About a week ago I did something that I’ve never done before: I bought rhubarb. It’s not that I’d never eaten it before. In fact, I’ve eaten quite a bit of it. I’ve just never actually had to buy it. I grew up yanking stalks of rhubarb from my parents’ backyard, just beyond our swing set. I don’t remember my mom growing many edible things in our backyard garden, but back along the fence a big patch of rhubarb would spring up each year. My parents moved out to our farm when I left for college, and as luck would have it there’s a big rhubarb plant there as well. It always seems to work out that I go home at some point during rhubarb season,so we’ll eat a rhubarb crisp and then on the morning of my departure my mom lets me cut as many stalks of rhubarb as I want. Even though I was planning on coming home this week and have all of the free rhubarb I can eat, I could not resist a handful of rosy stalks at my co-op last week.
When rhubarb season comes around I usually go with the old standby: rhubarb crisp. While rhubarb crisp is absolutely delicious, I was ready to try something else this year. I scoured the internet for rhubarb dishes and after seeing dozens of recipes involving a bed of chopped rhubarb under a crumbly, sugary topping I finally found something a little different. These muffins are a great way to use up some rhubarb and not feel incredibly guilty about it. Yes they have sugar and butter, but anything made with rhubarb requires sugar and a life without butter is not worth living. They also contain a nice dose of oatmeal and yogurt, and I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that the healthy ingredients cancel out the unhealthy ones.
Rhubarb Oatmeal Muffins
Adapted from Winos and Foodies
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk or cream*
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup brown sugar (double this if you prefer sweeter muffins)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
*You will probably need more than this, but I’m not quite sure on the amount. If you don’t have milk/cream you can substitute buttermilk or water.
Combine the oats, yogurt, and cream in a large bowl. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
While the yogurt and oats are hanging out, chop up a cup to a cup and a half of rhubarb, mix it with a bunch of sugar (more than you see in this picture) and bake it at 350 for 10 minutes, or until it starts to soften.
Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.
Add the egg, melted butter, and vanilla to the oat mixture, and stir to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Fold in a cup of the cooked rhubarb. The batter was really dry before I added in the rhubarb, so I poured in a little water (maybe 1/2 cup?) until it was closer to waffle-batter consistency. I’m guessing this was due in part to the fact that I used Greek yogurt, which is thicker than regular yogurt. If your batter is dry, add a little water or milk until the mixture is moist, trying not to overmix. I realize this breaks the cardinal rule of baking muffins – not overmixing – but they turned out alright, so it couldn’t have been too bad for them.
Scoop the batter into a lined or greased muffin pan.
Top with any leftover rhubarb and a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar.
Bake at 350 for maybe 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
