How to Make Alaskan Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

There are two kinds of people in this world: people with a sweet tooth, and people with a savory tooth. I’ll be totally honest – I am the latter. I love salty, crunchy, nutty, herby flavors, and you’re more likely to find me going for the salted caramel than the double chocolate fudge option of anything. Which is surprising, as when I grew up in Alaska – my mom made some amazing desserts, including strawberry rhubarb crumble made with Alaskan-grown ingredients.

As part of my new series of Alaskan recipes – inspired by my childhood in and subsequent travels back to Alaska – I’m delighted to share this dessert. My mom used to grow her own strawberries and rhubarb in her garden during the short Alaskan summer months; you can find them at most grocery stores and end up with the same delightful dish.

Read on to learn more about why I love this recipe and consider it a great Alaskan dessert, plus how to make Alaskan strawberry rhubarb crumble for yourself anywhere in the world.

Strawberries & Rhubarb in Alaska

Like my first Alaskan recipe for blueberry-zucchini muffins, this recipe for Alaskan strawberry-rhubarb crumble is inspired by my mom’s baking while growing up in Alaska. While she used fresh blueberries and the zucchini from our CSA box to make the muffins, my mom used to grow both strawberries and rhubarb in a small garden at the front of our house. To say my mom is an impressive homemaker in many ways – cooking, gardening, raising me! – is an understatement!

So this recipe can easily be made with strawberry and rhubarb you grow at home, or with store-bought ingredients. If you happen to be living in Alaska though, you can grow tiny little strawberries and huge leafy rhubarb like my mom did, and use those too. That’s the original inspiration for this recipe!

Crumble, Crisp, or Cobbler?

You might be wondering: what makes this a strawberry-rhubarb crumble? Is that different than a strawberry-rhubarb crisp? What about strawberry-rhubarb cobbler???

All three are delicious, and you can use strawberry-rhubarb filling to make crumble, crisp, or cobbler. The difference between these desserts is primarily to do with their topping:

• A crumble has streusel topping consisting of flour, sugar, and butter
• A crisp is similar to a crumble, but the streusel topping also includes oats. These oats get crispy while baking, hence the name.
• Cobbler, on the other hand, has a thick biscuit topping that is placed on in dollops – like a cobbled road (hence the name!).

So while I crew up having strawberry-rhubarb crumble, crisp, and cobbler depending on what my mom felt like making, I decided to share a crumble recipe since it’s the easiest to make.

How to Make Alaskan Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

There are two main pieces of strawberry rhubarb crumble: the filling and the topping. Let’s start with the filling, which is super easy.

Start by preheating your oven to 350°F (175°C). Let that happen while you prepare the rest of the crumble. I recommend making this in personal-sized skillets or soufflé ramekins, so that each person can enjoy their own portion

If you’ve bought stalks of fresh rhubarb, you’ll need to thinly dice them; same goes for the strawberries, which need to be diced. Combine these two with the rest of the filling ingredients – the sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and corn starch – and put the filling into a greased baking dish or skillet.

Next up is the topping. Combine the flour, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the cold, diced butter and cut the butter into the dry mixture. If you’ve got it right, the mixture should look like course sand, pictured above (right/second picture).

Next you should add the topping on top of the filling. Ideally, the crumble topping will cover all of the filling, so keep that in mind when you choose a dish/skillet to bake it in.

Take the crumble to the oven, and bake for 35 minutes. The crumble topping should brown slightly and become a little firm if you tap it with a spoon. After taking it out, let it cool a few minutes, but be aware the dish is hot!

To serve it, you can scoop it into bowls if you’ve baked the crumble in a large dish. Otherwise, as I mentioned, personal skillets or soufflé ramekins are perfect for each person to have their own.

If you’re feeling really indulgent, strawberry rhubarb crumble goes well with vanilla-based ice creams. Whether you prefer a rich vanilla toffee crunch, french vanilla, or sweet cream, a scoop of cool ice cream will go perfectly on top of hot crumble!

My Alaskan Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

Okay, here we go – my official recipe for Alaskan strawberry rhubarb crumble. You can save or print this one – and if you give it a try, please come back and give it a rating so others will know how delicious it is too!

Yield: 4-6 servings

Alaskan Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Print

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Filling

• 3 Cups Fresh Strawberries diced
• 1 Cup Fresh Rhubarb thinly diced
• ¾ Cup Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tsp Vanilla

Topping

• 1 Cup Flour
• ½ Cup Brown Sugar
• ½ Cup Butter cold and cubed
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• Pinch Nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C).
2. In your baking container(s), combine all the filling ingredients, then set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour with the brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
4. Add the butter and cut the butter to mix it with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Add the topping on top of the filling, and take to the oven.
6. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

There you have it! Enjoy this delicious treat, just like I used to back in my younger days growing up in The Last Frontier! Do you have questions about this recipe? Let me know in the comments!

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