Gluten-Free Rhubarb Muffins

Okay.  I've made these muffins twice, and even changed up the recipe a bit the second time around and they were still good.  They are the best gluten-free item I've baked thus far, (and I've baked quite a bit this past week), so I can confidently share this recipe with you!

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The How Can it be Gluten Free Cookbook is where I got the recipe for the flour blend I made and used the first time around:

The America's Test Kitchen Gluten-Free Flour Blend (makes 9 1/2 cups)

24 ounces (4 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup) white rice flour 
7 1/2 ounces (1 2/3 cups) brown rice flour
7 ounces (1 1/3 cups) potato starch
3 ounces (3/4 cup) tapioca flour/starch
3/4 ounce (3 T) nonfat milk powder

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined.  Transfer to airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

I made that and then moved on to their recipe for Blueberry Muffins, but adapted it a bit, so here's my recipe:


Gluten-Free Rhubarb Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

11 ounces (1 3/4 cups plus 2/3 cup) ATK Gluten-Free Flour Blend (see above)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 1/4 ounces (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
8 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups rhubarb*
the zest of a lemon
turbinado sugar (optional, for sprinkling on top of the muffins prior to baking) 

*or any other fruit, really.  (We love rhubarb, and have some in our garden, so I used that.  I washed it and diced it, then put it in a pan on the stove on medium heat with a bit of water- maybe 1-2 T, and sprinkled a bit of sugar on top, then cooked down for a few (4-5?) minutes till the rhubarb was soft (but not mushy), and finally drained it in a colander lined with a paper towel.)

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Stir dry ingredients (flour blend, baking powder, salt, and sugar)
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the melted, cooled butter, the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla
4. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and then add the drained rhubarb and the zest of a lemon.
5. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.  (This is important, so the muffins will not have a gritty texture.  The resting time allows the brown rice flour to hydrate and expand, apparently.)
6. Fill 12 greased muffin cups, and bake for 13-15 minutes.
7. Let the muffins cool for about 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
Enjoy!
 
The second time I made them I used my friend Jodi's flour blend of:
3 cups brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tsp xantham gum

I used applesauce in place of about 1/3 of the butter (see applesauce note in this post), and I increased the rhubarb to probably 3 cups, and they were also delicious.  The consistency was slightly different; the muffins produced more peaked tops, more of a biscuit consistency, not rounded like the photo above. I'm not sure if that is due to the flour blend or me subbing out some of the butter, but we all loved them regardless, so it doesn't matter.  Next time I'm going to try to reduce the sugar and add honey or maple syrup in place of it.  But I'm happy for the time being to have a go-to muffin recipe.

Overall, I think we had a pretty good week of gluten free.  I might have cried but for these:

(Which we used several times.  For breakfast burritos, chicken salad wraps, quesadillas and burritos.)  There were two exceptions:
1) I had already pre-planned our meals for the week (without having decided about the g-f thing) and one of the things we were having was stuffed shells (jumbo pasta shells stuffed with ricotta and spinach with marinara and white sauce over the top.)  And though I tried looking for either gluten-free jumbo shells or gluten-free lasagna noodles (that I could wrap), I couldn't.  So we did eat those on Saturday night.
2) Sunday night our two oldest kids went to a BBQ and had hotdogs and cupcakes or cookies and completely forgot about the no-gluten thing.  (Which is fine, I likely would have told them not to worry about it anyway.)