*crispy waffle*

I can't believe I haven't posted in nearly a month. Well, actually, I can. My mother-in-law died a couple of weeks ago, so we made a whirlwind emergency trip to Montana, U.S. of A. (Believe me, getting an international flight from Amsterdam at the height of the tourist season, even with a bereavement reason, was no small feat.)

Her death was sudden, and related to the Type 1 diabetes she had been living with for nearly three decades. As someone who enjoys their sugar, I always felt for Yvonne, knowing that once you have diabetes, dessert is a different matter altogether (both my grandmothers had late-onset diabetes as well, so I'm unfortunately familiar with the diet changes that come with it.)

This made my mom-in-law that much more remarkable. She continued to bake tons and tons of sweet cakes and breads for the kids and me, as well as for the rest of the family and her circle of friends. The willpower that must've taken: all that sugar in the oven and not having a taste. What a great lady!

Just a few weeks ago, I tried a recipe that had been making the rounds in Seattle-- it is the rhubarb cake that China's President Hu had for dessert at Bill Gates' house. The Seattle Times published the recipe, so I tried it. Unfortunately, I have to say, it came out awful. The methodology was really unconventional from the beginning to the end, and it had kind of a weird set of ingredients (who uses that much powdered sugar within a cake? and egg whites rather than whole eggs?) Anyway, this recipe only made me long for a rhubarb bread that Yvonne would send us every few months, and after I threw out President Hu's rhubarb cake, I wished I were able to eat her delicious bread instead.

After the funeral, my sister-in-law Danelle was looking through Yvonne's recipe files while I was in the kitchen and she found the rhubarb bread recipe. (Unfortunately, she wasn't able to find the granola recipe, which, after Yvonne found out I loved it, would also send, along with all the rhubarb bread.) I made it a few days ago and Kyle was like, "Yeah, that's my mom's legacy, right there."

So here's the recipe from my lovely mother-in-law. We'll miss her terribly, but it's nice to know we'll have little things like this to remember her by.

Yvonne's Rhubarb Bread
Makes 2 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 loaves

Ingredients
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup salad oil (I assumed this meant just a light-colored oil, such as canola oil)
1 egg
2-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces (this is approximately 2 stalks)

For streusel topping:
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter (room temperature)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottoms of two loaf pans with parchment paper.
Combine the ingredients for the streusel topping, mashing it together with a fork until it resembles breadcrumbs. Set aside.
Combine the wet ingredients: buttermilk, oil and egg and whisk together with a fork.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Pour in the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the rhubarb and walnuts.
Pour into the two loaf pans and sprinkle with the streusel topping (there is a lot of the topping, but use all of it because this is what makes a crispy crust on top.)
Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pans.

The resulting bread is more like a moist, sweet cake with a crispy crunch from the cinnamon topping. When served warm it is delicious with excellent vanilla ice cream.

Labels: recipes, the sweet

posted by sheryl | 12:34 PM | comments (3)