The blueberry and lemon combination is a classic, and this muffin recipe will make you fall in love with this combo all over again. These muffins are super moist and filled with blueberries. But the best part is the streusel muffin top. It’s buttery and crispy, making this muffin a 10/10.
I went through a phase where I was addicted to muffins. I would do all sorts of flavors, but sometimes a classic is just unbeatable. Taking advantage of the fresh blueberries during summer, these are the perfect easy bakes to try. But when blueberries aren’t in season? Don’t worry, they are just as good with some frozen ones!
Yield: 9 Muffins
INGREDIENTS:
STREUSEL-
- 50g Plain/AP Flour
- 50g Granulated or Caster Sugar
- Pinch of Salt
- 20g Unsalted Butter, cold
BATTER-
- 160g Granulated or Caster Sugar
- 1 Lemon
- 1 Large Egg
- 85ml Milk (or any milk alternative [I love it with oat or soy milk])
- 80ml Vegetable Oil
- 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1tsp Lemon Extract
- 190g Plain/AP Flour
- 2tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2tsp Salt
- 150g Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
STEPS:
PREP-
- Line a cupcake/muffin tin with muffin liners.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
STREUSEL-
- Combine flour, sugar, and salt.
- Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add it to the dry mix.
- Rub the butter into the dry mix using your fingers until a crumb forms. To check if the streusel is the correct consistency, squeeze and compress the mixture into a big clump. It should be able to hold itself together, but when you press on it with 1 finger, it will shatter into small crumbly chunks.
- Place it into the fridge to keep cold while we prep the batter.
BATTER-
- Zest the whole lemon, using a microplane, into a large bowl.
- Add sugar to the zest and rub it with your fingers to release the oils from the zest, then set it aside.
- In a small bowl, combine milk and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Stir and set it aside.
- To the lemon zest and sugar, add the egg, oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and the milk + lemon juice mixture. Whisk everything until homogenous.
- Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until just combined.
- Add 2/3 of the blueberries and fold it through the batter with a spatula.
ASSEMBLE-
- Scoop the muffin batter into the liners. Aim to fill each liner 2/3 – 3/4 of the way full. It should give you 9 muffins.
- Add the remaining 1/3 of the blueberries to the top of the muffins.
- Take the crumb from the fridge. Sprinkle a generous layer of the crumb over the muffin batter. It should fully cover the muffin tops and you should be able to use all of it. Gently press the crumb into the batter so it’s secure.
- Pop them into the preheat oven and bake at 190°C for 20-25min. When they are done, the tops should be golden and a toothpick should come out clean.
- Leave them to cool completely and enjoy!
TIPS:
- THE SIZE OF YOUR STREUSEL: You get to decide how big you want your streusel chunks! You get to decide if you like a thinner and more evenly distributed layer of streusel or big chunky crispy clumps all over. Here is what you can do to achieve each effect:
- Thin: Before sprinkling it over the batter, rub the mixture with your fingers to break apart any big clumps. Add a thin even layer over the batter and gently press to ensure it’s stuck. Add a second layer and press. Repeat until you run out of streusel. This will ensure that when the muffins rise in the oven, they will be covered evenly in the streusel, and the top will be evenly crispy.
- Chunky: Before adding it to the muffin tops, compress the mixture together to make a big clump. Using 1 finger, gently press on the clump to break it into multiple chunky pieces. This will result in a mixture of different size crumbs. Add this to the top of the muffin, be sure to pack as much of it on top as possible, and give it a press to secure it into the batter. When these are baked, the big chunky pieces will be super crispy and provide more texture, while the smaller crumbs will form a thin layer of crisp over the batter.
