My day with muffins

It always amazes me how when spring rolls around each, um, spring, there is a whole new slew of rhubarb recipes that crop up right along with the elephant eared-topped red stalks that shoot up out of the ground, and I can never seem to get to all of them. (The recipes, that is, not the rhubarb. I can get to the rhubarb, no prob.)

A number of conclusions can be made regarding this rhubarb phenomenon:
1. I like rhubarb.
2. I read lots of recipes.
3. I cook lots of rhubarb.
4. I ought to grow more rhubarb.

Numbers one through three are constants and will not be changed. I’m working on number four, but it’s been a struggle since five of my six new plants died upon planting. They confused their planting with a burial, I’m afraid.

So I’m picking my rhubarb patch heavier than I ought to be, probably, and we are enjoying rhubarb all sorts of different ways.

Today I put a bunch of rue-barbies into muffins. I got the idea from Deb, but then subbed in my standard muffin recipe which is, by the way, THE BEST MUFFIN RECIPE EVER I kid you not. And I will defend my claim till the day all my teeth fall out and I can no longer bite into a muffin WHICH WILL BE NEVER because the muffins are so tender and moist that I’ll be able to gum them just fine, though I might have to pass on the hard add-ins like chocolate and nuts.

Good grief, what is this post coming to? I’m supposed to be talking about delicious, springy rhubarb and instead I’m yammering on and on about burials and my teeth falling out. I am so very sorry. Let’s press on, shall we?

[inhales deeply, squares shoulders]

So I got the idea for the muffins from Deb, yeah. I used her streusel recipe which turned out to be absolutely fantastico, crunchy crumbly and not too sweet. My daughter asked if I could just bake up a pan of the streusel so she could eat it straight up. Which makes me think, now that I pause to think, the baked streusel would probably be an excellent topping for oatmeal or as an add-in, along with some dried fruit, for a bowl of cornflakes.

And I’m thinking of signing up for pinterest. (Oops. I should’ve given you a heads-up that a Random Thought was brewing. Sorry. Again.) Anyone out there a pinner of interesting things? Ought I do it? Is it a waste of time? I’m asking for a little feedback here. Do oblige me, please.

This post is kind of like my day with these muffins has been. I set up the stuff to make the muffins, I slept, I baked the muffins, I fed the kids, I ate a muffin, I read to the kids, I ate another muffin, I oversaw chores, I ate a muffin (but just a half this time), I fancied up my toenails, I made lunch, I ate lunch, I ate anther muffin…

See, the muffins are the background for everything else that’s going on, just like how the bits about the muffins are background for all my other random thoughts.

I even gave up my afternoon donut to have a muffin. (Which was the muffin I ate after lunch, lest you think I ate TWO muffins after lunch, which I didn’t.) (Yet.)

If anything could speak highly to these muffins, that last line is it. In fact, I probably could have scratch the preceding gibberish and just written that line and you all would get the message loud and clear.

So let’s try again:

Blog Post Take Two

Look at this muffin, will ya? Do you see it, a-way down there? Yes?


I gave up my afternoon donut for this muffin. Yes! It’s true! I wanted a whole-grain MUFFIN over a devily delicious DONUT!

Wow, and the end.

Except it’s not (sigh) because I have to say one more thing. These muffins are really the perfect breakfast muffin because they’re packed with oatmeal and whole wheat and only ever-so slightly sweet. The touch of tart from the rhubarb and the crunch from the streusel put them over the top.

And they put anyone who tries to talk about them over the top, too, as evidenced by this wacko post.

Love you lots,
The Muffin Lady

Rhubarb Streusel Muffins
Inspired by Deb (the streusel recipe is hers, only slightly tweaked)

Streusel:
½ cup flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch each of salt and nutmeg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine the dry ingredients, add the butter, and stir with a fork. Set aside.

Mix up one batch of my basic oatmeal muffin recipe and stir in 1 1/4 cups chopped (fairly small) rhubarb.

Divide the batter between 12 greased, or cupcake-lined, muffin tins and top with the streusel. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This same time, years previous: caramel cake