Lovely juicy berries in soft and sweet muffins....who wouldn't like to start the day by munching on them? I would. Any day of the year, all days of the year.
I know I had made these muffins some time back but those were without a topping! So this time, I added a crumble to the muffin batter just before baking them. Mind you, not just any time topping, a nutty crumble topping that includes Almonds! Soft muffins with a crunchy topping is a delicious combination. Besides, the berries that I used this time were a combination of fresh Strawberries, frozen Blackberries and Blueberries.
You can use any combination of berries for these muffins. However, if you do decide to use strawberries, it is absolutely necessary to use fresh and not frozen. The reason being that frozen strawberries do not perform well during baking, they lose their shape, flavor and become mushy.
There's a just a slight difference between streusel and crumble. In case of streusel, you gather all the ingredients, make a dough, grate it and then sprinkle it over the muffin batter. However, in case of crumble, you just sprinkle it directly over the batter. See? It's so easy!
Honestly, you might find the muffins to be somewhat lacking the crumble topping, do you? Actually, I was feeling very lazy and sleepy the morning I made them (it's a little cold here you see making it very difficult to get up in the morning). So instead of rubbing butter in the flour, I just took out a blender, dipped in the streusel ingredients and pulsed them together hoping to get a texture of breadcrumbs. Big Mistake! The consistency was more of a sticky dough and since I didn't have enough time to make another batch, I just went ahead and used it. Result? the butter melted leaving behind the almond bits to give required crunchiness.
Lesson Learnt: Use you hands to make a streusel / crumble.
Recipe Source: Bakingyummies
Makes 12 Muffins
Ingredients
240 grams / 8.5 ounces all purpose or plain flour
1/4 teaspoon regular salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
180 grams / 6.5 ounces caster or superfine sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
80 grams / 3fl ounces / 1/3 cup vegetable oil
240 ml / 8fl ounces buttermilk at room temperature (or combine 120 ml natural yogurt and 120 ml semi skimmed milk)
215 grams / 7.5 ounces total weight of any three berries like strawberries(fresh), raspberries, blackberries and blueberries fresh or frozen (unthawed).
For the Crumble Topping
50 grams / 2 ounces all purpose or plain flour
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
pinch of regular salt
20 grams / 1 ounce roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
30 grams / 1 ounce unsalted butter, very cold
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F. Line the muffin tray with paper liners or grease and flour the tray.
Before you start with the muffins, prepare the crumble. In a medium bowl, sift the flour. Add the sugar, salt and roasted almonds and mix. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Keep aside.
In a separate bowl, sieve together flour, baking powder and salt. Add sugar and whisk the dry mixture using a hand held whisk until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.
In another bowl or measuring jug, beat the egg using the same hand held whisk. Add the oil and beat until mixed. Add the buttermilk and mix.
Create a small well in the dry ingredients and pour all the wet mixture at once into the dry ingredients. Fold the mixture with a spatula until just combined. It is absolutely fine if there are few small lumps in the batter but do not over mix it. Fold in the berries until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the cups. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over all the batter among the cups.
Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and are springy to the touch. A cake tester inserted should come out clean.
Place the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and place on the wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy your freshly baked delicious and crunchy Triple Berry Muffins.
Storage Suggestions: Muffins are best eaten on the same day or they can be frozen in a ziplock bag or an airtight container for up to a month.
Happy Baking!!!
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