Blueberry Crumb Muffins

I haven’t met a single person that doesn’t like blueberry muffins, and believe me, I have had my fair share! This is my all-time favorite recipe. The crumb topping takes the muffin from your average blueberry muffin to a special treat. I have shared this recipe with a few people before and they always get rave reviews and requests for more!  The crunch from the crumb topping, the moistness from the batter, and the sweetness from the blueberries is what makes this blueberry muffin my all-time favorite!

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

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For Streusel Topping:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

For Blueberry Muffins:

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

2 cups blueberries, fresh or thawed

To Make Streusel Topping:

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment mix flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, cinnamon, and salt until pea-size bits of streusel form. Set aside.

To Make Blueberry Muffins:

Place paper liners in a twelve mold muffin pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla at high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat on medium speed to combine.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture at low speed just until combined. Add milk and mix until combined. Fold in blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners. Spread 1/4 cup of streusel on top of each. Bake 22 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes.

Source: Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye and Liv Hansen

One Year Ago Today: Butterfinger Cake

Spiced Peach Muffins

Before the peach season is over I wanted to share another recipe. I again had some peaches that were going bad and refused to let them go to waste. I was in the mood for muffins at the time and wondered if peaches would be good in a muffin. After a little searching, I found this recipe from King Arthur Flour. The spices in this recipe reminded both myself and my husband of pumpkin pie! The smell of allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg filled the house while the muffins were baking. The peaches worked surprisingly well the spices, but could easily be substituted with other fruits. The muffins were originally supposed to be made into over-sized muffins, but I went with more regular sized muffins and made close to 2 dozen.

Spiced Peach Muffins

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4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups milk

4 peaches, diced (not peeled) or 3 cups small whole berries or other fruit, diced

granulated sugar

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, vegetable oil and milk, then gently stir in fruit. Grease 16 muffin cups, and heap batter into cups; they’ll be very full. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until muffins test done.

Source: King Arthur Flour

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I am officially the proud owner of Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. After 3 check outs from the library I finally decided to ask for the book for Christmas and my brother and SIL surprised me with a copy!!  I absolutely love this book and have made several of the recipes, all of which were fantastic. Last week I was craving something tart and thought this muffin would fill the need. Secretly I think I wanted to be transported to summer, with a slice of of key lime pie, sitting on the beach somewhere, cooling down and relaxing, but the muffin was all good despite the cold January weather.  Honestly I have had lots of poppy seed muffins before, but I don’t know that they have ever included an icing on top, but the addition was a nice compliment to the muffin itself. The lemon provides the muffin with its distinct flavor and makes it all together yummy!! Happy Monday everyone.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

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2/3 cup sugar

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons poppy seeds


For the Icing:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter of spray a 12 mold muffin tray or place paper muffin cups inside mold.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently stir to blend. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool on wire rack completely before icing.


To Make the Icing: Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of a spoon. You can drizzle lines of icing of the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely.

Source: Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, 2006

Pumpkin Muffins

So a week ago Saturday I completed the first course for my MBA program. We ended our five week course with a 30 minute presentation from each member of the class. I absolutely hate speaking in front of people and will do everything  possible to get out of it. I knew baking muffins wouldn’t get me out of speaking, but I figured if I stuffed everyone full of muffins while I was presenting, there wouldn’t be as much pressure! I’m happy to report that I made it through the presentation, got an A, and the muffins were a hit. I have been waiting for Fall to arrive in order to try out this recipe. The muffins are full of pumpkin flavor and I loved the streusel topping.  This definitely put me in a Fall kind of mood!

Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

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For the Streusel Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in a bowl of an electric mixer, using a paddle attachment. Mix until pea-size bits of streusel form. Set aside.


To make the Pumpkin Muffins:
Grease the tops of two 12 mold muffin pans and line them with paper liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 extra- large eggs (I just used 3 large eggs)

1 (15 oz) can of plain pumpkin puree

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, mix to combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin puree.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Once combined, stir in the walnuts.

Scoop the batter into the prepared molds, filling each to the top of the paper liner. Sprinkle approximately 2 tablespoons of streusel over the top of each muffin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tested inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the muffins from their pans.

Source adapted from: Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse by Liv and Kaye Hansen