Rhubarb Crisp

The local farmer's market is open and the hubby likes to go and get his favorite "bakery" like buchta and nut roll. This past Saturday afternoon, he handed me five stalks of rhubarb and said, "here, I got these for you!" They were as tall as a small toddler and I knew since I had already made rhubarb bread and rhubarb buckle, I wanted to make rhubarb crisp. At first, I wondered if the rhubarb was under ripe because all the stalks were green.  A quick look at http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/ assured me that it was fine. Whew. Since my recipe needed four cups of rhubarb, I figured I would have too much. Well, after I got the outside tough part off and then trimmed the ends of each stalk, I had exactly enough!! I asked the hubby to "rate" my "bakery" last night after he had finished a piece still warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream melting on top. He gave me a perfect "10." Hey, where's my gold medal?!?!?!

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup white flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup water
4 cups rhubarb, chopped

Topping:

1 cup white flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 1 1/2 quart pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. In medium bowl, put the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix well with large spoon and then add the water and combine. Gently mix in the rhubarb until well incorporated. Pour into the prepared pan. In a small bowl, put the flour, oats and brown sugar. Combine with a large spoon. Add the melted butter and mix thoroughly. Pour on the rhubarb mixture and spread evenly so the entire top is covered. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the rhubarb crisp is bubbly and the top is starting to brown. Remove from oven and when it cools for a bit (like a 1/2 hour or so) serve with a large spoon. Add vanilla ice cream or whipped topping, if desired. Serves 6-8.