Crumb-Topped Blackberry Muffins

Do you listen to music in the kitchen? Sometimes I listen to a shuffled mix of music, or I’ll play live a local radio station from their website, or I’ll pick something on Pandora. When I pick something specific, more often than not it’s jazz. And, Sarah Vaughan is one of my favorites. When I read the head note for the recipe shown here today (see below), I was inspired to turn on the music and start baking. These blackberry muffins are from Patty Pinner’s latest book Sweet Mornings, and I received a review copy. This is a collection of sweet, and some savory, breakfast treats Pinner has put together over years of gathering recipes from the women in her family and women from her neighborhood. The recipes all come with stories, and she writes: “my recipes are testimonials to all I’ve learned, listened to, and observed in the kitchens of other women.” It makes you want to slow down in the morning, invite your neighbor in, and chat for a few minutes over hot tea and something sweet. And, if you like coffee cakes as much as I do, this is a book you’ll want. In addition to the muffins, scones, biscuits, rolls, sweet loaves, pancakes, and doughnuts, there are no fewer than 25 different types of coffee cake. There’s a Rhubarb Coffee Cake, Pistachio Coffee Cake, Nutmeg Coffee Cake, Blueberry-Cornmeal Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping, Eggnog Crumb Coffee Cake, and a Peanut Butter and Jelly Coffee Cake to name a few. Don’t they all sound great? But, I had been eagerly awaiting blackberry season and had to try these crumb topped muffins first. Due to the nature of my love of a crumb topping, I should mention that I learned a lesson from another crumb topping aficionado years ago. That lesson was to always double the crumb topping quantities. Ignore that suggestion if you’re not as crazy for crumb topping as I am. 

Making that crumb topping is step one. Flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt were combined in a bowl, and butter was worked into the mixture. I used coconut palm sugar which gave mine a darker brown color than it would have had with granulated sugar, and as usual, I doubled the quantities. To prep the pan, I used muffin cups rather than greasing and flouring the pan. Making the batter was a simple matter of combining the dry ingredients including flour, more coconut palm sugar for me, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, lemon zest, and salt. A well was made in the center of the mixture. In a separate bowl, yogurt, melted and cooled butter, eggs, and vanilla extract were combined and then poured into the well in the dry ingredients. The batter was carefully stirred together so as not to overmix. Next, blackberries were folded into the batter before it was spooned into the muffin cups. The crumb mixture was sprinkled on top of each muffin, and they baked for about 25 minutes. 

A hot cup of tea went perfectly with these fruity muffins, and I had received a selection of organic teas from Teavivre to try. The Organic White Peony was subtly floral and lovely. It’s a very light bodied tea that was delicious hot and iced. Next, I tried the Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea which is a slightly grassy green tea with great flavor. Another green option is Tian Mu Mao Feng, and this one is milder in flavor and lighter in color. These are high quality, loose leaf teas packed in sealed, airtight packages. And, they’d be great with all those coffee cakes too. 

Crumb-Topped Blackberry Muffins 
Reprinted with publisher’s permission from Sweet Mornings by Patty Pinner, Agate Midway, 2016. 

In 1965, jazz was everywhere. It floated out of project buildings and penthouse windows alike. Daddy listened to Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie on homemade 8-track cartridges he bought from Mr. Manning, who made them in his garage. I guess you could say that making tapes was Mr. Manning’s hustle. Sarah Vaughan was Mama’s favorite singer. She loved Miss Vaughan’s lush voice and played Miss Vaughan’s “My Favorite Things” over and over on a small stereo in the kitchen. Mama baked while Miss Vaughan’s velvety voice sang on. And the music came out in her cooking—the morning sweets she made were as plush and smooth as cool jazz. These Crumb-Topped Blackberry Muffins are a case in point. 

