Ode to Rhubarb

Oh how I love thee!
Today I made some scrumptious Rhubarb and Custard Muffins. I found a couple of recipes on the internet, but had to mesh the two together, as one wanted you to cut the rhubarb up into little pieces and in the photo it looked unappetising, and the other called for a couple of ingredients I didn't have.
So here is what I did...


Firstly I roasted the rhubarb.

Heat oven to 200C. Rinse the rhubarb and shake off the excess water. Trim the ends and cut the rhubarb into little finger-sized pieces. Put the rhubarb in a shallow dish or baking sheet with sides, pour in roughly 50-60g of caster sugar , toss together, then shuffle the rhubarb so it's in a single layer.
Cover with foil and roast for 10-15 mins. Remove the foil. The sugar should have dissolved, so give everything a little shake and roast for another 5 mins or until tender and the juices are syrupy.

Secondly I made the custard.

2 tablespoons custard powder, ¼ cup caster sugar, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Combine custard powder and sugar in small saucepan; gradually stir in milk. Stir custard over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in extract. Cool.

Thirdly I made the muffin mixture.

Preheat oven to 200C. Line 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases.Sift flours and caster sugar into large bowl. Stir in butter, milk and egg. Do not over-mix. Fold in the rhubarb. Spoon half of the mixture into cases; top with custard. Spoon in remaining mixture to cover custard. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake muffins about 20 minutes. Stand muffins in pan 5 minutes; turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.

Last, but not least, Ariki and I taste tested them!

They are really good muffins. Go and make some!
Raewyn xxx

P.S Here is one of the links to the 2 recipes I combined, for some reason that an amateur blogger such as myself does not understand, I could not put the other one on. But the recipe can be found on the ninemsn website.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1952/rhubarb-and-custard-muffins

One square at a time...it's the journey that counts, right?

One of my earliest memories of feeling totally secure and loved, happened when I was feeling the worst. I can't remember how old I was, but I was quite ill, and my father wrapped me in a crocheted blanket my mother had made, scooped me up and carried me to the car to go to the doctors.

I wish I knew what happened to that blanket, but, because I don't, I'm determined to make my own. The pattern is from Throws & Cushions in 8ply by Panda, bought from Knits, Needles and Wool in Launceston.

So far i have made 26 squares, and the pattern calls for 96...sigh. And then I have to sew all 96 squares together, and then crochet a border around the whole thing, holy moley! Don't get me wrong, it's fun doing it, but I'm always in a rush to get to the finished product, especially while it's still freezing in Tasmania!

I'm also knitting a jumper for my son. I love the pattern, although my husband is dubious. But he cannot be relied on for fashion sense, as he wears boxers with hamburgers on them.

I completed my red cable beanie too, and since I posted the photo on facebook , my sister-in-law has put an order in for one! She lives in Canada, so I think she deserves/requires one!

And last but not least, I have sewn a cushion up for my little sister who has just moved into her first flat with her boyfriend (oooohhhhh lala!)

The story so far.

Okey dokey. So these pics are of some of the bits and pieces I have made to date, as well as some of my photographs.

The last photo is of my first quilt, my first softie, and my first attempt at crocheting.

Once I get round to taking the pics, I'll show you , which is really only me right now, what I'm working on at the moment.

Bet you (me) can't wait.

ramblin' woman

Right now I'm writing to myself. I hope eventually somebody wants to read my ramblings, but for now I'll just ramble alone.

I have been following the Loz and Dinny blog for months now, and have decided to make my own. My plan is to post all my unfinished projects, and maybe it will guilt me into actually completing them...

Things i like to do (but may not necessarily be good at) :

knitting

sewing

cooking

scrabble

photography

reading

gardening

There is more but I will get to that later.

raewyn x