Rhubarb Lemon Buttermilk Muffins

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across some rhubarb at the farmer's market and promptly went home to bake something with it. Once I got home though, I couldn't decide what to make! I contemplated rhubarb fool, strawberry rhubarb pie, and even my tried-and-true rhubarb shortbread bars. And then I saw this. An amazing rhubarb lemon bundt cake, made with buttermilk and a beautiful lemon glaze on top. I was sold.



I decided to adapt this recipe into muffins, mostly because I just really love muffins. They're the perfect size for breakfast, and they pair really well with a great cup of coffee. After trying these particular muffins, I have to say that they are absolutely my new favorite. The batter is insanely good--moist, fluffy, flavorful; it's seriously unreal. If you can't find rhubarb anymore, try fresh strawberries or blueberries! Anything fresh and in-season would be delicious in this batter.

Beware: eating just one of these muffins is very unlikely. Be prepared to eat at least two--they are way too good. :)



Rhubarb Lemon Buttermilk Muffins
Adapted from Honey and Jam

Makes 12 muffins

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 egg
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 cups chopped rhubarb, pieces about 1/4-inch thick

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and beat again, scraping down sides to get everything incorporated. Add flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts. Scrape sides of the bowl again. Fold in rhubarb and then spoon batter evenly into muffin tin.

Bake muffins until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Thanksgiving Recap

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

I thought I'd share a few photos of things we made (and promptly ate) during our holiday break last week:




First, we made these amazing Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. The next time you're with your family for breakfast, I would highly recommend making these. They are incredibly divine and make the transition from breakfast to appetizer just fine (at least in my book)...



Remember when I mentioned that I left all of our Thanksgiving cheese plate ingredients at home? Well, things worked out just fine in the end. The cheeses were all really tasty, and also all American for our American holiday. It was a definite crowd-pleaser!




Finally, Thanksgiving dinner itself. Mmm, I should have taken some leftovers home!

I'm so thankful for family, friends, and new opportunities this season. Hope you had a lovely holiday full of things to be thankful for, too!



Oh, and just incase you want to make those delicious donut holes for breakfast sometime soon (Christmas, anyone?):

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes
from Two Peas in Their Pod

Makes about 24 donuts

Donuts:
1 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

Topping:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves together in a medium bowl. In another larger bowl, add oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk and whisk until smooth. Dump dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray and divide batter among cups (we had a little extra batter and were able to squeeze out about 6 more donuts), filling each one about 3/4 full. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean.

Get out two small bowls to make topping. Melt butter in one, and mix together sugar and cinnamon in another. Once muffins have come out of the oven, let them rest for about two minutes and then roll in butter and then in cinnamon-sugar to coat.

Note: I did not like these nearly as well the next morning; I would highly recommend eating them the same day you make them so they don't get too soggy from the butter coating.

Zucchini Bread Muffins

It's official--summer break is here!

My last day of teaching was Friday (hallelujah!), and break is already off to a great start. In the last two days I've actually had time to read, work out, go shopping, and clean up the apartment, among other things. I can't believe how much time I have on my hands now! Sorry, shouldn't gloat too much; some of you still have to work (Husband)....

Our apartment is looking very different in the last few days; I'm so excited to show you! We got our brand new couch delivered on Saturday, our first big purchase together, and it looks amazing. What do you think? I'm obsessed.



We are also inheriting my grandparents' china hutch that has been in their house for as long as I can remember. I will always remember Thanksgiving days spent around their dining table with the hutch on the wall. I am so glad it's staying in the family; they would be so proud to see it in our place. It arrived last night but hasn't been set up yet. I'll make sure to post a picture as soon as it looks picture-worthy, don't you worry. In the meantime, take a look at our old setup:



Can't wait to show you the new wall asap!

Alright, back to the cooking. I know what you're going to say about this recipe: muffins again?! What can I say, I like muffins! Besides, don't you think Husband would be so happy if I made him some of these for breakfast before I ushered him out the door in the morning? (Hah kidding, I actually miss him lots and hate to see him go.) I'm on a family recipe kick anyway. Go ahead, make them for your family if you have a nice morning off. You won't regret it (they won't, either)!

