brown sugar rhubarb muffins

I’m officially out of the post-play slump. Things that have helped:

*The sun! It stopped raining after nearly an entire month of soppy weather. Now it’s hot and muggy, my left foot is swollen, the lawn needs mowed every other day, and I’m taking the kids to the pool this afternoon. Hip-hip.

*Rehearsals for the next play have started! In my down moments, I once again have lines running through my head. And you know what? I love the constant bubbling of words in my brain. It’s comforting, in a jittery sort of way.

*The strawberries are coming! Last night was the first full-patch picking. With four of us working together, it wasn’t such a big deal. 

*Consistent morning runs with a non-fussy husband! In fact, so a-okay is he with running that he goes on runs on my days off, crazy guy.

*I’m back to writing. Note the absence of an exclamation point. I feel like a fish out of water after a couple months off. I look at the pages I’ve written and my head feels like it’s cracking in half. Pure torture. So I…

*Started a writing group! I checked in with a writer friend to see if she had interest and before I knew it, I had a group of eight, super-smart, super-intimidating writer people who are going to be squinting their eyes at my very not-polished work. This is bad because SCARY. But also good because MOTIVATION.

*New recipes! Actually, all of May was a good month for recipes. (I’m still dreaming of butter chicken, and I’m gearing up to make this salad again.) Among the winners was a new rhubarb muffin recipe that caused me to eat more than I should have. In other words, success!

I realize there’s already a rhubarb muffin recipe on the blog, but hey, that was five years ago. It’s time for a new take, right? Besides, one can never have too many muffins. (And this one is easier than the other recipe to make. Tastier, too, I think.)

Cool thing: if you don’t over mix the batter, the brown sugar stays in little clumps and then dissolves in the oven’s heat, leaving the muffins speckled with little pools of caramely sweetness.

Brown Sugar Rhubarb Muffins
Blog reader Susan alerted me to this recipe which comes from Mel’s Kitchen.

for the batter:
2½ cups flour
1¼ cups brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups rhubarb, chopped small
½ cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour milk (or buttermilk)
1 recipe crumbs (see below)

Stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. It’s okay if there are little lumps of brown sugar. Add the rhubarb and toss to coat.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine, taking care not to over mix.

Divide the batter into greased (or paper-lined) muffin tins (don’t over-fill them like I did—makes them nearly impossible to dump out afterward), sprinkle with the crumbs, and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the tins. Serve warm, though leftovers are excellent, too.

for the crumbs:
¼ cup each flour and brown sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon oil

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mash together with a fork.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (6.1.15), small pasta with spinach and bacon, and three reds fruit crumble.