Coconut Rhubarb Bran Muffins

In the past, when I’ve attempted to cook or bake with rhubarb, I’ve completely failed. My goal has always been to let the rhubarb flavor shine through without compromising the purity of the flavor by pairing it with an overpowering traditional sweet flavor, like strawberries, which really masks the flavor of the rhubarb. It’s the end of May, and rhubarb is back in season, so I knew it was my chance to have another go. Enter my own recipe for coconut rhubarb bran muffins, and I finally created something incredibly delicious using my previous enemy, rhubarb.

If you know me, I have an inherent issue with most sweet breakfast baked goods; they’re often too sweet to warrant breakfast and miss out on the usual breakfast powerhouse nutrients. Enter my use of bran and coconut oil.

This recipe yields about 10 medium-sized muffins.

Ingredients

For the rhubarb:
-1/2 lb diced rhubarb
-1/2 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil
-1 tablespoon wholewheat flour
-1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

Muffin batter:
-1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
-1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil, solid
-1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt

-1 egg

-1 cup bran flour
-1/2 cup ap flour
-1/2 cup cake flour
-1 tsp baking soda

I began by dicing the rhubarb into approximately 1/3-1/2 inch pieces. I placed the rhubarb into a bowl and added the wholewheat flour and sugar. Next, I melted the coconut oil in the microwave and poured it over the rhubarb mixture. From here, I tossed it all together, making sure to fully coat the rhubarb in all the ingredients. It is important to this step first, so as to allow the bitter rhubarb to soak up the sweetness of the sugar and coconut oil. I know coconut oil is a bit of an eclectic ingredient and may turn some people off from this recipe, but these muffins can’t be made without it; the oil gives the muffins the coconut flavor. It also helps balance the bitterness of the rhubarb, and it adds some of the pesky nutrients I was going on about before.

In a separate bowl, I now added the addition sugar and coconut oil–make sugar the coconut oil is kept as a solid here. This is important, because the next step is to beat the coconut oil and sugar together using an electric mixer on medium until they are creamed together–the consistently will be similar to that of butter cream (solid coconut oil works very similarly to butter). Once creamed, add the yogurt and egg and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, add all of the flours and baking soda, sifting as you do so. Now add the dry mixture to the wet mixture half at a time, mixing to combine.

Once fully combined, gently fold in the rhubarb. Prepare muffin tins and fill each muffin liner about 85% full. Bake in the oven at 400 for ~20 minutes until fully cooked and golden brown.

These muffins are incredibly moist and should keep for around 5 days (although I’ll be impressed if they last that long!).

Chelsea Goldinger