Allspice Crumb Muffins
It’s Friday and the weekend is here (cue the trumpets). With the hustle and bustle of typical weekday mornings, many people barely manage a bowl of Cheerios, let alone a homemade treat for breakfast. It seems that pancakes and sausage, fluffy waffles, and jumbo muffins are often reserved for weekend indulgences. Snuggled under your mountain of blankets, convinced that nothing could pry you out of bed after a week of sleep deprivation, you catch a whiff. The bacon sizzling, the sweet maple aroma of sausage, or spiced muffins coming from the oven, and I guarantee you’re out of bed in a flash. It seems ingrained in all of us – being roused from sleep with your nose, it’s almost inevitable that as soon as your feet hit the floor your stomach is rumbling. And suddenly you can’t get to the kitchen fast enough. It’s a marvelous way to wake up, and a perfect way to remember to slow down and savor the small things that bring us joy. Whether it be loved ones, the perfect cup of coffee, or a plateful of bacon ;-) No matter your favorite way to enjoy the laziness of a morning where you have nowhere to be, these muffins should be penciled into your weekend-slow-down-and-smell-the-bacon plans.
These muffins are every bit as Saturday-morning-cozy as you might imagine. The muffin itself is tender and light, and it gets a kick from the allspice in the batter. And then of course the streusel. Ahh, streusel. I am a sucker for anything that has streusel or buttery crumbs on it – cream cheese coffee cakes, sour cream coffee cakes, blueberry crumb cake, and it goes without saying, the holy grail of all that is sacred regarding streusel – New York-style crumb cake. As is the case with just about every muffin recipe, the beauty lies in the simplicity of the recipe, and that such a simple process can produce such amazingly delicious results. The smell of these baking away in the oven will get even the soundest of sleepers shuffling into the kitchen. Enjoy your weekend!
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{Footnote: I had an assistant during my photo shoot, he kept a close eye on the muffins…}
One year ago: Cucidati (Italian Fig Cookies)
Two years ago: Tiramisu
Allspice Crumb Muffins
Ingredients
For the Streusel:
- ½ cup (62.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground allspice
- 5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
For the Muffins:
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- ¼ cup (55 g) light brown sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled, (8 Tablespoons)
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup (183 ml) whole milk
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or line with paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
- 2. To make the streusel, put the flour, brown sugar, and allspice in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add the bits of cold butter and toss, pinching the mixture between your fingers, until you have pea-sized crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator. (The streusel can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator.)
- 3. To make the muffins, in a large bowl whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, allspice, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. The batter will be lumpy; that is how it should be.
- 4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin, then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.
- 5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin. Cool completely on the wire rack. Muffins can be stored, in an airtight container, at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Your recipe looks delicious, but unfortunately there are so many pop ups and ads and noisy videos on your blog that it is nearly impossible to navigate :( Just getting to the recipe was a challenge on my brand-new computer with an excellent connection.
Made these and wow – they are absolutely amazing.
I made these muffins today and I cannot believe how amazing they are!!! I am completely addicted! I am going to try them with some apples as suggested by Natalie! YUM!
Have you ever tried these?
http://muffinparadise.com/white-choc-muffins/
Deeeeeeelicious.
These sound so really good. I also love the picture of the wooly one looking upon them. I love the goldens for I have one myself.
Love your site and your beautiful food!
Since I’m always looking for practical comments about the recipes on food blogs, I thought I’d actually leave one. So:
1) It seemed like complaints listed in the comments cancelled one another out, so I followed the recipe (almost) exactly. I did add more allspice (…a lot more allspice), because I’m an allspice fanatic and I couldn’t really taste it in the batter beforehand.
2) In a normal muffin pan, these did fill exactly 12 muffin cups.
3) My melted cooled butter seized when it hit the milk. This happens to me every time I mix melted butter with cool liquid (and I always forget), so I wound up warming the liquids a little to melt the butter back down and incorporate it better before mixing with the dry. Tip for others: I wonder if the little cold bits of butter not being mixed in could account for both the dryness some people had (i.e. the butter wasn’t thoroughly incorporated leaving parts of the muffins dryer) and the greasiness others had (i.e. hitting pockets of butter that weren’t blended). To avoid this, you could (a) warm the milk, or (b) use oil in place of butter.
4) This did make more streusel than I needed. I was generous with topping, sprinkling and pressing in as directed, and then went back over for another sprinkle. Then I just ate some out of the bowl. I still have about 1/2 cup left.
5) These smelled gorgeous while baking, puffed up beautifully and generously. The smell alone is worth the price of admission.
