I made this recipe this past weekend, with the first rhubarb out of our garden. Dad’s Aunt Florence heard about it on Facebook, and wanted to know what it was, so here’s the recipe! Kudos to Dad’s Aunt Betty from the other half of his family for the recipe. I guess this recipe goes hand in hand with the other Deutsch tradition this week (the whoopie pies), since this is a Mennonite dish.

Pastry
Mix in food processor (can be done by hand, if you roll that way):
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup lard (or shortening)
1 tsp salt

Add all at once: 2 eggs + enough milk to make 3/4 cup liquid.

Pulse a few times until dough comes together, forming ball by hand if necessary.

Assembly
Roll 1/2 of the dough into 11×15″ pan. I’m lazy, so I just press it into the pan. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp minute tapioca.

Combine 1 cup sugar with 2 tbsp tapioca, and sprinkle over base. Spread 4-5 cups finely chopped rhubarb over sugar. Sprinkle with 1 cup sugar and 1 tbsp tapioca. Cover with remaining pastry. Again, I’m lazy, so I don’t roll it, I break it up into little bits with my fingers and spread it more or less evenly over the top.

Topping (this is the best part)
Combine:
1/2 cup margarine (unsalted butter won’t hurt here)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups sliced almonds
1 pkg Dr Oetker’s vanilla sugar (using a whole package even if you’re halving the recipe won’t hurt here, either)

Cook gently 2 minutes or use microwave (basically to melt the butter and get it all nice and mixed). Spread over platz.
Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, then 300 for another 30-40.

Excuse me while I go dig a piece out of the fridge and warm it up a touch.