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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.

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One year it even blossomed for me!

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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.

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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!