Rhubarb Crumble Recipe | Cooking with Nana Ling

Enjoyed for generations, this old-fashioned rhubarb crumble recipe is — in a word — divine.

The tartness of the rhubarb is combined here with the sweet crumble topping and a hint of orange zest to create an easy, dreamy dessert.

The recipe for rhubarb crumble

There are different recipes, but this one is from a book I found in Nana Ling’s collection.

In 1948, the Australian Women’s Weekly published a ‘cookbook’ containing award-winning recipes from their ‘cooking competition’.

As you can imagine there are so many wonderful recipes in the pages of this book including this one for Hot Rhubarb Crisp.

Although there seems to have been some difference between chips and crumbles in the past, most foodies today agree that “the lines have been blurred over the years and what used to be called chips is called crumble and crumble is now called chips”. .

I chose to call this recipe Rhubarb Crumble as I think it’s probably the most commonly understood term these days, at least in Australia.

Ingredients for Rhubarb Crumble

This recipe calls for 2 cups of chopped rhubarb.

Wash and dry the rhubarb and cut into 1 cm long pieces before measuring.

Make sure NOT to include any leaves – only the stems. The leaves contain a toxic compound.

You will also need:

• butter
• powdered sugar (fine sugar)
• vanilla extract
• egg
• Cornflakes, crushed
• nutmeg
• finely grated orange zest.

You can find all ingredient amounts in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Make this easy rhubarb crumble

Prepare

Preheat the oven to medium-high (180 degrees Celsius, fan) and grease the casserole dish with butter.

Stir in the crumble

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy.

Add the egg and beat again for a minute.

Stir in the crushed cornflakes, nutmeg and orange zest.

TIP: Crush corn flakes with your hands as you add them to the mixing bowl

Top with the chopped rhubarb

layer 1: Place half of the crumble mixture in the bottom of the casserole dish. Spread evenly with a spatula.

layer 2: Add the chopped rhubarb to the mold as a second layer.

layer 3: Pour the remaining mixture over the rhubarb and spread as evenly as possible.

layer 4: Sprinkle the extra sugar and orange zest over the top layer.

Bake and serve the rhubarb crumble

Bake 30 minutes.

Serve straight from the oven with store-bought or homemade cream.

Variation Ideas

Turn your crumble into Apple Rhubarb Crumble by replacing half of the chopped rhubarb with chopped apple.

Likewise create Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble by replacing half of the chopped rhubarb with chopped strawberries.

You can also substitute 1 cup of oatmeal for the cornflakes Recipe for rhubarb crumble with oatmeal.

Frequently asked questions about recipes

Q. How long does Rhubarb Crumble keep?

Store covered in the refrigerator for up to a few days.

Q. How do I reheat it?

Reheat in the microwave or oven.

Q. Do you have other easy dessert recipes?

A lot! You might like my Butterscotch Self Sauce Pudding, Chocolate Berry Cups, Heavenly
Hash, Fruit Cups and Lemon Delicious.