Make 16 muffins 

Topping 
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces 

Muffins 
Nonstick cooking spray, for greasing 
2 cups all-purpose flour 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
2 teaspoons baking power 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup plain yogurt 
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries 

1. To make the topping: In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Using your fingers, a pastry blender, or the tines of a fork, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it becomes crumbly. Set aside. 
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease 2 8-count muffin pans with the cooking spray. Set aside. 
3. To make the batter: In a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, lemon zest, and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture and set aside. 
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients: the yogurt, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and stir until the batter is moistened. (Do not over mix; the batter should be lumpy.) Carefully fold in the blackberries, ensuring they are evenly distributed and that the fruit does not become broken up. 
5. Divide the batter evenly among the cups of the prepared pans, filling each about 1/2 full. Sprinkle each evenly with the topping. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. 
6. Using a serrated knife, separate the muffins from the pans and then tap the pans gently on the counter to release the muffins. 
7. Transfer to a serving platter and serve warm. 

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Cranberry Pie with Pecan Crumble

I always have a hard time choosing what to make for Thanksgiving dessert. It was especially difficult this year since I’d just read a couple of new baking books and had even more delicious ideas than usual. There were two different sweet potato pies that were very strong contenders, and I’m already planning to choose one of them for the top of next year’s list of dessert considerations. After some serious reflection and dessert-focused meditation, I decided to go in a fruity direction with the Cranberry Pie from Nick Malgieri's Pastry. This was one of the recipes in the book that got my attention when I first flipped through the pages. The cranberries make a pretty filling, and the added pecans give it great texture. There’s an option for adding a nut crumb topping, and I couldn’t resist. Regarding crumb toppings, I’m one of those people who tend to double the quantities to make a very generous topping. I can report that technique is not necessary here. The amount of crumb topping suggested covered the pie completely and was almost too much. (almost) And, interestingly, Malgieri suggests baking the crumb topping separately on a baking sheet for a bit before adding it to the pie. It gets delightfully crispy and crunchy, and I’ll remember to do that with other crumb topping from now on. 

The pie was baked in a nine-inch pie pan, and a sweet crust dough was made in advance and fit into the pan. I left the prepared but unbaked pie crust in the freezer until the filling was ready. For the filling, one and a half pounds of cranberries were combined with a third of a cup of sugar, two thirds of a cup of brown sugar, a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger, the zest of an orange, a half of a cup of orange juice, four tablespoons of butter, a half teaspoon of cinnamon, and a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger. This mixture was brought to a simmer in a large saucepan and stirred often. There’s a warning in the recipe that if the filling is overcooked, it will be hard once baked in the pie. The mixture only cooked for five minutes, maybe even less than five minutes, just until thickened. It was left to cool, and then a half a cup of chopped pecans was added. For the crumb topping, one cup of flour was added to three tablespoons of sugar, a quarter teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, one half cup of chopped pecans, and six tablespoons of melted butter. The mixture was stirred together evenly and left to sit for five minutes for the flour to completely absorb the butter. It was broken into crumbles and scattered on a parchment-lined baking sheet. It was baked at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Next, the prepared pie crust was filled with the cranberry mixture, the pre-baked crumb topping was strewn about on top of the pie filling, and the pie baked at 350 for about 40 minutes. 

Even with the nutty crumb topping, this pie isn’t overly sweet. The tart cranberries give it great, fruity flavor and temper the sweetness. I served the pie with maple-sweetened whipped cream to fit the Thanksgiving theme. I don’t think any of the desserts I considered would have been bad choices, but I’m thrilled to have gotten to taste this cranberry pie. And, now that the Christmas season is upon us, I need to start making another holiday dessert decision. 

