Roasted Rhubarb and Custard Muffins

Until this lovely sunny bank holiday weekend I have never tried rhubarb. As a child I would always be secretly disappointed when my Grandma or Nanna served rhubarb crumble as opposed to a pudding made of one of the yummier fruits such as I don't know, apples or berries. What's wrong with a good apple crumble eh? Well now, thirteen years later, I have realised that rhubarb is the superior crumble fruit. In fact I like it so much that I made sure there was some left over after I divvied it up between the muffins to sit with and scoff with a spoon straight from the roasting tin.

The sun has been in hiding again recently in Liverpool but this weekend it finally reappeared. What better way to spend my Sunday than making these Rhubarb and Custard muffins? They offered a well needed break from revision that's for sure (roll on Friday 2 down 3 to go!!!!). These muffins have a lovely crunch to the top of the sweet, light sponge which means they taste like rhubarb crumble without having to make a streusel topping and thus no more washing up! Bonus!

These muffins have a crunchy top, sweet, juicy rhubarb with a little bit of bite and a hint of tartness (i.e. taste sensation) and plenty of oozy creamy custard. Dessert-to-go or what?

I have been seeing rhubarb EVERYWHERE over the last month or so - it being seasonal and all - prompting a hankering to FINALLY try it! I didn't fancy stewing the rhubarb as that is something I am yet to ever do and wahey as luck would have it Obsessive Compulsive Baking Disorder (another student foodie blogger yey!) posted a lovely rhubarb recipe which involved roasting the rhubarb, a post which gave me my inspiration for this recipe.

Ingredients

For the roasted rhubarb:
300 g rhubarb
65 g granulated sugar

For the muffins:
200 g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
50 g demerara sugar
50 g light brown sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
150 ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
60 ml sunflower oil
80 g unsalted butter, melted
1 medium free-range egg
10 tbsp custard (I used a carton of rather cheap custard from Aldi - absolutely no regrets, it was divinely creamy mmm)

Directions

1. Pre heat oven to 170 degrees C. Rinse the rhubarb, cut it into 1/2 inch chunks and chuck it in a roasting tray.

2. Pour 65 g of granulated sugar over the rhubarb, give it a stir, cover tightly with foil and roast for 15 minutes. Take the tray out, shake it around and roast for another 5 minutes until the rhubarb is soft and stewing in sweet syrupy juices.
3. Turn the oven up to 220 degrees C and put muffin cases in a 12 hole muffin pan.
4. In a mixing bowl combine the egg, butter, oil, lemon juice.
5. Mix in the syrupy rhubarb juices, demerara sugar and light brown sugar.
6. Fold in the flour and baking powder.
7. Put a dollop of the cake batter in each muffin case followed by a few pieces of rhubarb and another dollop of cake batter.

8. Make a well in each case and pour roughly 2 - 3 tsp of custard into it.

9. Add another few pieces of rhubarb on top of the custard to each case and top all cases with one last dollop of cake batter.
10. Bake at 220 for 6 - 8 minutes. After this time turn your oven back down to 170 degrees C and bake for a further 18 - 22 minutes depending on your oven until they are crisp and golden brown on top and custard is oozing from the centre.
11. Leave the muffins in the tin for about ten minutes then remove from the tin to cool completely.

12. Serve, share, eat and ENJOY this bank holiday weekend :) (or any time there after! These will definitely be made time and time again in this house, the sweet custard combined with the hint of tartness from the sweet, succulent rhubarb mmmmm oh my!)