Celebrating Sunshine & Playing Outside in Mississauga!

A good friend invited my kids and I over to her house to pick rhubarb. She had too many plants and could not use all of her spring crop. What a delightful activity on a sunny afternoon for the kids! They had so much fun peeking under the giant rhubarb leaves and deciding which stems were fat enough to pick.  The Moms did the slicing, separating out the leaves from the stems which we used later to bake rhubarb muffins. I loved seeing the funny faces the kids made as they licked the stems and sampled the sour taste straight from the garden. Note: With rhubarb, be sure to steer clear of the leaves which are known to be harmful.

Later the same afternoon we whipped up a batch of these delectable muffins. I substituted applesauce for oil & plain yogurt for the buttermilk in the original recipe I found – yummy and a healthier option!

Do you have any favorite rhubarb or other spring recipes to share? Feel free to post one on my Facebook fan page  or leave a comment below.

Ingredients
2-1/2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour (or combine)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped rhubarb

Topping
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp butter , melted
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preparation

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, blend sugar with applesauce then whisk in egg, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients along with rhubarb just until flour is incorporated. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin pan, filling two thirds full. For the topping combine the butter, sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top (optional). Bake in 350 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
Let cool completely before storing in air-tight container, or freeze as these did not last long in my house!

Note:  the addition of yogurt and applesauce make for a denser and moist texture, do not store these until they are fully cooled or the texture could be affected.

They disappeared quickly!