It’s time for another round of Mystery dessert recipe. This is what I was given to work with:
It’s a list of ingredients, some of which are mentioned twice, but all have measurements and a notation on the bottom that says 15 min 350°.
When I first read this recipe, I assumed it was going to be some sort of crumble or crisp. Maybe a cake with a struesel type top? I scanned it in and filed it away noting it as “Rhubarb Cake”. I figured that was a pretty safe bet. However, in re-examining the recipe after having made Rhubarb Dream Dessert, I realized that it was nearly the same recipe. I’ve posted that one below for easy reference:
The differences were seemingly minimal enough that I decided to make the “secret” recipe the same way I made the Dream Dessert. I prepared a crust with the flour, powdered sugar and butter (I didn’t use margarine) and baked it in a half sheet pan for 15 minutes at 350°. There appeared to be no difference. 
I toasted some walnuts and combined the rest of the ingredients. I poured them on top of the baked crust. Because I had no further instructions, I followed the instructions on the rhubarb dream dessert and put the the pan back in a 350° oven for 35 minutes. (I also just remembered that those were the instructions and didn’t reference the original recipe). So I didn’t quite realize the differences that were going to happen, other than the addition of the nuts. I was hoping that the nuts added a nice texture to a wonderful dessert. And I wasn’t disappointed in the nuts. 
The unknown dessert, however, was not what I expected. Apparently a little less sugar, a little more flour and some baking powder makes a big difference. Where the rhubarb dream dessert was custardy and creamy, this was more like a thin, slightly dry cake sitting on top of pie crust. It lacked the the luxurious quality of the dream dessert. It was still tasty and had I not eaten the Rhubarb Dream dessert first, I would’ve been completely satisfied with this. 
That’s the sort of thing that happens when we deal with the unknown. Sometimes things seem to have so much potential. Maybe it’s new brand of shampoo that you think will make your hair shinier and give you more volume. Maybe it’s a new job that looks like a lot of fun. Maybe it’s that new lover. Sometimes it works out the way you expect, sometimes it doesn’t. This time, while it wasn’t what I was expecting, it wasn’t bad, either. It was actually rather good. Just not what I was expecting.
If I was only going to make one of these desserts again, I think I’d make the Rhubarb Dream Dessert and maybe just add nuts to that one.
For other mysterious recipes check out these mystery cookies, or this unknown recipe.
The Rhubarb Dream Dessert was wonderful! Even doubling it worked beautifully to put in a 9 x 13 pan. My family all loved it!!
I’m so glad that this recipe worked out for you! I loved it, so it makes me extra happy that someone else does also!
I love seeing actual handwritten recipes. I can almost picture the first recipe being hurriedly jotted down at a family gathering or pot luck dinner.
When I first started collecting my great-grandma’s recipes, I wanted to preserve the integrity of having them handwritten. I spent a lot of time with the scanner getting all of them in there.
What? No whipped cream? 😉
Yeah, I was not thinking.