Preserving & Serving the Rhubarb Harvest

I was amazed last week when I opened up my CSA produce box to pull out three super-sized pieces of ruby red celery on steroids like plant called rhubarb. After some research I realized this Northeastern girl has been seriously deprived as I had NEVER ever had rhubarb in any of its forms. Until this year living in the pacific north west.

So I went in search of recipes and preservation methods as I knew our family of four could in no way consume these three massive stalks of rhubarb equal to about 1.25 lbs in one single sitting. Rhurbarb freezes beautifully, so I diced it up into 1/4″ pieces like the way most of us diced up celery for chicken salads and tossed them into a ziplock freezer bag to preserve it and make rhubarb pies, compote, cakes, muffins and rhurbarb pecan sweet bread anytime I wanted. In my search I found this quick, easy and delicious recipe for rhubarb cinnamon muffins that would work great for my husband to take to work for breakfast or a mid afternoon snack! I modified the recipe I found to fit our healthy whole grain and lower fat, flavorful lifestyle.

Here’s my version of the recipe:

CINNAMON RHUBARB MUFFINS

Preparation time: 20 min Baking time: 25 min

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1/2		cup firmly organic packed brown sugar
1/4		cup LAND O LAKES® Light Butter, softened or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1		cup plain, lowfat yogurt or reduced fat sour cream
2		eggs
1 1/2		cups whole wheat organic pastry flour or KA’s organic white whole wheat flour
3/4		teaspoon baking soda
1/2		teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2		cups sliced 1/4-inch fresh or frozen organic rhubarb

Topping Ingredients:

1		tablespoon organic sugar
1/2		teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 375°F. Combine brown sugar and butter in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until mixture is creamy. Add yogurt and eggs; continue beating until well mixed.

Stir together flour, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in medium bowl. Stir flour mixture into yogurt mixture just until moistened. Gently stir in rhubarb. Spoon into greased or paper-lined 12-cup muffin pan.

Stir together 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon mixture on top of each muffin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes; remove from pans.

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