I love rhubarb. It’s a deep, undying love. Maybe it’s because its one of those fruits (it is a fruit, right?) that’s seasonal. Not like apples, oranges and bananas, which you can get all year. There’s a very slim time frame for when you can buy rhubarb.
I found this recipe at the beginning of April and was dying to make these tartlets for our Easter lunch. That didn’t happen though. Because, try as I might, I couldn’t get any rhubarb back then. A few weeks later there was rhubarb en masse, but now I didn’t have a kitchen to bake in. Last week, I had rhubarb (saw it in store, grabbed it and didn’t let it go again.) and a kitchen but couldn’t find the recipe. Do you see where I’m going with this? It was like the world didn’t want me to work with my beloved rhubarb. Star crossed lovers and all that….
In any case, after a quick phone call to my gran (who thankfully collects recipes like there’s no tomorrow) I had the recipe, I had the ingredients and I had a kitchen, so let’s get started, okay?

Ingredients
Ready made dough (I used shortcrust pastry)

150g rhubarb
2tbsp tap water
2tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp sugar

200g curd cheese
100ml whipped cream
3tbsp vanillla sugar

What to do
Wash, clean and peel the rhubarb. Then cut it in small pieces.

Add water, lemon juice and sugar and cook for about 5 minutes.

Mix curd cheese with vanilla sugar. Add 2 tbsp of rhubarb juice. Whip the cream and carefully add to the cream cheese mixture. Leave to cool in the fridge.

Grease a muffin tin and cut out ca. 8cm large circles from the dough. The recipe says to put legumes on the dough so it won’t rise that much. I made it twice, once with them on top, once without and it didn’t make much difference. To be honest, the dough I used wasn’t the best anyways but it fulfilled the purpose and tasted quite nice. Which dough you use in the end is entirely up to you ;)
Bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes.

Then add the curd cheese mix, top with rhubarb et voilá – you’re done! It’s a super quick and super yummy spring/summer dessert. I like the sweetness of the curd cheese mix and pastry with the sour fruityness of the rhubarb. It’s such a gorgeous combination!