Rachel Lane, I am grateful to you that you introduced me to these amazing muffins. I remember making a tray of these early one morning to take to a friend. I drove with them on the passenger seat still warm whilst taking Maisie to school, I kept meeting people I knew along the narrow country lanes and by the time we arrived, there weren’t many left! Those muffins put smiles on faces that morning.This muffin recipe is definately worth getting out of bed a bit earlier this weekend, whacking some in the oven, brewing up some coffee and making the world a better place to breakfast in 🙂

What you will need

250g soft brown sugar

80ml vegetable oil

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

250ml buttermilk

175g rhubarb, cut into 1 cm lengths

75g pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped

300g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

50g wheat germ

For the topping

2 tablespoons Demerara sugar mixed with 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon

How to make your muffins

Preheat the oven to 200°c/Gas Mark 6

1. Cut out roughly 12x 12cm squares of parchment paper and push and mould each one down into a 12 whole muffin tray.They will sit on the surface for now but when you put the mixture in they will sink down to form a kind of paper-tulip liner? The muffins wil look rustic and gives you a ready plate when your devouring one of your creations!
2. In a large bowl, mix the sugar, oil, egg, vanilla extract and buttermilk. Stir in the chopped rhubarb and nuts. Sprinkle over the flour, baking poder and bicarbonate and add the wheat germ. Fold together quickly until just blended but still rather lumpy.
3. Spoon into the lined muffin cases and sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, by which time the sugar topping will be glistening and the muffins beneath apple but definite gold.
5. Eat warm . When you’ve had your fill, jump in the car with the rest and make somebody’s day.