It’s rhubarb season: that short time where this weird plant comes out to play for a very short time and people flock to the farmer’s markets to get their fill — and just wait until the strawberries are out! In the meantime, I made these lovely Ruby Rhubarb Streusel Bars, buttery and rich on the bottom, tart and sweet on top.
When I think of purple foods, the first thing that comes to mind are blueberries. There are, of course, other purple foods — plums, potatoes, cabbage even artichokes, eggplant and asparagus — but the easiest for me is blueberries as I have a whole bunch frozen in my fridge plus the jar of jam that I made last year. The color came out very dark but the glaze was perfectly blueberry-esque.
I haven’t made Linzer Cookies for a while and these happen to fit in with the “Color Game” that I have going on. Refreshing, sweet and tart and really quite a lovely combination, I give you these awesome Lemon Linzers with Passion Fruit Curd. Passion Fruit is definitely a food of the foodie gods. So delicious!
It wouldn’t be Easter if I didn’t make some variation on the Hot Cross Bun. Everyone has their own, there are literally thousands of styles, combinations and variations. This year, I went for the somewhat rustic Cranberry Walnut Whole Wheat Sourdough Hot Cross Buns version. It’s an enriched sweet (but not too sweet) sourdough brioche dough, fruit and nuts added. Eat with sweet jam or honey or make into a bacon sandwich. nom nom nom.
Me, and Crumble Bars, eh? Yep. thought I would make some more – these are Yuzu Lemon Shortbread Crumble Bars – and even though they aren’t exactly Easter-y, they are bright and tart and delicious. Never heard of Yuzu? Well, nor I had I until I tried some juice while at an Asian restaurant a while back. Yuzu is sometimes called a Japanese Lemon. Sometimes called a Korean Tangerine and has roughly been described to me as a mashup between a lemon, grapefruit and a mandarin, round, but lemon yellow. I’ve never had a fresh one, but the jam, extract and syrups are amazing.These crumble bars would be a great addition to an Easter dessert spread.