Though the last few months have been a meteorological roller coaster here in Colorado, the temperatures that now soar up near or above 90 every day indicate that summer has finally arrived in full. The air conditioner in our apartment can hardly keep up with the summer sun, blazing through our western-facing windows on its long descent toward the mountains. Fortunately, our freezer faces no such challenge and can house within it a treasure trove of icy treats perfect for combating the summer heat. And what better way to welcome the arrival of the season than with a dessert that features one of its most celebrated fruits?

Ahhh, rhubarb. Such pretty stalks. Such poisonous leaves. (Seriously, don’t eat the leaves.) And such a short growing season that it’s best to indulge heavily when it finally appears. I can hardly prevent myself from making into my favorite Rhubarb Crisp, but in an effort to broaden my horizons, I dug into a very, very vintage cookbook to find some new ideas. To my delight, I discovered marlow, a dessert that is now so out of the common psyche that when I poked around to learn more, I couldn’t even find it on Wikipedia.

From what I’ve pieced together, marlow is a marshmallow-based dessert that can either be frozen to mimic ice cream or chilled to mimic mousse. It can feature a variety of flavors as the marshmallow, sugar, and heavy cream act as a clean canvas onto which you can paint rhubarb, cherries, chocolate, butterscotch, or anything else you want to eat for dessert. After the fruit (in this case) is cooked down with sugar, the marshmallows and whipped cream are mixed in to create a frothy, fluffy mixture ready for freezing.

If you fancy fruity ice cream but don’t want the hassle of making it yourself, I highly recommend trying this instead. The method is incredibly straightforward and creates a dessert so reminiscent of ice cream you’ll hardly realize it’s not. Plus look how trendy you’ll be if you’re on the front end of bringing back marlow!

Rhubarb Marlow
Adapted from Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking

1 pound rhubarb, diced (about 3 cups)
1 T water
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz mini marshmallows
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T lemon juice

Place bread pan or other medium-sized dish in the freezer to chill. Make sure cream stays in the fridge until it is ready for whipping.

Place rhubarb and water in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until juices begin to release, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking until rhubarb is tender but not broken down, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add salt and marshmallows. Mix thoroughly until marshmallows have completely melted. Pour the mixture into another bowl and place in the fridge to chill until it is not warm to the touch.

Once the rhubarb mixture has cooled, combine heavy cream and lemon juice and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the rhubarb mixture, then turn it into the chilled bread pan. Freeze for 4-6 hours or until it is the consistency of fluffy ice cream.

Making two wedding cakes in less than a year has involved many, many practice cakes. Almost every weekend since early September, I’ve tested at least one recipe to see if it was worthy of inclusion in one of these two celebration cakes. And though I do have a crowd of chipper undergrads more than happy to polish off any test cakes I bring to the office, you’d think I’d avoid baking so soon after completing the wedding cake was done, right?

False.

False, at least, if I have a gift of gorgeous pink rhubarb falls in your lap.

One major perk of wedding cake-baking for a wedding in Madison, Wisconsin was the opportunity to stay with my aunt and uncle, who aside from allowing me to take over their kitchen for several days also have a beautiful stand of rhubarb. On my last morning in town, my uncle was kind enough to cut me a couple pounds of the prettiest, pinkest rhubarb I’ve ever seen.

But how to use this precious windfall I’ve baked with rhubarb a few times before, as part of a cookie, in a fruity appetizer, and as a co-star in a classic pie, but I really wanted to try something where the rhubarb played the lead. Something simple but essential.

Rhubarb Crisp, anyone?

Crisps are one of my favorite ways to make quick, delicious desserts that put the spotlight on the fruit contained within them. They can usually be ready to pop in the oven before it has preheated, can be reduced or expanded to accommodate any quantity of fruit you have or guests to hope to serve, and can feature just about any fruit (or fruits) you want.

And let us not forget the crisp part of this crisp! A combination of oats, brown sugar, whole wheat flour, and butter, you’ll be hard-pressed to mess it up. It’s simply mixed together and sprinkled over the flat bed of fruit.

