Well this is the third post that is all about rhubarb! We haven’t tired of eating it yet, so there may still be more to come. I hope you love rhubarb as much as we do!
The batter for this loaf comes together quickly and no mixer required, so you can make it quietly in the morning and pop it in the oven so your family wakes up to the smell of rhubarb and cinnamon. A few slices and a cup of coffee starts a morning off perfectly.
The next rhubarb recipe is Rhubarb Crumble Muffins…delectable parcels of tangy goodness with brown sugar crumble on top…yummy! This is happiness tucked inside a muffin. You will be hard pressed to stop at one after devouring this morsel.
The recipe itself is very similar to the Rhubarb Coffee Cake, so it is quick and easy to mix together. One of the differences is the spice cardamon that is in the batter. It gives a little spark to the taste. Before you know it the smell of fresh muffins will be wafting out of your oven.
There is nothing that says Spring more than Rhubarb Coffee Cake! When those little shoots pop through the earth, then the leaves appear, then a week or two later it’s harvest time. My rhubarb plant is in a spot where it gets the sun all day long and it just loves it. It grows so fast that I can usually pick enough for a cake at least twice a week. As long as you cut the flowering stems off you can continue to harvest it into summer or until you get tired of rhubarb, if that is even a possibility.
Once summer comes and the strawberries are ripe then it is time for strawberry rhubarb pie and strawberry rhubarb crisp and the list goes on. But back to the rhubarb coffee cake as I am getting way ahead of myself- it is at least 5 weeks until strawberries are even a possibility here in Northern Ontario!
Breakfast to go – muffins! Having a batch of muffins made for the week ensures you have a quick and healthy breakfast ready or an afternoon snack calling your name. The dates and raisins make the muffins moist and add huge flavour. I love the addition of the the lemon and orange zest – it just brightens up the flavour of the fruits.
Warm, fluffy, cheese biscuits with a bowl of homemade soup – just what a damp,rainy spring day calls for. These biscuits are simple to whip together and make any bowl of soup a whole lot more satisfying. Using old cheddar cheese elevates the biscuits from simple to spectacular.
These cinnamon buns are a family favourite at our house and quite a few houses other homes we know. Our neighbour at our cottage Gord has been known to hide out in his truck and eat an entire pan by himself and deny to his wife that I had dropped off any cinnamon buns!
Warm cinnamon buns will make anyone happy. You can make the buns up the night before – after rolling and cutting the buns cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning pull them out of the fridge when you get up, preheat the oven, jump in the shower and when you get out, pop the pan in the oven and 25 minutes later – heaven!
Bring these to work with you still warm in the pan and you will have smiles on everyone’s faces.
Add some glaze and you have something pretty and delicious!
Do you remember when you could buy a little brick of sponge toffee at the corner store for 5¢? You would nibble at it a little at a time, letting it melt on your tongue making it last as long as possible. If you ate too much your tongue would actually hurt! Can you tell I really like sponge toffee?
Sponge toffee looks like it has the potential to be an intimidating adventure to create, but the recipe only has 4 ingredients. It is all about the chemistry my friends and with a little bravery you can be whipping up a batch in no time at all. Anytime there is melted sugar and a candy thermometer the red flags go up and folks steer away from a recipe, but you can do this!
This is a coffee cake recipe I came up with when Elizabeth was in Grade 5. Her elementary school was having a fundraiser and they made a recipe book to which all the parents and teachers contributed a recipe. That book is still one of my favourite recipe books because you know that each recipe is someone’s family favourite. It is also a nice memento of the those early school years.
Over the years I have changed the recipe up a little, trying to make it a little lighter and I think I have succeeded. The cake is fluffy, full of blueberry and lemon and topped with brown sugar – how much more love can you have in one pan!
