Rhubarb Crunch Muffins - Allergy-Friendly - gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, vegan (and mostly oil-free!)

Since I had a ton of rhubarb from my farm share around that time, I adapted a recipe to make rhubarb muffins for the lunches I packed for our preschool teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. I had just barely enough for all the lunches, but the few extras were deemed a win by my daughters and husband. I made them gluten free so that I could taste them to see if they were any good, and so that the girls could have them too. And, as it turns out, one of the teachers is gluten-free too! I also used a flax egg replacer because I had ground flax meal laying around, plus it's a healthier fat. And no worries about raw eggs when sampling the batter! (Another advantage to using an egg replacer is that you can easily halve recipes, which is harder to do if you'd need only half of an actual egg.)

Rhubarb Crunch Muffins

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose gluten-free flour or regular flour (Add 1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum if using a gluten-free flour blend without gum already in it)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup fruit puree or vegetable oil (I used a strawberry applesauce puree! Highly recommend!) If using gluten-free flour, you may want to add another 1/2 cup (or, conveniently, a 4-ounce toddler food squeezy pouch.)
1 egg replacer or egg (I use 3 Tbsp warm water plus 1 Tbsp ground flax seed. Mix and let sit 5 minutes. Or add 1/4 cup fruit puree. Add 1/2 tsp baking powder if substituting egg)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup "buttermilk" (put 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar in a measuring cup, then fill to 1 cup with dairy or non-dairy milk of your choice)
1 1/2 to 2 cups diced rhubarb (roughly 2-4 stalks, depending how long they are. 3 is a safe bet)
(optional) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (yuck) or almonds (I recommend without)

Topping: 
1 Tbsp melted dairy-free buttery spread or coconut oil (or butter)
1/3 cup raw sugar (or white)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
(optional) 1 Tbsp ground flax seed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease one to two 12-cup muffin pans or line with paper or silicone liners (silicone pans shouldn't need greasing.) I only got 16 muffins, but the recipe I adapted from said two dozen. Lies!

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1 tsp cinnamon. In a separate bowl, beat the brown sugar, fruit puree (oil replacer,) egg replacer, and buttermilk replacer with an electric mixer until smooth. Do not tip bowl sideways and dump half the mixture out when removing bowl from stand mixture. Just sayin'.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix by hand until just blended. Add the rhubarb (and walnuts, if using. Yuck. We have enough nut-free preschool action that I left the nuts out, since I didn't want to mindlessly bring nuts to school. Plus I hate walnuts. These tasted great without nuts.)

Spoon the batter into prepared cups, filling almost to the top.

In a small bowl, stir together melted butter substitute, raw sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and ground flax seed. Sprinkle roughly 1 tsp of mixture on top of each muffin.

Bake in preheated oven around 25 minutes, until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in the pans for at least 10 minutes before removing.

This recipe also works great in a donut pan! Instead of getting a second muffin tin, I just used a donut pan for the little bit of batter left after a dozen muffins.

These taste great warm and fresh, or packed in a lunch for later. Store in an airtight container for up to a week in the fridge. The topping loses its crunch after being stored in a sealed container, because of the moisture. Still tasty though!