Makes 12 – 14 muffins
Upside down rhubarb muffin
For the rhubarb:
- (generous) 3/4 pound rhubarb, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced (about 2 1/2 to 3 cups)
- 1/2 cup sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling
Toss the rhubarb and sugar together in a bowl, and let stand (macerate) for about an hour. Drain through a fine strainer, squeezing out as much juice as possible with your hands. (You can save the juice and boil it down to a nice syrup for spritzers or drizzling on anything you like – pancakes, ice cream …..)
Prepare the muffin tin:
Grease the wells in the muffin tin(s) generously with softened butter or shortening, making sure to grease the spaces in between the wells, too. Place a heaping tablespoon of rhubarb into each well, and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar. Heat the oven to 375°.
For the muffin batter:
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup brown or white sugar (I like light brown best in these muffins)
- 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour – unbleached white or part whole wheat (I like white best with the rhubarb)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix the wet ingredients in a large bowl – oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla. Measure the dry ingredients in on top: flour, baking powder, soda, salt. Mix gently but thoroughly, until there are no visible dry ingredients – a few lumps are OK. Spoon or scoop about 1/4 cup of better into each well in the muffin pan – a muffin scoop is really helpful for this. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes until fimr and brown. Cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely.
