Rhubarb Woodruff Trifle

1h 10m

A fresh and easy go-to summer dessert, spiced up with fresh herbs foraged in-season.

Woodruff can be replaced by verbena, tarragon, or any other fresh herb, preferably one with anise notes or that is very aromatic.

If you aren't able to find any of these herbs, you can just leave them out.

I grew up eating a lot of this kind of dessert, and the rhubarb version is, by far, my favorite.

I wanted to create something that was fast and easy to do for when you have an unexpected guest on a summer day.

Preheat the oven to 170 °C
Add ⅔ cup of all-purpose flour and ½ cup of rolled oats to a plate
Add 5½ tbsp of caster sugar and 5 tbsp of cubed and softened butter
Combine all the ingredients by hand until it forms a homogeneous dough
Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Divide the dough into pieces and place them in the baking pan
Bake the dough for 15m, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool down at room temperature to get crispy
Trim the dirty part at the end and the big green leaf at the top of each stem of 1 bunch of rhubarb. Cut the remaining parts into 2½ cm chunks and transfer to a plate
Add 100 g of caster sugar
Pick ½ tbsp of woodruff leaves and add to the rhubarb and sugar
Transfer the ingredients to a pot over medium-high heat. Cover and let it cook for 5m until the rhubarb starts to release its liquids
Reduce the heat to low, add ¼ cup of water and cook the rhubarb for 14m until it breaks apart and forms a compote. Stir every 2m
Taste and add more sugar if needed. Remove from heat
Add picked woodruff to taste. The rhubarb preserve is ready
Add 200 g of heavy cream to a bowl and whisk into soft peaks to create whipped cream
Plate a portion of the rhubarb compote
Break the dough into pieces and add them to the plate. Top with a portion of the whipped cream
Garnish with picked woodruff leaves to taste. The rhubarb woodruff trifle is ready
Enjoy this fresh summer delight!