Rhubarb Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping

Rhubarb Muffin with
Cinnamon Sugar topping

If I could have one wish, it would be to have access to rhubarb all year 'round. I've heard that it's an acquired taste, but everyone I know who has tasted it, loves it immediately.

I have a number of rhubarb plants in the garden that have been producing well over the past few years. This has been a relief because I did have to move them (the neighbour's shrubs had gained so much height, the rhubarb wasn't getting the sun it needed). Relocating rhubarb is always a tricky business, and the plants will be utterly annoyed with you, and in my case at least, they needed a good 5 years before they decided they had forgiven me and were back to producing some fairly good-sized stalks. Last year was the first time I got 2 cuttings from the plants. 

Froggies and Toadstools

Frog cookie, Daisy cookie, Mushroom/Toadstool cookie

 I've been experimenting with gel icing and I LOVE IT!!!! 

Let me back up a bit and explain that I've never - as in never - been a fan of royal icing. It's far too sweet for moi, and that rock hard finish and crunch in the mouth that over powers the flavour of the cookie just doesn't appeal to me. So, after doing much decorating of my butter cookies with my buttercream, I was wanting a frosting that would allow a similar style of decorating that's possible with royal icing but, well, wasn't. 

Yeah, yeah and yeah again, I found Pam's recipe (from CookieCrazie.com) that uses clear corn syrup, and Pam's decorating is incredible. Here was a glaze that wasn't a royal icing but allowed her to do virtually anything a royal icing could. A quick review of the recipe and knowing the modifications I'd make so it was less sweet and more to my liking (+ salt, + flavouring, - some icing sugar), it was time to experiment.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting

Carrot cupcake/muffin recipes tend to be very high in fat and for that reason, are not one of my go-to desserts when I'm thinking of entertaining or including them in my inventory of baked goods to offer my customers.

However, a long time ago I came across an old recipe in one of our church cookbooks and after making a few modifications, I ended up with a delicious recipe that is still higher in fat than I'd like, but hey, on occasion, isn't harmful (right?). By cutting some of the oil and a lot of the sugar, these carrot cupcakes are absolutely amazing on their own, and even more-so with my cream cheese frosting.

Which brings me to the next hurdle - coming up with a light, airy, not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting that was also "pipe-able".