Rhubarb Crumb Muffins

I've always been a fan of rhubarb. I love it's tangy flavour ... but surprisingly I have never baked or cooked with it.

This year I made a new vegetable garden in my backyard and included a fairly big plant o' rhubarb. As many people know by now, I am lacking (or even devoid of) the patience gene. I was not able to wait until next year for a big enough yield from said rhubarb plant so I bought 2 large stalks of rhubarb this afternoon and went on the prowl for a new recipe to use. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and added some tweaks to it to make it lower in fat yet still have it be a light muffin with tonnes of rhubarb in it.

This is a great muffin that is light, has the tang from the rhubarb and the sweetness from the crumb topping. Next time I'll probably add some oats to the crumb topping for a more stubstantial topping. These are great served slightly warmed.


2 1/2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups rhubarb cut into 1/4-inch thick chunks
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)



Topping
1 tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon



Preheat oven to 350F. Grease or line two 12-cup muffin tins and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, applesauce, oil, egg, vanilla and buttermilk until smooth. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in rhubarb and walnuts (if using).

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling almost to the top.



In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter, white sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle approximately 1 tsp of the mixture on top of each muffin.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until muffin tops spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pans for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 24 muffins

Tip: If you don't have any buttermilk on hand (like me), use 1 cup of milk then add 2 tbsp of white vinegar to the milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes until it looks curdled. Voila! Buttermilk substitute.