Swirly Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins
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Pretty, huh?
Everyone knows that we try to live and eat seasonally. One of the questions that has always vexed us when people proclaim their love for strawberry rhubarb pie is: “who has strawberries and rhubarb ready to harvest in their garden at the same time?” By the time our strawberries are ready (mid-June) our rhubarb has mostly gone to seed. Last year we had a bumper crop of strawberries (a great problem to work through), so we wound up freezing quite a few of them. The issue was that they came so fast and furious that we didn’t have time to de-hull them before freezing. And anyone who’s tried to cut the hull off of a frozen strawberry, well, they probably have a big scar in the middle of their palm.
So we’ve been cooking and sieving our strawberries through our trusty food mill all winter long. We’ve used the sauce on ice cream, scones, and even salad dressings. This past weekend we found one lonely frozen bag left in the bag of the freezer, and we realized we had to use it up before our new strawberries come ripe next week. (Using up last years produce before the new crop is a hard fast rule at the Beekman.) And then we thought – rhubarb! We still have rhubarb left! We can finally make something with a “strawberry rhubarb” prefix. Except pie wouldn’t work, since the frozen berries couldn’t be hulled.
Yes, the leaves of rhubarb are toxic. But you'd have to eat quite a bit of them to experience any grave effect. And we can't think of one good reason why you would eat that many of them.
After a long winter, this is the prettiest color you can imagine.
Since desperation is the mother of recipes, we came up with these Swirly Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins. We imagine that they would work with all kinds of berry sauce, so check the back of your freezer.
(As with most recipes we concoct early in the morning, the measure are approximate. Feel free to use any standard muffin recipe you like, and add the diced rhubarb and strawberry swirl as directed below.)
Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins
For the Muffin:
2.5 C flour
3 large eggs
2.5 t baking powder
1 C sour goat milk (Or buttermilk)
1 t salt
1.25 C sugar
5 T unsalted butter, melted & cooled (though pourable)
3 T vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
2.5 cups diced rhubarb
For the “Swirl”:
3 C frozen strawberries
2 T honey
First, make the “swirl.” Combine berries and honey in a small saucepan over a low heat. When berries being to break down, raise heat until they are fully mushy. Process through a food mill to remove hulls.
Next, begin making the muffin batter. Preheat oven to 425F. Grease one 6-Large Muffin tin, or one 12-Small Muffin tin. (In place of greasing, you may use muffin papers.)
Chop rhubarb stems into small chunks. (Slice stems in half lengthwise before chopping.)
In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
In medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until well combined and light yellow. Add in oil, melted butter, vanilla and sour milk/buttermilk.
Fold the wet mixture into the flour mixture. Then fold in rhubarb chunks. Don’t overmix. Batter should be a little runny and a little lumpy.
Fill muffin tins only 1/3 full with batter. (We use an ice cream scoop for this.) Spoon 1 T of strawberry mixture on top of batter in each cup. Use toothpick or knife point to “swirl” the strawberry sauce through batter.
Next, add more batter mixture on top, filling the cups to 3/4 full. Spoon one more T of strawberry mixture on top, and use toothpick or knifepoint to swirl as before. You may have extra strawberry mixture. Save this for serving.
Place on middle rack in oven and back for approximately 18 minutes. (12 minutes for smaller muffin tins.) Muffins are done when tops are brown and toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean.
Let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack. Serve warm with butter and reserved berry mixture.
These small rhubarb chunks "melt" as the muffins bake.
Taking a little detour to show off our egg yolks. This time of year, with all the bugs and weeding, our chickens produce some of their orangest yokes.
Fill the muffin tins 1/3 full before adding the first "swirl."
The "swirls" start with a dollop of berry sauce mixture.
The actual swirl part comes from using a toothpick or knifepoint to stir the berry sauce into the batter. Just a little bit, or you'll have pink muffins. Then add more batter on top and repeat swirl process on top.
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Rhubarb freezes very well, too!
This is fantastic, but you might want to try a raspberry rhubarb version also. Really good. thanks for the recipe.
A cookbook??!! YAY!!!
Yup. Available for pre-order now on Amazon
Love making your recipes, but is there a way to get a "printer friendly" version?
Hi, Edie
We are working on that functionality. All of our posts will be printer friendly by the time the cookbook comes out this fall
Love the strwberry rhurbarb muffin recipe: Just a idea, my mom who is ninety six made this for my dad and us and it was a hit. Rhurbarb custard pie same recipe for pie excluding jam of course. I enjoy your e-mails much enjoyment for the year Remember our soldiers in your prayers………k
Fantastic muffins!! And I'm sure you know, but the extra strawberry sauce is absolutely delicious on yogurt! Thanks for the recipe, as I too had rhubarb plants needing to be harvested and still 2+ weeks away from the strawberries being ready. This used up the last of the frozen berries from last season
Making them today since it is my day off. Thanks so much for this recipe …I just love strawberry rhubarb jams and pie. Now you have given me another way to have my combo in something small.
