“The world’s favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.”
– Edwin Way Teale
You guys, it’s MAY!!!!!! May and September are tied for my favorite months on Nantucket. Spring really starts to pop on the island in May. The trees are just blooming and violets and other flowers start popping up through the mossy green grass. And most importantly rhubarb is back! I love love love this tart spring vegetable. Yes, rhubarb is a veggie, but it likes to be paired with sweet ingredients which take the edge off its lip-puckering tartness. These vegan rhubarb curd bars with gluten free shortbread cookie crust do just that, and are the perfect treat for the month of May, especially on Mother’s Day {nudge, nudge}.
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Veganizing Curd
Over Easter I made 2 traditional pavlovas with dairy-free passion-fruit curd, which btw were amazing, and since, I’ve been dying to try to veganize lemon curd to make lemon bars. Well, I slightly veered off-course and went for rhubarb curd instead of lemon curd, and I’m not mad about it. I have made a different method of rhubarb curd before in this Vegan Meringue & Rhubarb Curd Cake, but this new version is closer to real curd made with eggs, and it is not made with any non-dairy milk.
Instead I use that magical ingredient aquafaba for it gelatinous qualities, plus tapioca flour (or starch) to thicken and a pinch of agar agar to help set the curd. This combination helps produce a very close consistency and texture to true curd. But my favorite part is the addition of virgin coconut oil at the very end, which replaces the butter in traditional curd. The virgin coconut oil creates a silky smooth finish and adds a wonderful flavor to the rhubarb. I used coconut oil when making the traditional passion-fruit curd I mentioned above and it had the same effect on the taste. Just amazing.
These vegan rhubarb curd bars have a little bit of strawberries added mainly for color. You could swap them for more rhubarb but the color will be quite muted from what you see in these photos. Plus strawberry is a natural flavor pairing for rhubarb and works wonderfully in this recipe. I’m still going to try making a lemon curd and will keep you posted on those results because lemon meringue pie needs to happen this summer!
A GF Shortbread That’s Not Short on Flavor
This shortbread cookie crust recipe is so simple and the addition of vanilla and lemon zest create a wonderfully flavored cookie crust. Now this shortbread is gluten free because I used a gluten free 1:1 flour mix but you could use regular all-purpose flour instead. I think for shortbread gluten free flours work very well because your not adding any leavened, and the flavor was fine. Since we don’t bake the curd in these vegan rhubarb curd bars the shortbread crust is baked fully before topping it with curd.
A little trick I discovered to help the curd join to the crust as it sets is to lightly scrape the top of the still warm crust to roughen it up a bit. If you’ve ever taken a pottery class think of it as scoring two pieces of clay that you want to join.
This shortbread cookie recipe is a great basic method to add other flavorings to such as lavender or rose, almond or orange, etc. I would definitely make this recipe again on its own and cut the pressed batter into rectangles before baking. These shortbread cookies are perfect for dunking in your tea or coffee.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas and mother-figures out there! You are all incredible and deserve to be celebrated! Treat your mama well, guys!
xx Kaity
Vegan Rhubarb Curd Bars
Ingredients
- for the Rhubarb Curd3 cups chopped rhubarb 1" pieces
- 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries for color
- 3/4 cup organic sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup aquafaba *see notes
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot or cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon powdered agar agar *see notes edited from original recipe
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
- powdered sugar for dusting
- for the Crust:1 cup 1-to-1 gluten free baking flour or all-purpose flour for gluten version
- 1/2 cup organic sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher
- 1/2 cup or 1 stick vegan butter alternative softened
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened non-diary milk such as soymilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Prepare CrustPreheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease the bottom and all sides of an 8"x8" square pan with vegan butter or shortening. Cut 2 pieces of parchment to 8"x16" which will leave about a 2-inch overhang on all sides of the pan to act as handles to lift out the finished bars. Press in one piece of parchment then lightly grease the top of it before laying the second piece of parchment over it in the opposite direction. Greasing the pan and parchment will keep the parchment from sliding around.
- Cream together softened vegan butter and sugar with a stand mixer or hand-held mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in salt, vanilla and lemon zest.
- Than beat in milk.
- Add flour and mix until just incorporated, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stop and scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Press shortbread batter into prepared pan in one even layer.
- Bake at 350˚F for about 30 minutes, until top is lightly golden with slightly darker edges.
- Prepare FillingPrepare the rhubarb curd while crust bakes. Start by softening rhubarb pieces and strawberries with the lemon juice and sugar over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Cook until juices are released and fruit is softened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the fruit and juices to a blender along with aquafaba, tapioca flour and powdered agar agar then blend on high until the mixture is puréed and smooth.
- Rinse saucepan to get rid of any fruit bits.
- Transfer rhubarb pureé back into saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking constantly for 5 minutes to activate the thickening agents from the agar and agar and tapioca flour. Mixture should be thick and smooth.
- Set aside until crust has finished baking.
- Assemble Bars:When crust has finished baking, remove the pan from oven and place it on a cooling rack.
- Lightly scrape the top of crust with a fork to roughen it up a but. This will help the curd join to the baked crust.
- Whisk rhubarb curd one more time then pour and spread the curd over the still warm shortbread crust.
- Cool at room temp for about 10 minutes before transferring the bars to the refrigerator to chill and set for at least 4 hours or overnight. *Edited to add: If curd is not setting up firmly then pop the pan in the freezer for firm bars before cutting them.
- Remove chilled bars from the baking pan by first loosening the parchment from the sides and then lifting up the parchment paper overhangs.
- Transfer to a cutting board then cut chilled bars into squares, rectangles or triangles, wiping the blade with a damp warm towel between each cut.
- Dust with powdered sugar right before serving. Serve immediately or keep them refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Keep leftovers covered and refrigerated for up to 1 week or freeze in freezer-safe bags or containers for up to 6 months. Defrost in refrigerator before serving.
Notes
- Aquafaba is the leftover liquid from cooking chickpeas or the liquid from canned chickpeas. It should be very gelatinous when chilled. If using leftover chickpea cooking liquid from cooking dried beans, you may have to reduce it further.
- Agar Agar is a sea vegetable that acts as a gelling agent similar to gelatin.
- I used tapioca flour (or starch) as I prefer the taste but arrowroot powder or organic cornstarch should work in a similar fashion as a thickener.
- The virgin coconut oil adds a beautiful flavor to this curd and I highly recommend to use it in this recipe, but you could also use a vegan butter alternative if you prefer.
- You can try this recipe in a 9"x13" rectangle pan but might need to make 1.5x the crust recipe. The amount of curd should be plenty, but will result in a thinner layer.
Prop Love: Table linen by Nade Studio. Small blue striped dish by CMB.
Lucy Porter
You say that the Aquafaba should be very gelatinous when chilled… should we chill it before using, then?
Kaity Farrell
Hi Lucy, Thanks for your question! It’s not necessary to chill the aquafaba beforehand, but if using homemade aquafaba it may help to chill it to know that the consistency is right. If using it straight from canned chickpeas then it should be fine. xx Kaity
Mary
Sad. They’ve been in the fridge for seven hours and are still not firm enough to cut up.☹️
Kaity Farrell
Hi Mary,
So sorry you had trouble with the recipe. I’ve made a few edits above which will help. Add more agar agar powder to help them set better. You can pop them in the freezer before cutting to get clean edges. xx Kaity
Kaity Farrell
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