The KBAL Brownie Initiative

When I said I would make this recipe, I did not think about the availability of the key ingredient, rhubarb, during the last days of winter. I just figured it would be where it always is in the Kroger produce section, or if needed, the frozen fruit aisle. After spending 10 minutes searching the produce section for the red and green stalks and two trips to the frozen fruit section to confirm its absence, I had to ask the produce guy. His response was, well, they usually have some, but not today for some reason. At this point I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to make these things at all.

Luckily for me, there is the Fresh Seasons Market right down the street from Kroger. I figured that since they specialize in produce, I would have a 50/50 chance of finding rhubarb. Since I had never been there, it was a double treat, because I do like wandering around grocery stores. At first I thought I was out of luck and would have to try somewhere else, when I rounded the corner on the third row of produces cases and was greeted by the familiar red and green stalks in a black styrofoam tray neatly wrapped with plastic wrap. I was so happy, I bought two. Plus, it turns out that the Fresh Seasons Market has a great wine & cheese selection, yummy chocolate and all of my favorite imported cookies. I will definitely be going back.

Back to the brownies, or bars as they should be called. These went together really quickly without much fuss. They reminded me of the rhubarb bars that my mom used to make when we lived on the farm in Minnesota. We had these overachieving rhubarb plants down the hill by this big oak tree. We always had more than could possibly be used, so we ate a lot of rhubarb bars and pie. Just for the record, my mom's recipe was better because there was this crunchy, sugary crust that formed on the top during cooking, which was the best part.

These had to cook for an extra 20 minutes because they were still really gooey after the first 30. They went on top of the fridge to cool and I went out for a drink. The powdered sugar was added in the morning and it was off to the library for the taste test.