Rhubarb Rolls

Tart homemade rhubarb filling in a sweet yeasted roll, with a pink rhubarb glaze on top; these rhubarb rolls are a delight.  (Jump to Recipe) 

I see a lot of things on my daily walks through the city.  Some predictable, and some truly bizarre things.  I walk 30 minutes each way to work every day, so I have a lot of time to witness the ordinary and the mundane, the rote and the routine, but also the extraordinary and downright strange in a city as large as Chicago.

My walk takes me past coffee shops and bus stops, past corporate office buildings and flashy apartment towers, past decrepit empty storefronts and bustling hotels, past construction sites and sidewalk cafes.  I walk next to bankers and lawyers in expensive suits, ladies who lunch in their Lululemon spandex, sunburnt tourists who stop in front of me without warning, gaggles of loud students on field trips, bedraggled homeless people looking for their next meal, cops wandering their beats and getting asked for directions, elderly couples puttering along holding hands, runners training for the marathon, nannies pushing their charges in strollers (and sometimes dog walkers pushing the dogs in strollers), nurses walking home from the night shift, khaki-clad coworkers on their way to a happy hour, musicians trying to make some money on the side, newlyweds in their dresses and tuxes taking photos they’ll have on their walls forever.  I see rich and poor and everything in between, all blending together in the daily chaos of the city.

The bizarre moments don’t always announce themselves loudly; you have to be paying attention.  I once saw a construction worker bend down and casually rinse his hands in a giant street puddle of tepid standing water.  Just yesterday, I saw a well-dressed man walking down the street completely barefoot, clearly having just gone for a run, but not holding any shoes.  I’ve seen grisly-looking homeless men giving directions to tourists; I’ve seen people living in alleyways and abandoned doorways.  Chicago isn’t as jarring of a place as New York, but it has its moments.

Brian and I live above it all in a little box in the sky.  Sometimes it feels strange to live in such a small space amid such a large city.  You know?

Our little piece of Chicago usually looks like this – mixer running, flour everywhere.  This particular occasion concerns a celebration of rhubarb during its very short season.  I feel like rhubarb often gets the short end of the stick because it’s always paired with strawberries, and never the star of the show.  Sure, they’re delicious together, but I want to let the tart flavor of rhubarb shine on its own.

These rhubarb rolls aren’t all that different from rolls we’ve made together before – in fact, if you need step by step photos of how rolled-out dough should look, see my cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing or carrot cake cinnamon rolls.  The difference here is: (1) the method by which we’re making the dough, using the mixer with a dough hook to form that lovely gluten rather than stirring by hand; and (2) we’re making a jam-like puree of cooked-down rhubarb and using it in both the filling and the glaze.  It’s the rhubarb show and I am very pleased with it.

You need to have patience when making sweet rolls.  Yeast needs time to do its magical work with the dough.  Cooking down the rhubarb actually doesn’t take long at all though, and you don’t need to puree it – you just keep stirring and it eventually takes on a smooth, jam-like consistency.  Then we roll out the risen dough, fill with 1 cup of the puree, roll it up, arrange, let rise a little more, and bake!

They’re a little messy, sure, but so is life.  It’s worth it.

Once baked, we mix a little more of the rhubarb puree with powdered sugar and lemon juice to form a lovely pink glaze.  I am obsessed with this natural color!

After the long (albeit therapeutic) process of making these rhubarb rolls, getting to eat them is a serious reward.  Enjoying one of these rolls with a cup of coffee, looking out over this crazy city, is exactly how I want every weekend to be.

I hope you can slow down and give these rhubarb rolls a try before the season ends.  They’re worth every minute!

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