Rhubarb Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel

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Have you ever eaten Rhubarb?

One of my first recipes on this blog included rhubarb.

After bringing these muffins  to work, I realized this red looking celery plant is not all that well-known.  Not knowing what rhubarb is, also means people don’t “likes” it.  We all know what I am talking about. That weird food that people suddenly say they don’t like, but then proceed to tell you they  have never tried it.

Sure, rhubarb is really tart. Not something I would want to pick up and start chomping on raw, but once baked into something sweet to balance out the tart, you have something fabulous!

These little gems have caught many people off guard. They go in to grab a muffin, half giving me the sideways eye of, “should I really try this?” or “should I walk away and eat this, then if I don’t like it I can throw it away without hurting her feelings?”

Don’t worry. For those of you who gave me that look- I saw it.  I saw it, recognized it, and sat back and waited for you to try it, even if it was not in front of me.  See more times than not, those sideways glances turned into “yum!” or people coming back to see if they can have a second.

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I told you. I wouldn’t lie to you about something delicious. You might think you have a picky palate, but I might be pickier than you.

Really, I do call myself picky. Picky on what I like, and picky on what I will tell people is good.

I will try everything once, I will continue to eat something that doesn’t taste right, or even have it again even if it wasn’t my favorite.  But I am super picky about what I decide to make, call delicious, and what I serve to others. If a recipe doesn’t turn out just the way I want, I won’t serve it.

Recently, I made a batch of cookies and they came out just a little too dry. I refused to share them with anyone. The Boy asked if he could eat them, and I said “sure, but they are really dry!” He didn’t care, he gnawed down 3 of them saying “these are good,” with crumbs falling out of his mouth. He sure isn’t picky.

So if this picky girl offers you a Rhubarb Muffin, you can eat it. Without the “worried” look.

No, I take that back.  Give me the “worried” look. I like seeing the “pleasantly surprised” look that follows your first bite.

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Having grown up in the country, June was always rhubarb season.  You can find crisp, pie, bars, and jam all over the place.   I remember introducing The Boy to it only a few years ago.  He still calls it Rhu-Bar. Can’t seem to quite remember what it is. It really is fair though, this plant is barely in season for a month each year, then gone again for 11 months.

When I was back home visiting and I picked a whole garbage bag of rhubarb. I ended up sitting around all morning with my grandma chopping rhubarb for what seemed like hours.  All the while The Boy was being educated on tractors from my chatty grandfather. A story for another day.

We ended up turning out 14 large jars of jam and one Rhubarb Crisp.  After all of that, I still went home with 16 more cups of chopped rhubarb.

What is a girl to make with all that rhubarb?

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These muffins- that’s what!

I still have about 10 cups awaiting a recipe in the fridge after making these muffins and another Rhubarb Crisp.  The leftover 10 cups are going to go in my freezer, that way I can make a surprise dessert 6 months from now. Remind every one of June and rhubarb season.

Do you have a favorite Rhubarb recipe or are you a Rhubarb virgin?

 

 

Rhubarb Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel 

yields 24 muffins 

  • 1/2 cup butter, soft
  • 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks

Streusel:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg, vanilla and sour cream with an electric mixer.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
  4. Mix dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
  5. Stir in rhubarb chunks. Grease muffin tins or line with paper liner cups and fill with batter.
  6. For streusel, mix together sugar, cinnamon, oats and melted butter. Top each muffin with streusel.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 


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