6) My streusel also sank and spread a little, so it’s not very evenly spread over the tops. But this happens to me every time, too.
6) I always, always have to wait longer than 5 minutes to remove muffins from paper cups, or they stay glued to the sides of the liner and fall completely apart. So, tip for others: If you’re having your muffins come apart, you can (a) grease the liners, or (b) wait until the muffins are completely cool to remove them from the liners. That said, after about… say, 10 minutes? Still hot, I was able to peel these easily out of liners.
8) The flavor was milder than I wanted, even with something like triple the allspice. I would probably up the spices further next time (like I said, I’m a fanatic). The texture is excellent and moist–not dry or greasy in the slightest–and the streusel is nice and crunchy and sweet and spicy.
There – hopefully that all is useful to the next baker! Or to me, the next time I come back trying to remember how this recipe worked for me.
Thanks, BEB!
Hampton’s review cracked me up. Unfortunately, I didn’t look at these negative reviews before trying the recipe…
Followed the instructions perfectly, but I think there was a tad too much baking soda (could taste it), and not enough salt or vanilla. Still, not bad, just not one I would save.
I think the amount of crumble topping per muffin could be clarified for beginners (like me). I filled each muffin tin the top, but there was still a good half a cup leftover. And my muffin tins are generously sized. Now that they’re baked, I assume you’re suposed to fill them so the top is rounded?
The crumb topping was really good. They rose nicely. The muffins seemed like they needed to be sweeter and they came out dry. Did anyone else’s come out dry? I’m not sure if it’s the recipe or If I did something wrong. I’d like to try them again but not sure how to make them moist.
Even a goat wouldn’t eat these.
They exploded in the oven and made an enormous mess. I am extremely displeased. Upon feeding them to my pet dog, he immediately vomited and required extensive medical treatment. These muffins turned what could have been a lovely Sunday morning into a catastrophic fiasco.
Sinerely,
An extremely disastisfied customer
thx for the warning Catlin it helped a whole lot!:)
I agree Catlin. thx for the tip! LOVE IT!!!:)
I love these! Be warned: You HAVE to use paper muffin cups otherwise you will have a crumbly mess! I loaded my tins with oil spray and I still couldn’t take them out. I plan to half the topping next time. These muffins were a hit!!!
I guess maybe I’m not an allspice fan after all, even when combining it with sweets. My muffins were on the dry side and I didn’t put enough topping (my fault). I probably should have started checking at 15 minutes maybe. I think this would taste great with some apple chunks in them though, and maybe some icing on top since I’m not a big fan fan of the allspice flavor). Thanks for the recipe though! It was fun to try.
Kind of too sweet and greasy… ease up on the butter, but still delicious!
Love these!! So did my family!! The muffin has a subtle taste and the struesel gives them a nice kick. And they’re great with a little vanilla icing drizzled over them!
I just made these and I love them! I took a few liberties though. I added some apple pie spice (it is my weakness!) and a chopped up apple. I want to eat them all for dinner now! I think next time I make these I’ll add a little whole wheat flour.
Made these muffins today, and the crumb topping melted while cooking. I’ve never seen this happen before. Any suggestions?
Make sure that the butter in the crumb topping is cold. If your kitchen is warm or if you overwork the topping too much, refrigerate it before topping and baking the muffins.
that was the most blend muffin i ever baked
I just wanted to let you know that I made these, and blogged about them, and they were delicious! Thank you for posting the recipe!
ooh these look absolutely gorgeous! i’m such a breakfast muffin person and these look super easy and super delicious :) andddddd i’m in a baking mood!! tfs :D
I so adore muffins! They are the perfect breakfast any day of the week. I love your assistant. I have two of my own-both very furry :)
Made these yesterday and wow — delicious!! I had leftover crumb topping and I snuck a spoonful straight ;] I think I could eat that on just about anything! Thanks for sharing, this is definitely on my keepers list!
I am a sucker for crumb topping, I always steal a couple of spoonfuls when baking ;-) So happy you loved the muffins!
I made these last night to bring to work today. Not only are they beautiful, they are soooo yummy. I’ve been making lots of your recipes for work and they are always a hit. So, thank you!
Heather – So happy these were a hit! You’re welcome! Happy coworkers are… less cranky coworkers?
Ahh streusel! My one love. Wait. Also chocolate. Also brownies. Hmm,lets just say, one of my loves :)
These muffins are one of my favorites from the book. And add to that – they are super easy to make.
I love allspice and these look fantastic!