This crisp is not for those who like super-sweet desserts. Rhubarb is quite tart, and I’ve kept the sugar-content relatively low in this crisp to keep that tartness present. I urge you not to add more! It’s lovely on its own, and probably dreamy with vanilla ice cream as well.

It’s not often that Brad and I finish an entire pan of dessert on our own, without the assistance of my undergraduate staff. They sure did miss out on this one.

Simple Rhubarb Crisp
Adapted from my Aunt Kim and Martha Stewart

7 c chopped rhubarb, about 2-3 pounds rhubarb stalks1 c white sugar
2 T instant tapioca
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c white sugar
2 c rolled oats
1 c light brown sugar, packed
1 c whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash, dry, and chop rhubarb and place in a 9×13″ baking dish. Add sugar, instant tapioca, and vanilla extract to the rhubarb and mix well with a large spoon. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, whole wheat flour, and salt. Add melted butter and mix with a fork until mixture is evenly moistened. Mixture will be quite crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over the rhubarb evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes until rhubarb is tender when pierced with a fork and topping is golden brown.

Serve warm or cold, with or without ice cream, whipped cream, or vanilla yogurt.

My local food quest suffers no greater challenge than it does in January and February. I love fresh fruit, and as I don’t live in a citrus-producing state, the options are pretty sparse for local fruit.

The earliest harbinger of spring, however, earlier even than the asparagus and strawberries that declare the season’s coming with certainty, is rhubarb.

Rhubarb, which grows in varieties ranging in color from pale green to deep red, is technically a vegetable. However, it has been classified as a fruit in the United States since the late 1940s since it is primarily used as a fruit. Naturally quite tart, it is typically paired with sugar and other sweet fruits to create tangy, flavorful desserts.

Rather like this one.

These little cookies feature drops of tart rhubarb jam nestled in a soft butter cookie. The jam is easy enough to make: just a little sugar and vanilla and heat and soon enough, jam! I admit… I was hoping for a pretty red jam, but since the vendor selling rhubarb right now grows the green variety, it’s actually sorta greenish-brown. Oh well! It can’t all be gems and sparkles.

And then the cookies themselves! What a delightful discovery this recipe was. These cookies are bright and soft and wonderfully comforting. Plus, they whip up quickly into an easy, workable dough.

Once the dough is rolled out into balls, each one gets a big ol’ thumbprint filled with jam. And for a little extra fun, some sugar is added for a sparkly crunch before the cookies head in the oven for baking.

This recipe can be even easier! Don’t wanna make your own quick jam Get a jar of your favorite and use it instead! I see lots of batches of these cookies in my future… filled with all manner of pretty, fruity flavors.

Maybe I’ll get my pretty red cookies after all.

Rhubarb Thumbprint Cookies
Adapted from Farmers’ Market Desserts

4-5 stalks rhubarb, about 2 cups chopped
3/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c + 2 T granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
raw or other large-grain sugar

Chop rhubarb into pieces, then pulse in a food processor until relatively fine. Combine rhubarb, sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 15 minutes or until mixture is thick and jam-like. Spoon the hot jam into a small dish and set aside to cool while you prepare the cookie dough.

Preheat oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a standing mixer or other large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and salt until it is light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Mix in each egg yolk, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl between each addition. Add vanilla and mix well. On low speed, add the flour a cup at a time and mix just until combined, making sure that all dry bits are mixed in.

Set up two large cookie sheets. Make balls of dough about one inch in diameter by rolling them between your palms, placing them about two inches apart on the sheets. Once all dough has been rolled, use your finger or thumb to form a deep impression in the center of each ball. Using a 1/4 teaspoon, fill each impression with the rhubarb mixture. Sprinkle raw sugar over the cookies, focusing on the jam centers. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden-brown. Remove sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool, on the sheets, for 5 minutes, then transfer them to cooling racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container, separating the layers by waxed paper, for up to one week.