We’re beginning to enjoy our first spring in Cambridgeport. The day David and I moved in, it was snowing. Now, we’re starting to see flowers come up and trees in bloom. It’s such a change from the North End, which, while charming, had a lot of brick and cement without a lot of green space. Now we have trees growing right outside our window!
Along with the early flowers of spring come stalks of rhubarb. I’ve been making these strawberry-rhubarb loaves for years. Rhubarb doesn’t have a long season, so it’s fun to make these when you can. They transition well, too, to a strawberry-only version later in the summer. This year, I decided to make them with cornmeal flour, but you can take this recipe any number of ways: as muffins or loaves, with whole wheat flour instead of cornmeal, with more or less rhubarb (depending on how tangy you like things).
The rhubarb doesn’t need much prep, either. It breaks down and softens enough just with the heat of baking. As I found out on one of my first tries with this recipe, it doesn’t take much time on the stove top for rhubarb to liquify and disintegrate.
Strawberry Rhubarb Cornmeal Muffins
Ingredients
½ cup rhubarb, chopped (about 3 oz.)
1 cup strawberries, chopped (a little over ½ pound)
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
8 oz 2% Greek yogurt
1 cup sugar
Steps
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare the rhubarb and strawberries and set aside. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, stir together the egg and butter. Add the Greek yogurt and sugar, mixing until well combined.
4. Add the dry ingredients, stirring to incorporate. Gently fold in the fruit.
5. Using oil, butter, or cooking spray, grease the muffin tin or mini loaf pan. Spoon batter into tin until almost to the top of each well (the batter will rise some, so allow room to avoid overflowing).
6. Cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the cooking time. The size of the muffin tin may reduce cooking time. Muffins/loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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