So, I was really excited about the recent First Annual Pieathalon Blogger Challenge. It was crazy, and fun and great and I LOVED it. So much so, that I decided to make this whole month just about pie. And only pie. Sweet and savory, fruity and fun, this is Vintage Pie July!
And to kick it off, we have Tom’s favorite pie, ever, ever. Grandma’s Rhubarb Meringue Pie!
- For Crust:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup sugar (white or packed brown)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup rolled oats (quick or regular)
- For Filling:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 T flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3 cups diced rhubarb
- 1 T water
- 3 egg yolks beaten slightly
- For Meringue:
- 3 egg whites
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup sugar (white or packed brown)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla or lemon extract
- For crust, cream butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Mix in flour and rolled oats. Blend until dough is formed.
- Press dough over bottom and sides of 9″ pie plate, making a high, even edge. Chill.
- For Filling, mix salt, sugar and flour. Set aside.
- Combine rhubarb & water in saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Stir in sugar mixture. Boil, stirring often.
- Fold a small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks. Stir eggs into hot mixture slowly. Pour into crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until set.
- For Meringue, Beat whites and salt until soft peaks form. Add sugar gradually. Beat until glossy. Beat in extracts.
- Spread over hot filling so that it touches the edge of crust. Return to oven and brown for 8-10 minutes.
This pie is different from the normal pie, which is great. It starts out with an oatmeal cookie crust.
Just…think about that.
Oatmeal. Cookie. Crust.
Then it is filled with a sweet, tart and creamy filling. No strawberries here, thanks. Just pure rhubarb goodness!
Just a side note – Why does rhubarb filling always look so bad? This one was a challenge to photograph!
And then the whole shebang is topped off with meringue. And since we make this pie a couple of times during rhubarb season, I have been experimenting with it a bit. I regularly switch between the recommended white sugar and brown sugar for the crust and the meringue. Brown sugar meringue is really, really good.
“I could eat this entire pie.”
The Verdict: Delicious
From The Tasting Notes –
Since this is a family recipe, we are a bit biased about this one, but we think it is really good. The filing is tart, sweet and creamy and the crust is pretty much an oatmeal cookie. How can you go wrong with that? Normally I could take or leave meringue, but when I switch out brown sugar for white it almost makes it taste like frosting. Delicious, delicious pie frosting. Yum.
I never heard of using brown sugar! Will have to try it.
The pictures of the pie came out very well.
I know people who make this, and it always looks like a frightful mess. “Have a piece! It tastes better than it looks!” they tell me.
I am deeply intrigued by the oatmeal crust.
If their rhubarb is ripe, I’m going to make this when I visit my folks next month. My jaws did that “tart!” thing when I read the recipe.
I wonder if a couple drops of red food coloring would help the appearance? Cooked rhubarb never does look appealing, does it?
Thanks for doing this one!
I love the cookie crust idea. Family recipes are always the best! (Or they wouldn’t have gotten passed down, would they?)
That crust sounds great! Plus no rolling. I might have to try that sometime.
I have made this pie twice now and it’s really amazing! The recipe is surprisingly easy as far as mid-century baking goes (I appreciate that).
A friend gave us rhubarb from his garden and in turn we sent him a piece of pie. He just sent us more rhubarb! LOL!
Glad you like it, Tammy Jo!!! It’s a family fave! 🙂