucks and school functions where parents would bring cookies and bars for everyone to enjoy after, to get my rhubarb crisp and rhubarb cake and bars.
If you have a patch of rhubarb, you are lucky! If not, you'll have to do as I do and buy it at the store. This old fashioned recipe calls for fresh, but if you buy the frozen, bagged rhubarb at the grocery, well that's just fine too! This one uses healthy bran cereal, which I thought was brilliant.
Rhubarb Pudding
4 c of fresh rhubarb, cleaned and cut or diced
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter
1/2 c milk
3/4 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c All Bran cereal
Topping:
3/4 c sugar
1 T cornstarch
1/4 t salt
Pour Over All:
1/2 cup boiling water
Grease or spray an 8X8" baking dish or pan. Place the diced rhubarb. Cream together the sugar and butter then add the milk. Add the flour, baking powder and salt along with the cereal. Spread this over the rhubarb. Mix together the topping ingredients; sugar, cornstarch and salt. Top the batter with this and then pour a half cup of boiling water over all. Bake at 375 for one hour.
