Yay for rhubarb! You might have noticed that I really really like rhubarb. Which is why it should be no surprise that I am presenting you another rhubarb-recipe today. I mean, you gotta take advantage of the season. Soon enough it´ll be time for strawberries, blackberries, raspberries…Gosh I love the fruits of summer!

I started my baking career with muffins. When I was younger I would get together with friends and we would get baking. And anytime there was a birthday, fundraiser or any other occasion that required sweet treats, I would make some muffins. The good thing about muffins is that you can adapt them according to season. All you need is a basic batter and from there you can add whatever you like best. The batter is important though. Over the years I learned from a lot of mistakes and by now I know some tricks to make the fluffiest muffins. First of all, prepare the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder…) and the wet ingredients (eggs, butter, milk…) separate from another before mixing them all together. Use buttermilk or yoghurt instead of milk, it makes the batter softer. Stir only until the ingredients are well mixed, don´t keep stirring, otherwise the muffins will become dry. You can also put a little bit of water into one muffin cup. This will cause more humidity while baking and the muffins will turn out soft and fluffy.

Using rhubarb for muffins is kind of a genius idea. To make the whole thing even better, I mixed some mascarpone, yoghurt and vanilla bean and added that as a topping. With just a hint of homemade jam, each one of these muffins tastes like heaven. Seriously!

Makes about 12 muffins:
200 g rhubarb
275 g flour
3 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. cinnamon
150 g sugar
1 egg
250 ml plain yoghurt or buttermilk
80 g butter

For the vanilla-frosting:
200 g plain yoghurt
200 g mascarpone
1 vanilla bean
50 g sugar

1) Wash the rhubarb and cut into little pieces. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix the egg, yoghurt and the melted butter. Add the flour mixture and rhubarb and mix well.
2) Place the batter into the muffin cups. Bake in the preheated oven at 175° C for about 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely.
3) For the topping, mix yoghurt, mascarpone, sugar and the core of the vanilla bean using an electric mixer or a kitchen aid. Spread the topping generously on the muffins using a knife or a piping bag.