Rhubarb and Crème Fraiche Muffins
A Seasonal Supper for February that is clearly not a supper, it's a muffin. And a birthday discount!
Before I start waxing lyrical about Rhubarb, I am thrilled to tell you that it’s my birthday next week! AND this is relevant to you because at this time of year I love to offer a little birthday discount if you upgrade to being a paid subscriber. So, from now until the end of the month you can upgrade to paid for 1 year for just £32, thats 20% off!! You will get access to over 350 recipes in the archive (thats like, 3 and a half cookbooks) plus all my other paid content, 7 extra recipes a month, and you’ll get to feel smug about making a great saving.
Rhubarb’s vivid pink pull has got me and many others in the deepest, darkest chokehold as per usual. It seems to me that in this country the seasonal joys in these early, slightly bleaker months of the year are the most celebrated. The rhubarb to wild garlic to asparagus train is boarded happily every year despite it being the same trip each time. I am sure it is entirely to do with the comfort of seeing vibrant life after the coldest months, the familiarity is a relief. Seeing that first Wild Garlic and Cheddar Scone on my feed in March (a brilliant viral recipe by the excellent
) reminds me that the only way is up and that the days are getting longer and brighter.So I decided that, even though my Seasonal Supper last February was also a rhubarb recipe - A Rhubarb Cream Tart in fact, I would do it again this because it is simply fabulous and the perfect February gift to us all.
This time I wanted to put my rhubarb into a muffin, because I am a huge fruit muffin fan. I think they are one of the more wonderful little treats to bake, easier than iced cupcakes and more wholesome than a big cake. These are made with crème fraiche, which, like sour cream, makes a tender and super moist crumb for our muffins and also gives them a rich, decadent flavour. If you haven’t noticed already, I love cooking with crème fraiche, it is one of my hero ingredients and it’s great for baking.
The rhubarb itself is cooked very quickly, as opposed to my normal preferred slow poaching method. Here it is briefly roasted and then cooled, it’s colour intensifying as it sits in its juices. I always tend to do a bit more than I need, so I have leftovers for with yoghurt or to go into a cocktail.