***By the way, if you haven't done so already, you can now subscribe to Le Man and Wife! Find the "Subscribe" tab on the right side of the page to add our site to your Google Reader list. Hope to see you there!



Zucchini Bread Muffins

3 eggs, well beaten
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup coconut
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine all of the ingredients together. Place in three small loaf pans, two large loaf pans, or a 12-cup muffin tin (greased and floured). Bake at 325 degrees, one hour for bread or 15-20 minutes for muffins. Toothpick will come out mostly clean when done.

"PIG OUT AND ENJOY!!!!" (Direct quote from Diane via text message...)

Update: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hi again!

I told you in this last post that I would give you an update on my banana bread muffins. Well, they were amazing. Note the past-tense. I almost like them more than the bread (again, sorry Grandma)! They made a really nice breakfast this week and tasted awesome warmed up with a pat of butter.



I just used this recipe for the batter, stirred in some chocolate chips, poured into muffin cups, sprinkled turbinado sugar on the top, and baked for 15-20 minutes. Yum!





We're about to jump on the Facebook-page wagon, come and join us once it's up! We'd love to see you there.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Ginger Root Muffins

Husband and I are spending the day in the suburbs with my parents to kick off Spring Break 2011. Plans for the day include sitting around, maybe a trip to Target, more sitting around, and making burgers and fries for dinner (stay tuned for that one). Sounds like a great day to me!

I think I might make these muffins for breakfast on Monday. I made them awhile back and they were so refreshing and satisfying; definitely worth making again. I'm also on this ginger kick ever since I started making Red Bean Curry--it's just so darn delicious.

I have a feeling you'll be hearing more from me this week as I enjoy a full 10 days off of work. Ahh, the joys of teaching...



Ginger Root Muffins
from Orangette

Makes 12 muffins

3 ounces of unpeeled ginger root
3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash ginger carefully to remove any dirt or grime left in cracks. Leaving the peel on, mince ginger as finely as possible. Stir together ginger and 1/4 cup sugar in a skillet over medium heat until sugar has melted.

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Add to ginger mixture. Next, beat butter and 1/2 sugar in a stand mixer until smooth. Add eggs and beat well. Add buttermilk, beating until blended. Then add flour, salt, and baking soda and beat until smooth. Finally, add ginger mixture, mixing well.

Spoon mixture into greased muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Coffee Cake Muffins

Husband and I have recently been talking about the idea of going on a diet of sorts. Whaaaaaat? I know, so unlike us. But if you lived here and watched how much sugar we eat, you might agree with this idea. Now I'm not saying it's going to last, but it might be worth at least trying. We'd like to shoot for only one dessert a week. Think we can do it?

Because I wish we were making these tomorrow morning, I will post them for you to make instead.  Please do, and have one for me.  They are very tasty. 

P.S. I need all sweet things out of my house if this is actually going to work. Someone come and eat my sweets, please.

Coffee Cake Muffins

by Mark Bittman, from How To Cook Everything

Makes 12 muffins

Basic Muffin Batter

3 tablespoons melted butter

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

Topping

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup finely chopped walnuts, pecans, or cashews

2 tablespoons melted butter

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Mix together the dry ingredients listed in the Basic Muffin Batter together in a bowl. Beat the egg, milk, and 3 tablespoons melted butter together in a seperate bowl. Set both aside. 

Next, mix together all of the Topping ingredients.  Stir half of this mixture into the wet ingredients from above, and save the other half to use as actual topping. 

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in. Combine quickly, stirring and folding instead of beating. As soon as the dry ingredients are moistened, stop stirring. Batter should be lumpy and thick. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling each cup 2/3 full. Sprinke topping over each muffin and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let muffins rest for five minutes and then enjoy with a hot cup of coffee. 

Husband and I will be spending our weekend having a photo adventure in the city, enjoying some Intelligentsia coffee, and having dinner at Terragusto with Husband's parents. 

Hope yours is just as lovely!