Name: Spiced Rhubarb Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; ¾ cup granulated sugar; 2 ½ tsp. baking powder; 1 tsp. ground cinnamon; ½ tsp. ground cardamom; ½ tsp. baking soda; ½ tsp. salt; 1 cup sour cream; 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly; 2 large eggs; 1 tsp. vanilla extract; 2 cups diced rhubarb (about 2 medium stalks)

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These Spiced Rhubarb Muffins are moist and tender, with sweet-tart juicy bursts of flavor from the rhubarb and warm, spiciness and aroma from cinnamon and cardamom.

The muffins are an easy baking project, as there is very little prep and you do not need an electric mixer. The muffin batter comes together in 10 minutes.

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Essential Ingredients
How to make the recipe
Recipe Tips
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Spiced Rhubarb Muffins
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Essential Ingredients

Rhubarb: Trim off the ends and any bits of leaves still attached. While the huge ruffled leaves of the rhubarb plant are truly impressive, they’re not for eating. They contain oxalic acid, a toxin that should not be ingested in large amounts. Peel the fibrous exterior only if it’s very tough. Cut rhubarb as you would celery, into slices or small dice, depending on the recipe.,

Sour cream: Adding sour cream to the batter makes these muffins tender and moist. Because sour cream has a high content, it also adds richness. It’s okay to using a low-fat sour cream instead of full fat, but not fat-free.

Eggs: The eggs provide structure, leavening, and flavor to these muffins. The recipe calls for large eggs, which is standard for most baking recipes.

Baking powder: The baking powder provides leavening, which lightens the muffins. It is activated by moisture, so it’s imporant not to let the batter sit, rather get it into the oven immediately.

How to make the recipe

1. You can make either 12 standard-size muffins or 6 jumbo muffins with this recipe. I like to line muffins pan cups with paper or foil baking cups, which keeps them from sticking to the pan and they can be easily removed. I like to use 2 paper cups per muffin, as the first can get saturated from the batter.

2. It’s important to whisk together the dry ingredients, in this case the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. This will evenly disperse the ingredients.

3. Next, whisk together the wet ingredients (sour cream, butter, eggs, and vanilla) until smooth. Again this Add the sour cream mixture into the dry ingredients with a spatula until the batter just comes together; do not overmix.

4. Gently stir in the diced rhubarb. The batter will be thick.

5. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, filling them almost full. I like to use an ice-cream scoop for this.

6. Bake until the centers are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes for standard size and 25 to 30 minutes for jumbo.

7. Transfer to a rack and let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the muffins to the rack and let cool. Don’t leave the muffin in the pan longer than 5 minutes, as the heat will begin to steam them and they will get soggy.

8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Tips

How to choose rhubarb: Look for firm, crisp, unblemished stalks with a bright color. The color of the stalks can range from green streaked with pink to deep red, depending on the variety and the way it was grown. Therefore, the color is not always an indicator of the stalks being ripe, but the fresher the stalks, the more color they will have. Also look for thinner stalks, as larger ones may be stringy and tough.

How to store rhubarb: Wrap the stalks tightly in plastic and refrigerate them for up to five days. You can also freeze sliced or diced rhubarb in plastic bags for up to six months. Frozen rhubarb tends to release more liquid and doesn’t hold its shape as well as fresh rhubarb, so use it where texture is not essential, such as in muffins.