Rhubarb Pecan Muffins

Rhubarb - what a wonderful, old-fashioned vegetable. While it looks like celery, its lemon-like tartness leads most folks to treat it like a fruit.  And so it gets cooked up in pies, tarts and desserts.

If you can't find rhubarb near you, check a farmer's market or head to Lancaster County. Most farms  here grow it.  Once you know that you like it, it's a good idea to plant it. Then it will appear in your garden every spring. Our variety is the strawberry rhubarb - it's a little sweeter than the green kind and is happy to live along with our flowers.

One year it even blossomed for me!

Here's the recipe for the muffins:

!/2 cup chopped pecans (toasted)
1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

Chop pecans, place them on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven and toast until they start to brown a little.  You’ll be able to tell they are done when they start to smell good. Remove from oven and cool.

Cut the rhubarb and set aside.

Stir together these dry ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, beat together:

1 1/4 cup brown sugar,
1/2 cup vegetable oil,
1 egg,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix by hand.  Add the cooled pecans and chopped rhubarb.  Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter, mix with 1/3 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins and bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 25 minutes – or until tops spring back when pressed.

Have muffins left over?  They freeze well.

Can't find rhubarb or don't want to bake?  Well, come on out to The Artist's Inn in Lancaster County and we'll be happy to serve up a batch of muffins just for you!

Tis the Season to be Baking!

Here's a recipe for one of my favorite childhood cookies. These cookies bring back many memories...when I was really young, my mom would bake them and let me dip the cookie in chocolate and then nuts.  Even with that limited chore, I would make a mess! But it is so much fun for kids.

These cookies are not too large, so folks always have room for at least one! Starting in mid-December we serve Christmas cookies as our third course for breakfast at The Artist's Inn and Gallery.

Walnut Acorn Cookies

They will last for several weeks if stored in an air-tight container in a cool area. 

1 cup soft butter or margarine

3/4 brown sugar

2 3/4 cups sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts

16. oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream butter, add sugar and beat til fluffy.  Sift four with soda and blend into butter mixture.  Add vanilla and 3/4 cup of the nuts.  Shape cookies by pressing dough into a dessert spoon with fingertips.  Push dough from spoon with flat side down on ungreased sheet or silpat.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool.  Melt chocolate, cool slightly.  Dip large end of “acorn” cookie in chocolate and then in the chopped nuts.  Makes six dozen.