if you don't like these, you probably hate kittens and sunshine too.
Play by Play Baking Muffin Baking Analysis.
10:25am: Aloud, to self, “Rhubarb is weird. It looks like celery, but it smells like candy.”
10:28am: Aloud, to self, “Stupid Ina Garten with her stupid ‘spoon the flour into the measuring cup’.”
10:32am: Aloud, to self, “These raspberries kind of fell apart when I stirred them into the batter. I hope they don’t turn into a raspberry colored swampy mess in there.”
10:33am: (standing on a chair, in a nightgown [yes I have nightgowns, because I am becoming my mother] digging in the baking cupboard) “*$#!@@#! I swore I had cupcake papers in here.”
10:34am: (sounds of copious amounts of Pam being sprayed onto a nonstick muffin pan)
10:35am: Aloud, to self: “This is the most delicious muffin batter on planet earth. Good thing I don’t believe in salmonella because there’s a raw egg in here, and I’m about to eat a bunch of the batter anyway.”
10:47am: Loudly, to self: “These are also the most beautiful muffins on planet earth. I can’t believe how attractive these are. I really hope they don’t stick to the pan and become a sloppy, mutilated berry juice stained failure.”
11:03am: Via Gchat, to Sue: “Dude I just made the greatest muffins on planet earth. I’m going to sell the recipe to Starbucks and make a jillion dollars and then we can go on a world food tour.”
These muffins are light, airy and really fruity. They’re not overly sweet, which makes that brown sugar topping extra important. You could easily sweeten these up by making a powdered sugar glaze, but it would cover up the pretty berries and also I try not to eat a ton of sugar in the morning, and probably so should we all. The most interesting thing about these muffins is that because the raspberries and rhubarb aren’t baked together into a mush (a la strawberry rhubarb pie) you can really taste the distinct fruit flavors. Rhubarb is mostly tart, almost lemony, and the raspberries taste really, really sweet. The yogurt helps the batter stand up to the heavy fruit, and complements it nicely instead of being overpowered by the berry flavor. Also don’t skip tossing the fruit in the flour, if you do, it’ll likely sink to the bottom of the batter and make a gloppy mess.
Raspberry Rhubarb Yogurt Muffins
2 cups plus 2 tbsp flour (2tbsp are for sprinkling on the fruit so it doesn’t sink to the bottom of the muffins)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup (half a stick) butter, room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
3/4 cup rhubarb, chopped (I cut the ends off mine, then cut it once lengthwise, then chopped it into about a half inch dice, see below)
1 cup raspberries (fresh is preferable, but if you use frozen, just keep them frozen until you put them in the batter)
1/4 cup brown sugar (for sprinkling on the tops)
like this. see? rhubarb is weird.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and put cupcake papers in your muffin tin (if you have them, if you don’t, be liberal with the Pam and everything will turn out okay). Put the raspberries and rhubarb in a small bowl with the 2 tsp of flour and toss them gently until the fruit is all covered. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, oil and butter until smooth. Add in the egg, yogurt and vanilla and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet about a third at a time until JUST combined. Don’t overmix. Very gently, fold in the fruit. Put about 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin paper and sprinkle with a little brown sugar.
i wanted to show you how full to make them, but i forgot until after they were in the oven.
Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned on top.
If you wanted to make these and then take pictures of yours too, because they are so so pretty, I wouldn’t blame you.
- Cat
