Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Raspberry Muffin with Brown Sugar Hazelnut Streusel

Raspberry Muffin with Brown Sugar Hazelnut Streusel

Steven’s parents have a raspberry bush in their yard and I was the lucky recipient of some of the delicious berries. I ended up eating most of them but I managed to set aside some (it wasn't easy) to bake with. The muffin base is adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for blueberry muffins but I replaced the blueberries with raspberries and topped them with a brown sugar hazelnut streusel. The muffin base recipe was absolutely delicious; it'll be my master muffin recipe from now on.

Notes:
- You can use blueberries and omit the topping for the original blueberry muffins
- I cut the sugar down from the 1 cup called for in the original recipe to 1/2 cup with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar on top for the streusel. I found this was the perfect amount of sweetness since Bettina and I don’t like our muffins too sweet.

Raspberry Muffins with Brown Sugar Hazelnut Streusel
Sour Cream Base Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 C sour cream

For Raspberry and Hazelnut Streusel
1 1/4 C raspberries
2 Tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp flour

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, adjust a rack to the middle position. Spray a 12 cup regular size muffin tin with some nonstick spray.

Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk egg, sugar, and vanilla together until combined, then whisk in the sour cream and melted butter.

Scatter half the berries in the flour mix and scatter the rest in the sour cream mixture. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour and fold to combine, take care not to smush the raspberries too much. There should be not large pockets of flour but small streaks may remain. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick.

Divide the batter evenly into the tin (a very large cookie scoop is excellent for this). Mix all of the ingredients for the streusel together and top each muffin with a small spoonful, then spread the filling out over the top of the muffin.

Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Gently pick the muffins out of the tin and cool them on a rack, flipping them out may cause the topping to fall off.

9 comments:

Peabody said...

I would love it if somebody would give me raspberries, lucky girl. Your muffins look moist and yummy.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Those muffins look gorgeous and extremely yummy!

Bettina said...

omg, my favorite muffin!!! sooooo good!! and i'm not even that big of a raspberry fan, but the combination was oh so delish!!

Deborah said...

You don't have to convince me with this one. These look fabulous!!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Amy, you'll become a muffin queen pretty soon - delicious! And I do love raspberries and hazelnuts...

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Cook's Illustrated can just get it right! But what I'm liking here is that brown sugar hazelnut streuse! I think it would be beautiful on a coffee cake.

Amy said...

Peabody,
Thanks Pea, your muffins always look scrumptious too, especially that snickerdoodle one! The raspberry bush has no more fruit to give unfortunately. :(

Rosa,
Thank you!

Bettina,
I'll make some blackberry muffins with those ripening berries in the backyard.

Deborah,
I love raspberries and hazelnuts so anything with them is yummy in my book. :) Hmm, maybe next time I should add some chocolate chunks to the batter.

Patricia,
Muffins are so quick to make at home, I'm going to keep it a weekly tradition!

Tanna,
I have so much faith in CI recipes CI is always my go-to resource! Raspberries and hazelnut streusel would definitely make a delicious coffee cake.

Meghan said...

these look delicious!

Starfruit Gypsy said...

These look delicious! Could I safely substitute cherries into these? Would the hazelnut strudel still go well?

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