Rhubarb, walnut and chia muffins - A guest post for Scullery Made Tea

The humble muffin. So versatile, so faithful and so so comforting. When Cherie from Scullery Made Tea suggested we'd do a recipe swap on our blogs I knew I could rely on muffins to deliver a recipe that people across the blogosphere would love. This recipe is not only trustworthy, it is also simple to adapt to seasons - try apples, pears or berries instead of rhubarb or substitute walnuts with your favourite nut. Chia seeds add another dimension of healthiness to these muffins, but you could also use flaxseed meal or wheat germ, if you prefer.

Needless to say home-baked muffins also make a perfect weekend breakfast treat that makes the weekend mornings feel just a little bit more special. If you are highly organised, you can prep most of this recipe ready the night before and then all you need to do the following morning is to mix everything together and bang the muffin tray into the oven. Simple, yet it makes you feel like you are on top of things ;-)

Rhubarb, walnut and chia muffins

(Makes 12 big muffins)

(Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson’s ‘Feast’)

220g raw caster sugar or rapadura sugar

50 ml olive oil

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 large, free-range egg

250ml buttermilk (or 250ml milk + 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice)

175 g rhubarb, cut into 1 cm dice

75g walnuts, roughly chopped

300g white spelt flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

30g chia seeds

Topping

2 tablespoons rapadura sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 200C and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin.

2. Mix the sugar, olive oil, vanilla, egg and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl.

3. Stir in the rhubarb and the walnuts.

4.  Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and chia seeds in a small bowl.

5. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the rest of the batter and fold everything together quickly until just blended.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle each muffin with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

7. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Serve warm.

This recipe was first published in Beyond the Scullery.