I don’t know if everyone has a church cookbook, but I strongly recommend them. Along with recipes for coffee to serve 250 people, there are some gems that cannot be found in your standard Betty Crocker or Joy of Cooking.

A couple of months ago, Jonathan and I had a delightful potluck supper at the Sammamish Grange, which included, among many other things, a freshly baked rhubarb pie. I never really enjoyed rhubarb as a child, but this was amazing! I kept thinking about the delicious tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the crust and thought we needed some rhubarb at our house too. Yes, rhubarb  is sold in the store, but I’m cheap and I know that people around here also grow it in their yard. One quick phone call to my Momma and I had a grocery sack of rhubarb in my refrigerator.  Last week, I was missing my friend April dearly. April makes the best bars in the whole wide world. I was looking through the 125th Anniversary of First Lutheran Church of Ogema, WI cookbook (which my mom snagged from my Aunt Dottie) and found a recipe for Rhubarb Dream Dessert Bars. Perfect!

Here is the recipe:

2 c. flour
8-10 T confectioner’s sugar
1 c. margarine (I use butter because margarine freaks me out, but this is really up to you)
1.5 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t salt
4 eggs, beaten
4 c. diced rhubarb

Mix the flour, confectioner’s sugar and margarine together like a pie crust. Save about one cup for the topping. Pat the rest into a 9×13″ pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Mix together the sugar, flour, salt and eggs. Stir in the rhubarb and spread over the crust. Sprinkle on the topping and bake for an additional 35 minutes.
(Big thanks to Victoria Nelson and Rhonda Cummings for submitting this to the church cookbook!)

Here’s the final result:

  I liked them so much I just took another batch out of the oven. If you happen to work with Jonathan, there’s a good chance this could be your breakfast in the morning.

Three cheers for the church cookbook. It may not be as hip or fashionable out here where we’re all connected to each other through the internet, but sometimes what you need is a recipe from Victoria Nelson and Rhonda Cummings.