Strawberry Rhubarb Marvelous Muffins

I picked up a copy of Joan Donogh's recipe for rhubarb muffins with a bunch of rhubarb at the Canandaigua Farmers' Market. I'd also picked up some strawberries so, with a couple of minor changes (can you guess the biggest one?) these became strawberry rhubarb muffins.

Extremely moist and flavorful, these muffins have a sweet brown sugar-cinnamon topping and mildly vanilla flavored base studded with fresh bits of rhubarb and strawberry. If you'd like more of a rhubarb bite, increase the rhubarb and decrease the strawberries, as long the total amount of vegetable/fruit comes to 2 cups -- or just use Joan's original recipe! (I've got some rhubarb left over, and I'm thinking that's just what I'll do.)



Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins (adapted from Now... You're Cooking!)

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped rhubarb
1 cup chopped strawberries

Topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and brown sugar. In another bowl, beat the egg, stir in butter, buttermilk and vanilla.

Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the egg mixture all at once. Stir until just blended. Fold in strawberries and rhubarb. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin tins.

For the topping, combine sugar, butter and cinnamon. Sprinkle a spoonful of topping over each muffin and bake 20 to 25 minutes.