Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Rhubarb, Year Two

What I'm eating: Coffeemamma's Rhubarb Muffins, made out of the skinny little fresh rhubarb stalks from our garden. We put the plant in last year (actually more than one, but this is the survivor), but it produced nothing all last summer. This spring it started getting leaves very early, and I managed to get enough from it today to make a double batch of the muffins that we never got to try last year. (See Coffeemamma's comment on last year's post; the comments in the recipe are hers as well.) (Update: Coffeemamma has been taking a break from blogging, for various very good reasons, but she's posted a Blue Castle Update today.)

Sour Cream Rhubarb Muffins

Blend these together in a small bowl:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Stir these ingredients together:
1 1/3 cup flour (I have successfully substituted 1 cup unbleached, 1/3 cup whole wheat)
1 cup diced rhubarb
2/3 cup brown sugar (or raw cane sugar)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Stir in sour cream mixture until moistened (batter will be thick).
Drop large spoonful into 12 greased muffin cups or paper-lined muffin cups.

In small bowl, combine these ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. melted butter

Spoon this over batter (or lightly brush muffins with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon if you have a jar on hand). Bake muffins at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. (A note from the Treehouse: you might want to put a cookie sheet under your muffin pans just in case of drips--the sugar mixture bubbles a bit.)

I always double this recipe, and they are still gone the same day they are made ;-) Enjoy!

9 comments:

Leslie Noelani Laurio said...

Thanks for the update on Coffeemama. Uncle Dewey looks very distinguished at the head of the table!

Mama Squirrel said...

I never thought about it looking like he's at the dinner table...actually it's worse than that. Dewey was doing the Garfield thing in a big armchair, playing with the remote and listening to Lena Horne at the same time (while scarfing a bowl of banana chips). We took that picture back before there were any Squirrelings, when the Fluppet pretty much ruled the roost in the Treehouse. (Did I ever tell you the story about our wedding?) These days he's more likely to be found squished into the toy basket, which isn't very respectful. We still occasionally haul him out for a visit.

The Abarbablog family had a Fluppet too, a skunk named Pepe. He and Dewey used to have a bit of a correspondence thing going, but we haven't heard from him in a long time either. So we want to know: is Pepe still around?

Leslie Noelani Laurio said...

"actually it's worse than that. Dewey was doing the Garfield thing in a big armchair, playing with the remote and listening to Lena Horne at the same time (while scarfing a bowl of banana chips)."

Ah.

No wonder he's the relative you kept hidden for so long. LOL!

Mama Squirrel said...

Dewey has had a rich and varied life. He's been a Sunday School prop (he once told the story of Zaccheus from his own point of view--"I was just sitting up there in my tree, and up comes this man..."); he's acted as a second student during reading lessons (he wasn't very good at it); and he's been the subject of many of Daddy's bedtime stories (about how many different ways he's gotten into trouble, and how many times he's had to run from his Uncle Louie--usually over a large gambling debt).

Kathryn Judson said...

The recipe sounds good. I've linked, in a post with some other rhubarb links.

The Apprentice said...

Uncle Dewey and Daddy had matching ties at the wedding, and when the waitress was taking drink orders he ordered a glass of water...she brought him one.

coffeemamma said...

So how did the muffins turn out? My mom's rhubarb is up in spades, so we'll be making a few batches tomorrow (as well as rhubarb jam, rhubarb bread, and rhubarb upside-down cake ;-)

Mama Squirrel said...

They were great! I got just barely enough from the plant to make the double batch (and I wasn't very nice to it even to take that much); I guess we'll have to wait until it grows back a bit before we can make anything else.

The Apprentice said...

De-lish, coffeemama.