Recipe Wednesday! Fresh crop of Rhubarb recipes!

One of my favorites in the garden is RHUBARB ~ it makes delicious desserts!
Remember to remove the leaves before cooking, they are POISONOUS if eaten!
Ever notice how the things that are good for you in nature are very close to
being poisonous? Tomatoes, for example, are in the "deadly nightshade" family! Sometimes a little bad is good for you!

RHUBARB BARS

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk

5 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin

2 cups white sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups of flour and baking powder. Cut in 1/2 cup of butter by pinching between your fingers or using a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the egg and milk just until the mixture is moistened. Pat into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread rhubarb over the crust in an even layer, then sprinkle the dry gelatin powder over the rhubarb.
Prepare the topping by stirring together 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup flour. Cut in 1/2 cup of butter as you did for the crust. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the rhubarb.
Bake in the preheated oven until the topping is golden brown and the rhubarb is tender enough to easily pierce with a fork, about 45 minutes. Cool and then cut into bars to serve.

RHUBARB CHEESECAKE

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell
3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, toss the rhubarb with 1/2 cup of sugar and the flour. Pour into the pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove, and allow to cool. Lower the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and 1/2 cup of sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs one at a time until each is blended. Pour this mixture over the rhubarb in the crust.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set. Remove from the oven, and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla. Spread over the top of the pie while it is hot. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled before serving.

“Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... Now you tell me what you know.”

~Groucho Marx