Happy 4th of July and Rhubarb Pie

Hi all and Happy 4th of July! Where has this summer gone?

Around the middle/end of June, I spied that my rhubarb plant had taken off and had given me a bunch of nice, new stems. Both of our rhubarb plants caught some sort of blight-like disease last year and we ended up not having rhubarb very long. So when I saw that the plant (only one came back :( ) had given me enough for a pie... I ran out there with kitchen scissors like a mad man (not really, running with scissors is not recommended. But I did get out there pretty darn quick.)

Now I haven't always been a fan a rhubarb, although like many children, I never gave it a chance either. In our first summer of living here, I gave it a shot and I was hooked. This is the recipe I never waver from because it is that good.

Rhubarb really can shine alone without the help of strawberries or other fruits. When you pack it with enough sugar, it evens out the extreme tart of rhubarb and creates a sweet and slightly tart pie that is really good warm, but even better cold in my opinion... which makes it the perfect pie for picnics.

Ready to make your own? You'll need:
• 4 cups of chopped rhubarb. (This is where I waver only a little... I think I had only about 2 3/4 cups of rhubarb when I was all said and done. This makes for a still tasty pie but 4 cups would definitely make for a thicker pie.) This requires a LOT of stems to get to 4 cups - pictured below is roughly 2 3/4 cup.
• 1 1/3 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter (real salted butter, not margarine)
• A 2 pack of premade pie crusts, you'll use both.

You'll also need:
• a pie plate
• a large measuring cup (up to four cup)
• cutting board/knife
• mixing bowl

First, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Chop the leafs off and the wide bottoms off as well. Make sure to discard the leaves properly, especially if you have pets and small children as they can be quite poisonous if ingested... but the stems are good to go.

Rinse them off, pat them dry. Chop the rhubarb into small slices - the smaller the better, as they'll cook down the best this way.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and flour. In in your pie plate, unroll a pie crust and set in the bottom of the pie plate. The pie plate doesn't require greasing before you put your crust in.

Sprinkle about a 1/4 of your flour and sugar mix on top of the crust. This doesn't have to be exactly 1/4 of your mixture, just eyeball it. Heap the rhubarb on top of the mixture in the pie plate, and then sprinkle the remaining sugar and flour on top of the rhubarb.

Take your tablespoon of butter and chop it into little pieces. Dot the butter randomly on top of the mixture. It should look something like this:

Cover with the remaining crust and pinch the sides together. Make some fancy slices in the top to be...well, fancy. (This actually helps some steam escape, but it looks nice too.)

Place your pie in the oven and bake at 450 for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes has completed, reduce the temperature to 350 and continue baking for 40 to 45 minutes. Do keep an eye on your crust... sometimes I have to place some tinfoil around the edges if they start to brown too much. Serve warm or cold, with vanilla ice cream is the best! :)

Thanks for following along! Have you ever had rhubarb pie? Have you had it before but with strawberries in it? Share your stories in the comments and share this recipe with your friends -- or don't and blow everyone's minds with this amazing recipe at your next picnic! Have a safe and happy 4th of July!