My Original Buttermilk Rhubarb Lawsuit Muffins

By mitzzy

This is the secret formula of one of my legendary recipes in a consumer friendly amount. Blueberries make these a summer hit or try apples anytime or banana chunk - anything you like! The rhubarb is something I always have on hand in the freezer. For allergy kids, use crushed graham crackers to replace the walnuts in the streusel. This recipe originally called for 1 1/2 cups of flour which hardly made many muffins. I had to bump things up from the original and from that base, I then converted a measured recipe, into one that feeds West Point. It's never just about math. You try four dozen. That works, you try 8 dozen. Sometimes you can straight multiply the leavener or flour (once it is in weight) but things like salt, fruit (and type of fruit, and how it is prepared and is it fresh or frozen?), vanilla have to be a trial and error/test and re-test effort. Everyone can have the 'secret" recipe but it is about execution and making it commercially viable. Of course, sometimes, you only want...a few. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• Streusel Topping
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• Batter
• 1 1/3 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons orange zest, optional
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour *
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 1 ½ cups chopped rhubarb, fresh or semi-frozen (better)

Details

Servings 9

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray and line with muffin liners. Place the muffin tin on the baking sheet. Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

For the streusel, in a separate bowl, using your fingers or a fork, combine the sugar, flour, cinamon, butter and nuts in small bow to make a crumbly streusel. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, citrus zest and egg. The mixture should be pasty and oil looking -that is ok. Stir in the vanilla and buttermilk, then the dry ingredients. When almost combined, fold in the rhubarb. If the batter seems too loose, add a few more tablespoons of flour to make batter a bit stiffer. Let batter stand 10 minutes.

Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop batter into muffin tins. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over each muffin. Place muffin tin on the prepared baking sheet.

Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake until done about 25-30 minutes. Muffins should spring back when pressed lightly although being so streusel covered, it is hard to test quite that way. Just have faith. Leave muffins in pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Makes 9-12 muffins