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Espresso Cardamom Crumb Cakes

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the big bake sale that was being planned to raise funds for recovery efforts in West, Texas. I’m thrilled to report that it was a huge success, and we’re all so thankful to everyone who came out for the sale and made donations online. The total raised was over $19,000! As planned, I baked more of the Chocolate Chip and Cherry Scones, and I wanted to bring a second option to the sale as well. I was in a crumb cake kind of mood, and really, I’m always in the mood for a crumb topping. I found a great recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours for a Cardamom Crumb Cake that has orange zest and espresso powder in the cake itself and in the crumb topping. I had to try it. Since I was baking for a bake sale, I made individual, small cakes in paper molds that are actually made for crumb cakes or so says the label. The little cakes were easy to slip into cellophane bags. I doubled the recipe in the book, lined up the paper cups on a baking sheet, and started filling them until the batter was gone. I ended up with ten little cakes. These paper molds are sturdier than a regular cupcake liner, but they didn’t hold their shape perfectly. What was perfect was the aroma of cardamom, espresso, and orange zest as the cakes baked. 

You start with the most important part—the crumbs. Flour, chopped toasted walnuts, sugar, orange zest, instant espresso powder and I always add a little extra, and cardamom were combined in a bowl. Butter was then worked into the flour mixture but not overworked. Big pieces of crumb topping are always a good thing. For the cake, flour, baking powder, and salt were combined with more cardamom and espresso powder. More orange zest was mixed with sugar, and Dorie suggests rubbing the sugar and orange zest together with your hands. It releases the oil from the zest and ensures the zest will be well-distributed in the batter. The wet ingredients included melted and cooled butter, eggs, whole milk, brewed coffee, and vanilla extract, and they were whisked together and then stirred into the dry ingredients. I scooped the batter into the crumb cake cups and topped each cup with crumb mixture. My little cakes baked for about 20 minutes. 

I only kept one cake at home to taste and soon wished I kept at least two. But, luckily, it’ll be quick and easy to mix up the batter and crumbs again. In the book, Dorie includes a tip about baking extra crumbs on a baking sheet and using them to top pots de creme or ice cream. That’s one more reason I’ll be making this again soon. 

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Apple Cranberry Crumb Tart

I have to tell you about one more Thanksgiving dish, and then I promise to move on. As usual, I was indecisive about what dessert should be, and I considered everything from a chocolate and caramel tart to various pumpkin creations. In the end, fall fruits won. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I saw a crumb tart that was originally made with summer fruits, and the crumb topping and crisp-edged crust are what won me over. Crammed away in my files, the page with this tart had been cut from the June 1999 issue of Living magazine, and the recipe is online. I decided to switch out the raspberries and plums from the original version and use granny smith apples and cranberries instead. The important thing here, though, is really the crust. It was made with ground hazelnuts and cinnamon, and it was pressed into a spring-form pan and up the sides. I was sure that as soon as the tart finished baking, cooled, and the ring was loosened, the tall sides of the crust would crumble and fall into pieces. I was thrilled to be wrong. The lacy, crisp edges of crust held their shape perfectly even after the tart was cut for serving. There is one other interesting detail about this tart, and that’s the custard in the filling. After adding cranberries and apple pieces to the blind-baked crust, some custard was poured over the top to settle its way in and around all the fruit. With crust edges that didn’t crumble, a custard and fruit filling, and the golden crumb topping, this dessert scored well in all categories.

First up was toasting the hazelnuts and rubbing them in a towel to remove the skins. Then, they went into a food processor and were pulsed until medium fine. The ground nuts were transferred to a stand mixer bowl, and flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt were added. Cold pieces of butter were added next, and it was mixed until crumbs started sticking together. Three cups of the crumb mixture was pressed into a spring-form pan, and the rest was set aside. The crust was then baked for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the apples were sliced, and the cranberries were washed. The custard was made with flour, sugar, an egg and an egg yolk, heavy cream, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. The fruit was placed in the baked and cooled crust, and the custard was poured over it. The remaining crumb mixture was sprinkled on top, and the tart baked for 50 minutes. I wasn’t completely happy with the color of the crumb topping after that amount of time, so I turned on the broiler for a few minutes to brown the crumbs a bit more. For serving, I topped each piece with whipped creme fraiche.

