Rhubarb Sour Cream Crumble Pie

I just got back to Houston after a wonderful week spent at home with my family and friends. The weather was absolutely perfect which is rare for Memorial Day in Madison. We had warm (but not too hot), sunny days and cool, clear nights. It was even clear enough overnight to see the meteor shower! My mom and I bundled up in warm clothes and blankets and each saw 2 shooting stars. She saw both of hers around 10 pm but I had to go back out at 3:30 to see mine. It was neat to lay in the hammock all bundled up in my down comforter, listen to the sounds of the lake and the trees, look for shooting stars and watch the sun begin to rise. That's not something I get to do in Houston!

I spent the rest of the week visiting friends, running a few errands, eating picnic salads of every imaginable kind, burgers and brats (no, I didn't go to Brat Fest). On Saturday morning, I went to a yoga class then met two of my good friends (and their adorable 11 week-old baby boy!) at the Dane County Farmers' Market. I had my fair share of cheese samples but the only things I bought were a cream cheese filled croissant for a very late breakfast and a pound of rhubarb. I made two stalks into Rhubarb and Rye Scones from Apt. 2B Baking Co. and I made the rest into pie.

Objective
Adapt my strawberry rhubarb sour cream crumb pie recipe to a tart, thin (because a two-inch thick piece of rhubarb pie would be a little too much) rhubarb sour cream crumble pie. Based on my Blueberry Sour Cream Crumble Pie.

Materials
1 unbaked pie crust
2 cups rhubarb, chopped in 1/2" pieces
1/2 cup sour cream (low fat is fine or even Greek yogurt)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1-2 tbsp. flour (optional, for a thicker pie)

Crumble topping:
1/4 cup flour (whole wheat)
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut in small cubes

Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
2. Place the chopped rhubarb in the bottom of the unbaked pie crust. Whisk together the sour cream, vanilla, sugar and flour. Spread over the rhubarb.
3. In a medium sized bowl, prepare the crumble topping. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients or simply use your finger and pinch the butter into the dry ingredients until you have coarse crumbles. Sprinkle over the pie.
4. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake at 450ºF for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350ºF, tent with foil to prevent the crust from burning,and continue baking 25 to 30 minutes. Cool then chill completely before serving.

Results
Yum! The crust is a deep golden brown and the filling holds it's shape sort of like a cheesecake. The filling is tart and lightly sweetened.

Discussion
I used a store-bought pie crust (which tends to make a smaller pie than homemade 9" pies) and the thickness was just right. In thinking more about it, I might use a graham cracker crust next time I make this pie because the texture of the filling reminded me of cheesecake and that would make it even more cheesecake-like. If you omit the flour, you'll get a runnier pie (check out the pictures of the blueberry version). If you pride yourself in food presentation, I'd recommend adding the flour for clean-edged slices.

I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the pie to share. I didn't even think to take a camera home with me while I was packing! But to be totally honest, in my family, it's not about how pie looks but rather, how it tastes! I'm pretty sure it tasted good because we offered my brother a bite as he was walking out the door and he turned right back around and decided he could wait to leave until he'd had a whole slice. I'd call that a success!