Rhubarb Crumble Muffins

At the beginning of the year I had a target in mind about what I wanted to achieve this year regarding my blog and how it can grow. The number one target for me was the consistency of blog entries after realising the number of entries dropped off last year and I want to aim to at least equal the number of posts from 2011. My second target is to include more recipes and tutorials or at least share my experiences and how I go there so others can try them out too. I realised today is the last day of the month and I could easily squeeze in another entry in for January…. Go me!

I love rhubarb and I never use it as much as I like (though at £3 for a 400g bunch at Sainsbury’s, it is not the cheapest ingredient), so when I saw this recipe on BBC Good Food claiming it was only 213 calories per muffin it seemed to good to be true. I also decided to check the calories on the Calorie Count Recipe Analyser to see how many calories it amounted to on their data and as I had made 16 instead of 12, the calorie total came to 166! Amazing - a perfect January treat.



Rhubarb Crumble Muffins 

from BBC Good Food

Makes 12 

  175g caster sugar
    175g rhubarb, halved lengthways then diced
    2 tbsp sunflower oil
    1 free range egg
    1 tsp vanilla extract
    125ml buttermilk
    200g plain flour
    1 tsp baking powder
    1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Crumble Topping
    50g light muscovado sugar
    50g plain flour
    25g porridge oats
    1 tsp ground cinnamon
    50g butter

Heat oven to 220C/200C fan and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases. Or I used slighty smaller cases, i.e. fairy cake size to make 16.

Stir the sugar and rhubarb together and set aside while you make the crumble topping.

Mix together the muscovado sugar with the flour, oats and cinnamon, then rub in the butter until clumpy with your fingertips.

Stir the oil and egg, vanilla and buttermilk into the sugary rhubarb (don't worry if it's a little bit juicy). Now, add the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and stir well.

Quickly spoon into the cases, then scatter each with a thick layer of the crumble mixture. Bake for 15-18 mins until golden and a cocktail stick poked into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Happy Baking x