Rhubarb Custard Bars Recipe (2024)

Based on my experience making my favorite rhubarb pie, cut the sugar in the rhubarb sauce in half - use 1/2 to 2/3 cup to protect the wonderful “tang.”

I love the idea of these but I changed them up just slightly--I like the texture of rhubarb so I did not purée it, and I left out the last ¼ cup of sugar because I like rhubarb tart. Absolutely delicious way to utilize rhubarb!

"Transfer the rhubarb and juices to the food processor, and let it sit with the cover off until it cools down a bit, about 15 minutes."Some food processors say NOT to put hot liquids in the bowl, but let them cool before pouring in. It can cause the polycarbonate to crackle.

If you can’t find rhubarb (or can’t afford it, it can be pricey), I’ve been replacing rhubarb in my recipes with foraged Japanese knotweed. It’s a pretty good substitute and it makes me feel better to be harvesting and eating such a scourge.

As someone who has lived in the Rhubarb Triangle for many years this recipe is an insult to rhubarb and a quick way to diabetes. After stewing the rhubarb why would you put it in a food processor and 250g of sugar is unbelievable. All rhubarb needs is a little sugar and some fresh ginger juice a perfect combination

These were excellent. Both the rhubarb and lemon come through. I reduced the total sugar by 1/4 cup and they were still plenty sweet, but not cloying. They take longer to firm up than you might think. I'd give it at least 3 hours. If you decide to do the "confetti" strips of rhubarb, you'll need to snip them as you cut the bars; the knife will just drag them along and make a mess. It's easier to use short strips and visualize the individual bars as you apply them, or skip it altogether.

OMG - this is delicious. A perfect recipe to come across at the height of rhubarb season. I put a little orange zest into the shortbread crust as well as the custard. I only have an 8" square pan, and didn't want the custard to be extra deep so just used 3 eggs, and I reserved a bit of the crust to put on top before baking, as a bit of a crumble.

This was a good formula! Since my rhubarb is made up of green and red stalks, I added about 1/2 C strawberries to the formula and obtained a very nice rose-pink color.

Delicious!! I’d recommend cutting the shaved rhubarb to an inch or else it’s difficult to cut when cutting the bars.

I'm so glad you said that. It seemed awfully sweet, reading through.The beauty of rhubarb is the tang, and the fact that you can sweeten without is being "sweet."Appreciate the tip/validation.

Terrific. I cut the sugar in the compote to 1/2 cup—perfect for my taste. Tip: if you peel the rhubarb to make the decorative spirals (very pretty) before you make the compote, you can chop the peeled stems and add them to the compote. No waste of precious rhubarb, and no impact on custard color.

I made this last night with rhubarb out of my garden, I also added lemon zest to the rhubarb and it was great, orange zest would be good as well, I used dried. My 8x8 pan took 35 minutes, and then after it was cool I put in in the fridge overnight and it sliced up great the next day. Now that I've had a bar or two, I would cut the sugar as well. But, boy is this ever really good. And, yes you can easily cut it into 16 or 25 bars for a large event.

I'm picking up 2 pounds of rhubarb at the farmers market tomorrow, and can't wait to use some of it for this recipe.

I’ve always used OJ concentrate to sweeten rhubarb. Keeps the citrus acid element and orange aroma while sweetening. Adjust recipe for volume and liquid. Love the kumquat suggestion, and would serve with fresh cilantro or basil or as herb flavored (coconut ?) cream and cardamom or coriander to custard

In upstate New York's Finger Lakes region, this is a spectacular rhubarb year, and this was a wonderful way to use up some of that bounty. It's delicious just as written. I'd suggest letting it cool in the fridge before serving to firm up the rhubarb custard topping. (I'm freezing ziplocs of rhubarb so we can enjoy this treat year 'round.)

Followed the recipe exactly. Everyone loved them.

This was a huge hit with the family! I did do a little less sugar, which I saw some people suggest, and I loved the sweetness and tartness of the final result.

Fantastic! I did reduce the sugar because of the comments here. Used 150g total and it was just right. Tart but not too sour.

I wanted to like these bars, as I grew up eating, and loving, Betty Crocker’s rhubarb custard pie. The shortbread crust is delicious but there’s too much custard and not enough rhubarb for my taste. I even reduced the sugar but I found the rhubarb flavor weak. Next time I’ll up the amount of rhubarb and see if that improves the bars.

Super nice, but rhubarb 'spirals' on top made it very difficult to cut. Next time, I think I'll cut the slivers into bite sized pieces so that each bar has its own rhubarb piece.

Pressing the crumbly dough into a parchment paper lined baking dish was impossible, so I just pushed it up the sides and baked it without parchment nor greasing the pan. Worked fine, and bars come out easily when cool. Also, followed other's advice and reduced sugar by 1/2 cup overall, as recipe called for 1.25. They turned out great with plenty of sweetness. Excellent!

Good but not mind-blowing. I used 1 cup sugar total, upped the lemon to 3 tbsp and still wished I had used less sugar. They were tartish but not enough of a strong rhubarb flavor. I also loved the look of the rhubarb curls on top but they were a PIA to cut cleanly

To our celiac, gluten-intolerant, and lactose-intolerant friends: Samantha Seneviratne has a wonderful Rhubarb Macaroon Tart. Its macaroon crust is gluten-free (but its filling is dairy-heavy). Prep the macaroon crust, baking just until matte. Cool slightly, add the filling from this recipe, and bake as described here. And if you can’t tolerate a pan greased with butter - coconut oil is a spectacular addition, but cooking oil or any neutral oil with do just fine. Cheers!

Oh, I should have believed the comments. These bland, pleasant bars have almost no rhubarb flavor. I also cut down the sugar, and they were not too sweet--just too sweet for rhubarb bars. I used 4 large stalks--didn't weigh, but I am sure more than 10 oz. Needed about 8 stalks (but then the other proportions would have been off, perhaps?). Also, I used some red food coloring to dye these a delicate rhubarb-pink. What a disappointment.

Although delicious, this recipe does not have enough rhubarb for me. For my tastes I would say increase the rhubarb and decrease the sugar.

I also cut the sugar to 2/3 cup in the mixture. I added a thin top crust to this recipe with a white and brown sugar mix and a 1/2 cup of oatmeal using just 2-3 tablespoons of cold butter chopped into the mix. It added crunch to the bars and kept the rhubarb mixture light and creamy. I did miss the texture of the rhubarb so next time I will keep some pieces to add to the mixture. I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and some freshly grated nutmeg to bring out the flavors.

I am wondering if there is an error in the recipe. It calls for 2 tablespoons lemon juice from 1 to 2 lemons. That doesn’t make sense, since unlike limes, the amount of juice in a lemon is much more than 2 tablespoons. So should the amount be 2 tablespoons or more than that?

I make this recipe every few weeks when rhubarb is in season -- which is all summer cuz I live in Alaska and rhubarb is one of our 'fruit' like staples that grows all summer. Like some other commentors, I don't puree the rhubarb. I do sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top. I throw in whatever other fruit is available - esp strawberries. Everyone loves this recipe. It's a keeper.

I didn’t bother with all the rhubarb “ribbon” curling because these are pretty enough just as they are and have the virtue of being very simple. And delicious.

I used Kraft Parmesan in place of the shortbread crust. It came out great!