My Mom's Rhubarb Crumble Pie

Mmmmmm...my mom's rhubarb crumble pie just tastes like summer to me!

I feel like I've mentioned before that we have a college student, Greg, staying with us this summer.  He and his fiancee, Nikki, have been such a blessing to us and the girls.  

And I'm not just saying that because they brought me some rhubarb from the farmers' market last week :)

They are kind and easy to be around and so sweet to the girls.

Nikki and I made this pie last week and it was as great as I remembered!

She even did all the chopping!

Here's what you need:

1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled (old fashioned, not instant) oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

Blend the ingredients until crumbly.  Press half of the mixture into a pie plate.  Reserve the rest for the topping.

3 cups diced rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon butter

Arrange rhubarb over the bottom crust.  Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and sprinkle over the rhubarb.  Drizzle the water over that.  Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter, cut into small pieces.  Top the filling with reserved oat mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Now, in the cookbook my mom made for me, my sister, and sister-in-law, she says that you can serve it warm or cold with ice cream or whipped topping.  

Some might say that whipped topping is optional, but I beg to differ.  This needs cool whip or some other brand of whipped topping.  I tend towards real whipped cream myself, but not in the case of this rhubarb crumble pie. 

This certainly is excellent cold, but when it's warm with the cool whip slightly melting into the crispy top and tart sweetness of the rhubarb...ahhhhhhhhh, it just can't be beat!

Additionally, this makes a great breakfast.  You could even put some vanilla greek yogurt on top to make yourself feel better about having pie for breakfast...but, really, rhubarb looks like celery, so I think it's fine however you do it :)

Leah liked it.

Gracie liked it.

And Maggie...well, I just gave Maggie a little dish of cool whip, because I'm nice like that :)

So, grab some rhubarb the next time you're at the farmers' market.  I bet you have the rest of the ingredients already!

Oh, and if you have a TON of rhubarb, you can double this and put it in a 9x13 inch pan like my mom always did.  

It's a perfect taste of summer!