As totally nutso as it is, Mama and Randy brought rhubarb grown in our very own backyard in Minnesota all the way to New York just so I can bake it into all sorts of yummies. I can get perfectly fine rhubarb (actually really great rhubarb) much closer to my apartment, but the novelty of eating Minnesotan rhubarb with my favorite people from Minnesota will absolutely never get old.
I think the best part about the backyard rhubarb is that it’s pretty much an accident. Our shady yard is not the greatest for growing tomatoes or peppers or any other fruits and veggies. My mom spends the summer tending her beautiful gardens, but nothing ever makes its way to the kitchen table. But the rhubarb grows all on its own! And when our rhubarb patch isn’t quite so robust, I jog the half mile to my great-aunt Mar and great-aunt Jan’s house and pick some of theirs. As I run into the backyard, I carry the rhubarb like it’s the Olympic torch, channel Chariots of Fire, and hope my mother will take a video destined to amuse all of our friends and family. She doesn’t.
Mama requests these scones when I’m home, so of course I made them for breakfast this weekend. The perfect tartness and wonderful tenderness of the baked rhubarb is unbeatable. And that vanilla! I’ll probably be eating these every weekend for the rest of the summer. I think they’ll even taste okay with New York rhubarb 🙂
rhubarb scones
1 heaping cup chopped rhubarb
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
½ tsp vanilla paste
2 cups ap flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold and in chunks
¾ cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing
raw sugar for sprinkling
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
- Mix the vanilla bean paste and 2 tablespoons of sugar together in a small bowl. Toss the rhubarb pieces in the sugar.
- Stir together the flour, powder, salt and remaining sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or your hands. Stir in the rhubarb. Add the cream and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a rough rectangle. Fold the rectangle in half, rotate it 90° and flatten it. Repeat twice more. Pat the dough into a circle and cut into 8 wedges.
- Place the wedges on your baking sheet and brush lightly with cream, then sprinkle with raw sugar.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until tops are golden.
