I love muffins. Some of my favourite memories are the times I woke up in the morning (around this time of year, when the air was a little crisp and the holidays were on their way) to the smell of fresh-baked muffins filling the house. There is nothing so warm, so homey, and so inviting; and this rhubarb muffin recipe is just the kind of thing to make that atmosphere a reality.

Rhubarb is one of my favourite things, and it always brings back some special memories. My Oma and Opa used to grow it in their garden, and whenever it was ready to harvest they would bring bundles of it to us. Since rhubarb is easy to freeze and store for later, we would keep bags of it in the freezer, ready to pull out for delicious fruity baking all year long.

About This Recipe

This recipe was a bit of an experiment (as many of mine are), but, I’m pleased to report that it was a success! In the future, I might opt out of the orange glaze on top, since the sour cream in the batter, along with rhubarb chunks, makes these muffins plenty moist. I wanted to use the orange glaze for a little extra flavour punch though, and… it was really good. No regrets. So feel free to go for the glaze if you have a mind like mine, or not if you prefer. 

Note: Do be warned, however, that the glaze does make them very soft – which is a downside when you’re taking them out of the pan/storing them. I have used a silicon muffin tin in this recipe, but paper muffin liners would also make removing them from the pans a little easier.

My mom used to say that you can tell a good muffin recipe if it is made with sour cream. So, here we are: Rhubarb Sour Cream Muffins. To make them even better, these are made with brown sugar, which I think always adds a little bit of caramely loveliness. 

Print

Rhubarb Sour Cream Muffins

Moist, delicious muffins bursting with the summer flavours of rhubarb and orange.

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine American, Canadian

Keyword bran muffins, rhubarb, sour cream, summer

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. melted butter
• 1 Tbsp. grated orange zest
• 1 c. fresh or frozen rhubarb chopped
• 1/3 c. freshly squeezed orange juice mixed with 3 Tbsp. white sugar optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Lightly grease muffin tin or line with paper cups.
2. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, sour cream, butter, and orange zest.  Blend well, pour over the flour mixture, and add the rhubarb.  Mix until just combined.  (Do not overmix!)
4. Spoon batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Optional:

1. To make the syrup, combine the orange juice with 3 Tbsp. sugar; stir until sugar dissolves.  Once the muffins are baked, pierce the tops several times with a toothpick, and slowly pour about 1 Tbsp. of the orange juice and sugar mixture over the tops of each muffin.  Let the muffins cool in the pan 10 minutes before removing them from the tin.

I hope this rhubarb muffin recipe serves you well! There are few things that beat a fresh muffin first thing in the morning – or any time of day, for that matter.

Happy baking!

–Naomi

This post contains affiliate links.

SaveSave