I love rhubarb. I love the tartness of it and I love the way it pairs with strawberries. I saw fresh rhubarb cropping up around the farm stands a couple of weeks ago and finally got to buying some. I decided to try something new with the ol' strawberry rhubarb combination and make muffins instead of the usual cobbler. I adapted this recipe from a Robin Hood flour recipe to make it somewhat healthier. I like these muffins, but I don't know that I love them. The texture was great, but they needed more rhubarb. My husband really enjoys them, but the little one only likes to eat the top, which isn't her usual style. I would like to try it again using actual buttermilk instead of the vinegar in milk thing that I commonly do, but really, who keeps buttermilk on hand? Oh, and I think fresh strawberries would've been better, but frozen worked fine. I'm just being picky.
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax seed (flaxmeal); we use TA foods flaxmeal, which is in a red bag and can be found at Real Canadian Superstore. Bobs Red Mills is okay for just peanut allergy but not tree nut allergy and Nature's Path recently started labelling for peanut cross contamination.
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup melted margarine
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1 tbsp vinegar, that has sat for five minutes)
1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb (I used the food processor because I'm lazy like that)
3/4 cup chopped strawberries
Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Mix dry ingredients together in one bowl. In separate bowl, combine margarine, egg, buttermilk, strawberries and rhubarb. Add dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Scoop batter into paper lined or silicone muffin cups and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when done. Makes 18.