Love you guys.
Laurie
Just made these and they were fabulous. My favorite muffin!
Dr.Brent and Josh,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. I love to cook and bake. I especially love trying new ways to be creative with rhubarb since it is only in season for a short time. The muffins are exceptionally moist and flavorful! I look forward to seeing new things from you both.
Thankyou
Charlene
Made the muffins yesterday and they are great! Wonderful instructions which made it so easy to make these muffins. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to get your cookbook.
Hi Guys
I made the muffins tonight….OMG…they are simply wonderful. Last night I made the strawberry sauce and cut the rhubarb, so tonight I just put it all together. Bringing them into work tomorrow as treats to some of my friends and froze the rest.
Keep up the great work!! I love you both..they show..the blogs and your website.
P/S I got soap for a few of my friends for xmas they loved it and so do I..
Josh & Brent:
Just thought you would like another recipe for strawberries and rhubarb. You can make an excellent sauce to put over most anything, ie: ice cream cakes (pound & angel food), etc. Cook both together, like you did for the strawberry sauce, adding enough sugar to take most of the tartness of rhubarb away, add a pinch of salt with it to bring out the flavor and top anything. It sets up in the fridge much like jam. Lasts a couple of weeks, covered in refrigerator. ENJOY!!!
Thanks for sharing, Phil
Just finished the first out of the oven. DELICIOUS! Thanks, guys! I put about five cups of rhubarb in the freezer, so I think I'll be making more of these soon.
Ack, we were away for 10 days and I haven't checked on my rhubarb. I'm pretty sure rabbits or the large raccoon whose been around have eaten any strawberries I had, but I have frozen. Will see if the rhubarb is OK and maybe try this tomorrow!
I am making these this weekend.My dad loves Rhubard and I have always been afraid of it ,I love the taste but I attempted a pie once and it was a pile of mush so I normally purchase them at the farmers market for him.I love that you posted pictures so I can compare my progress with yours.I adore strawberries and I can barely contain my excitment to go strawberry picking this weekend.These are going to be my first recipe when I return.
I have recently married rhubarb with cherries! I got a pint of fresh cherries from my neighbors, boiled and seeded them and then threw the fresh rhubarb in the cherry juice and finished cooking it. I added the sugar a little at a time until it was sweet enough for me. If it's too tart you will never eat rhubarb again and if it's too sweet it's just not good. I am from the land of rhubarb where we did everything with it including rhubarb wine and this was the best I have ever had. Besides I just don't like strawberries, so for people that think strawberries taste more like straw than berries this is a great alternative!
this sounds like a great combo, Sharon
LOVE THEM!! Baked some today and served 'em with the berries and vanilla bean ice cream…big hit! Love finding more uses for my rhubarb. I actually used some blackberries and blueberries with my strawberries…added a lovely tartness
Thank you for this recipe. Our rhubarb has gone nuts this year and we can't use it up fast enough. That and the fact my kids love anything strawberry makes this a winner!
I'll definitely try making these as I have some of last year's berries left in the freezer and I've been obsessed with picking up rhubarb at all the little farm stands around here since it first showed up a couple weeks ago. Rhubarb takes me back to my youth since we had it in the yard. Grandma always had delicious options of what to do with it. I'm about to churn a batch of rhubarb sorbet today. I certainly can't wait to try the muffins. Thanks for posting something new to try.
Very pretty! Like they mean it!
A friend passed this on to me knowing how much I love Rhubarb and the Beekman Boys! Hope to find some rhubarb at the local farmer's market!
Those muffins look yummy. Makes me wish I was more of a cook. But your eggs look amazing. I'm now hungry for eggs.
Could you make them without the rhubarb? Swirly Strawberry muffins sound delish, if you don't have rhubarb…
yes, you sure can, Larissa
I'm going to steal your idea and make them with buckwheat and pecan meal (I'm gluten-free). Our strawberries are ready now (in northern Indiana zone 5b)!
PS…I love you guys and watched every episode. Can't wait for the cookbook. I'm hoping to visit the mercantile at the end of June while on vacation.
Let us know how those turn out. See you in June!
I just used the last of the rhubarb on Friday and started picking strawberries on Saturday. I may have to hunt around for some more rhubarb to make these yummy looking muffins!
That looks great! Sadly, our strawberries are gone. But I have LOTS frozen, and the stores still have some. And I need to plant rhubarb because it is almost as expensive as gas to buy. But I need to try this!
This muffins look great, and actually, Josh showed me the rhubarb plants last weekend at the Farm during the Spring Festival Farm tour! Now I see rhubarb's great use in this recipe.
I'll try to get some rhubarb at Whole Foods this evening to make some of these muffins for tomorrow morning!
I am already getting the great smell of these hot muffins already……..
Enjoy!