The custard in the filling is just enough to hold the fruit together well. The flavor and texture are really all about the fruit. But, it was the nutty, golden crust and crumb topping that stole the show in my opinion. The crust edges held their shape so nicely, and the buttery, golden crumbs on top were just right with the sweet-tart filling.

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Caramel Crumb Bars

I don't usually show you the same thing twice, but these caramel bars are worth mentioning again. The first time they appeared, they were one of three cookies in a post and didn't get enough of the spotlight. I made them again recently for a bake sale, and now I'm giving them the attention they deserve. They're from The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, and he notes that if he had to choose a favorite cookie this would be it. That's a serious statement coming from someone who has baked as much as he has. I don't know that I could pick one favorite cookie. Maybe I could narrow down a few favorites I've baked this year or possibly an all-time top ten list. Can you name one favorite cookie? I did make one change to the bars this time. Rather than baking them in a nine by thirteen-inch pan, I used a nine-inch square pan. I wanted each layer to be a little thicker than they were last time. I left them in the oven for a few extra minutes, and the change in pan size seemed to work fine.

The dough is as easy as it gets. Butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, and flour were combined in a mixer, and then three quarters of the dough was patted into a pan that had been lined with parchment. The remaining dough was reserved for the crumb topping, additional flour was added to it, and it was worked into about one quarter inch crumbs. The pan with the dough was chilled. Meanwhile, the caramel filling was made in a saucepan from a mixture of butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, and condensed milk. It thickened and turned a nice, caramel color in about ten minutes. It was allowed to cool for five minutes before being poured onto the chilled dough. The crumb topping was sprinkled on top, and the bars baked for 35 minutes in a nine-inch square pan. Since I baked mine in a smaller pan for a few minutes longer, the edges became just slightly darker than I wanted. After the bars cooled and I removed them from the pan, I trimmed a thin slice off each edge. It was an added step to the process, but I really liked the thicker layers in this version.

The cookie base was crunchy, the caramel filling was gooey but held its shape well, and the crumb topping was buttery bliss. I'm easy to please when a cookie includes caramel or a crumb topping, and these have both. I might not mention these on this site for a third time, twice seems like enough, but I'll definitely be making them again and again.

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Cherry Crumb Cake

I mentioned finding the cinnamon raisin breakfast ring in The Modern Baker book, and after finding that, I got distracted by several other recipes. There are some quick breads I want to try, a raisin coffee cake that looks amazing, and the bakery crumb buns made me stop and look too. Then, I came upon the blueberry crumb cake page. I had already decided to make the breakfast ring, but now this crumb cake looked quite enticing. The logical solution, I realized, was to make both. While the breakfast ring was to be taken to a brunch party and shared, the crumb cake would stay at home for us to devour all by ourselves. As I read through the recipe and the side notes, I noticed a suggestion about using fresh cherries instead of blueberries and that sounded like a very good idea. I brought home some gorgeous, juicy cherries and set about removing the pits. Pitting cherries is a mundane kitchen task that I actually enjoy. It’s almost like popping bubbles on bubble wrap. It’s fun.

The crumb topping was made by combining flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and melted butter. That crumbly mixture was spread over the pitted cherries and set aside. Then, in a stand mixer, softened butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla were mixed. Flour and baking powder were combined and added to mixer in three additions alternating with a combination of egg yolks and milk. This resulting batter was spread in a baking pan and topped with the cherries and crumb topping. It couldn’t have been simpler to prepare. The baking time was about 40 minutes, and it emerged from the oven looking as tempting as the photo in the book.

I’m sure blueberries would also be great in this cake, and plums were another suggested fruit option. However, the fresh cherries were divine, and the crumb topping was in perfect proportion to the tender, buttery cake. I may need to hide this book from myself to prevent a nonstop, baking-marathon frenzy from consuming my every waking hour, but so far I’ve been extremely pleased with each recipe I’ve tried.

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