Rhubarb and strawberries, although a classic combination, is a combination that is relatively new to me and up until a few weeks ago, was something that I’d never even tasted despite noticing its increasing popularity within restaurants and throughout the pages of food magazines.
Growing up in New York City, it wasn’t necessarily an ingredient you saw lining the supermarket shelves, but having recently gotten my hands on a few stalks, my curiosity piqued, and I decided to give this strange ingredient a try.
To me, it visually resembled celery, so I couldn’t imagine how it would taste in something sweet, and after giving a raw piece a few nibbles and being met with a bitter, almost acrid taste, I was still skeptical about how this would all go down, but I’m so happy that I did give it a try because this stuff is so amazingly delicious!
Mixed with the sugar and strawberries, and cooked down into a pretty pink sauce, it truly is the perfect combination of sour and sweet. I was actually quite surprised that it could taste so good! Pairing it with a creamy cheesecake seemed like the next best thing, so I did just that, and the flavors worked so well together. I also decided to mix things up just a bit and made the crust out of crushed Speculoos cookies and boy, I couldn’t get enough! I am now proud to call myself a rhubarb fan.
So the moral of the story is even if an ingredient looks a little strange at first, give it a try and it might just become your next favorite thing!
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Strawberry Rhubarb Swirled Cheesecake Squares
Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce
- 4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
- 2 cups of strawberries, halved
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 1/4 cup of water
Cheesecake
- 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
- 1 cup of yogurt (I used siggi’s Plain)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1/2 cup of sugar
Speculoos Cookie Crust
- 5 tablespoons of butter, melted
- 1 7-ounce box of Speculoos cookies
Preparation
- Make the strawberry rhubarb sauce first by adding the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, and water to a sauce pan. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the strawberries and rhubarb have begun to break down.
- Allow to slightly cool and place into a food processor or blender to smoother.
- Preheat the oven to 350Β°F and line a 9×9 square cake pan with parchment paper.
- Place the cookies in a food processor and pulse until fine. Once you’ve done that, place into a large bowl and pour in the melted butter, mixing until the texture is nice and crumbly, almost like wet sand. I didn’t add any extra sugar because the cookies already have sugar in them, but most definitely fell free to adjust to your taste.
- Firmly (but not too firmly!) press the cookie/butter mixture into the bottom of the parchment-lined cake pan and place into the oven to set for about 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
- Add the cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixture and mix until just combined. Add each egg one at a time, mixing into between.
- Pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the cookie crust and smooth using a rubber spatula.
- Now comes the fun part! Dot the cheesecake with strawberry rhubarb sauce and carefully begin to swirl into fun patterns using either a sharp knife or an offset spatula. Clean between each swirl, making sure not to over mix.
- Place the cheesecake into the oven and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, removing from oven and refrigerating at least overnight before cutting into squares.
I’ll be bringing these to share at Fiesta Friday #70 hosted this week by Angie at The Novice Gardener,Β Dini at Giramukβs Kitchen and Mollie at The Frugal Hausfrau. Please come party with us!
24 Comments
apuginthekitchen
May 29, 2015 at 8:21 pmBeautiul cheesecake and I love strawberry rhubarb, it’s classic and delicious.
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 2, 2015 at 5:05 pmYou’re so sweet. Thank you! π
Andrea Giang | Cooking with a Wallflower
May 30, 2015 at 2:38 amThis cheesecake looks soo amazing!
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 8, 2015 at 12:29 pmThank you so much, Andrea! That means a lot π
spiceinthecity
May 30, 2015 at 4:11 amWhoa, these cheesecake squares look brilliant! Love the swirls love the flavors!
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 1, 2015 at 11:48 amThanks so much! I think swirls makes everything better haha π
Jhuls
May 30, 2015 at 5:26 amAny cheesecake with Speculoos sounds really amazing to me. This indeed looks perfect. Happy FF, Justine. π
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 2, 2015 at 5:05 pmI usually do a classic graham cracker crust, but after trying Speculoos, it may be hard to go bacj haha :p Happy FF to you as well!
FrugalHausfrau
May 30, 2015 at 8:26 amI imagine these taste as lovely as they look! It’s funny how the sweeter, softer strawberries work so well with the crisper, tart rhubarb but it’s such a classic combo! Thanks for bringing this along to FF!
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 8, 2015 at 12:26 pmAbsolutely! The strawberries definitely help mellow out the intensity of the rhubarb to create such a wonderful tasting dessert that I can’t get enough of π
Loretta
May 30, 2015 at 10:06 pmJust lovely, it’s good to know that you finally got hooked on rhubarb – yes I imagine it was tough at first, but there’s nothing like a good rhubarb pie, or in this case gorgeous strawberry rhubarb cheesecake squares. Will definitely be trying your recipe, thanks for sharing π
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 4, 2015 at 7:18 pmThanks so much, Loretta! I am definitely a huge rhubarb fan now π
tentimestea
May 31, 2015 at 11:30 pmBeautiful marbled design! I love the colour of the strawberry rhubarb mixture…and I do love speculoos as well π The resemblance to celery does sometimes seem a bit odd, doesn’t it? I suppose that’s why I like the red stalks more…
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 4, 2015 at 7:20 pmHaha, yes! The first ones I worked with were a lot greener than I had seen and they were strange to work with, but luckily once cooked they tasted nothing like celery. Thanks for stopping by! π
Angela | The Chewy Life
June 1, 2015 at 11:00 pmThis is making me drool π
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 8, 2015 at 12:29 pmHaha! Thanks, Angela π
Josette@thebrookcook
June 4, 2015 at 9:31 pmWhat beautiful & tasty squares- the speculoos crust makes me want to try this one for sure π NICE!
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 8, 2015 at 12:28 pmThank you!! They were as fun to make as they were to eat haha π
Hari Qhuang
June 22, 2015 at 3:16 pmIt’s so – if I may borrow my friend’s favorite term – “sex & the city”.
I can totally imagine someone (probably SJP) eating this in a roadside cafe in NYC (though I have never been there!) LOL!
Justine @ Born and Bred in Brooklyn
June 23, 2015 at 10:23 amThat’s such a compliment, Hari! Thank you!! π
Mila
August 3, 2015 at 9:44 amWow! Beautiful! I wish I could try one!
bornandbredinbrooklyn
August 4, 2015 at 10:12 pmThank you so much!
CakePants
August 8, 2015 at 11:16 pmThese cheesecake bars look scrumptious! I bet that speculoos crust is super tasty. And I completely understand your reservations about rhubarb looking like celery – I still think about that every time I use some!
bornandbredinbrooklyn
August 9, 2015 at 11:58 pmHaha! I’m totally a rhubarb fan now, even with it’s funny appearance π And thank you so much for your kind words!