Allspice Crumb Muffins
Trying to distract Sophie in the other room while I’m baking is useless, so I try to accommodate her and pull up a chair to the counter. I grab a bowl and sprinkle a little of what I’m using into it and let her stir (and lick) away.
Allspice is usually used as a pinch or so in the background of cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves, but it stood alone in these muffins. It gave it an interesting flavor that might be hard to put your finger on if you didn’t know what was in it. I was really happy with these, and because I’d found another great (muffin) recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s book.
Allspice Crumb Muffins
From Baking: From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan
Streusel:
1/2 c flour
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground allspice
5 T cold butter, cut into bits
Muffins:
2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 stick (8 T) butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
3/4 c whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare 12 muffin molds with either nonstick spray or paper liners. You could also use silicone molds, which require neither.
Prepare streusel by blending the flour, brown sugar and allspice. Mix in the cold butter either by using your fingers or a pastry blender. Mixture should be crumbly and the butter should be the size of peas. Place in the refrigerator until your ready to use it. (It can be stored, covered, for up to three days.)
To make the muffins, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Add brown sugar and blend, ensuring there are no lumps. In a separate bowl, whisk the butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry; stir until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Don’t over mix! Batter should be sorta lumpy. It’s fine that way. Blend in the lemon zest, if using.
Spoon the batter into prepared muffin molds and top with streusel mixture, pressing a little with your fingers. You should have some streusel mixture leftover. Place muffin pan (or molds) onto a baking sheet and bake for 20-24 minutes until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove and cool for a few minutes before removing from molds.
Nat’s Notes
1. I used about 1/2 tsp of lemon zest and thought it brightened the flavors a bit. It didn’t taste lemony.
2. The original recipe used unsalted butter, but I spaced it and used regular, as well as the full amount of salt. I didn’t think they were salty at all, so feel free to use either type of butter.






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Shauna — February 17, 2009 @ 8:20 pm
I am new here! What a great blog :)
[Reply]
Maria — February 17, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
Oh how I love Dorie! Her recipes are the best! The muffins look marvelous!
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ice tea: sugar high — February 20, 2009 @ 2:45 am
I just bought me a fresh copy of this book too. I love Dorie. your muffins are adorable. So does your little helper =)
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