Soft homemade muffins with blueberries that rise beautifully. They're berry-packed and topped with a buttery crumble topping that bakes to a golden brown. Finished with a delectable lemon-flavored glaze, they're ready in 45 minutes and freeze well.
Crumb top muffins
Good muffin recipes are essential in every home baker's repertoire, and we have already posted several, including my go-to quick blueberry muffins.
These go a step further with a crunchy crumble and finger-licking lemon glaze. They're sweet, easy and bakery-style if you use jumbo muffin pans.
I can add to that that muffins with a crumb topping might also happen to be a must, at least around here. Besides these blueberry crumble muffins we're sharing today, we're big (huge!) fans of cinnamon muffins and apple muffins.
- Quick and easy: the batter comes together in no time, so you can whip them up quickly and have warm muffins when the craving hits.
- Eating them warm: they're great after 10-15 minutes of cooling down. You'll have to eat them plain, without the icing.
- Make ahead: they keep well for a day at room temperature, covered or in an airtight container, and freeze wonderfully. I suggest warming them in a medium oven (350°F/180°C) before eating.
- Adaptable: use fresh blueberries or frozen ones. Skip the glaze, and they'll still be amazing.
FAQ
In my experience, the main culprit is too much mixing or beating the batter. The ingredients have to be lightly mixed *just* until integrated. Use a spatula or whisk for best results, as it's hard to overmix a muffin batter by folding it by hand.
Yes, you can! Freeze the baked muffins covered in plastic wrap and foil. You can also make ahead and freeze the streusel crumb topping and have frozen blueberries for a quick assembly.
Ingredient list
- Blueberries: you can use fresh or frozen berries; both work well.
- White granulated sugar.
- Light brown sugar: it's used for the streusel but you can use all white sugar.
- Buttermilk: what if you don't have fresh buttermilk? You can buy buttermilk powder and prepare it as you need to. Or make homemade buttermilk (it's VERY easy, see Notes in the recipe card for details).
- Unsalted butter.
- Vegetable oil: we use sunflower oil, which is neutral, but coconut oil, canola, or light olive oil can be used.
- Eggs: large, fresh.
- All-purpose flour.
- Baking powder: make sure it's not expired.
- Salt.
- Ground cinnamon.
- Vanilla extract.
- Powdered sugar: also called confectioners or icing sugar.
- Fresh lemon juice.
Quantities are listed on the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
Steps to make these muffins
This is an old-fashioned recipe for crumb blueberry muffins, where the wet ingredients are mixed in a bowl and the dry ingredients in another. The two are then combined.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together. There's no need to beat. This is not a recipe to use the electric or stand mixer.
- Stir the dry ingredients together, especially the baking powder and salt, to ensure they're well combined and distributed.
Crumble
Make it first and refrigerate it while you prepare the batter.
It's a small amount, so use your hands or a pastry cutter to integrate the butter.
Blueberries
Fold in the berries with a spatula so you don't smash them, or at least as little as possible.
Fill and bake
- Muffin tin: I like to use paper liners (paper cups or muffin liners), as they keep the muffins moist and are great for transporting them. But you can simply butter or use baking spray for the muffin pan.
- Filling the pan: make sure you distribute blueberries in all of the muffin tins. I use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups evenly. Don't go over ¾ of their capacity.
Topping
Divide the blueberry batter evenly. A cookie scoop will help with this.
Sprinkle the clumpy crumble on top. It's a little messy; that is fine.
Test for doneness
Take the baking time given in the recipe as your guide and check five minutes earlier. See if the tester or toothpick comes out clean. All ovens are different, so it might take a few minutes more or less than specified.
Kitchen Notes
- Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
- Baking time: consider that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as possible, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer(like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Light mixing: you mustn't overmix the muffin batter.
- Blueberries: fresh berries are always my first choice, but these homemade muffins can be made year-round with frozen blueberries. Add them to the batter straight from the freezer; no need to thaw them.
- Crumb topping: you can make it ahead and refrigerate it for a week or freeze it for a month. To use, let thaw in the fridge.
Simple glaze
This finger-licking icing really rounds up the flavor of these muffins, adding a touch of lemon. It's extremely easy to make, and we have a post on how to make powdered sugar glaze if you want to read more about it.
Use powdered sugar and lemon juice. It should be like thick honey and drizzled over the cold muffins. If the muffins are warm or hot, the icing drips too much and becomes too thin.
Related recipes you might like:
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Blueberry Crumb Top Muffins
Ingredients
For the crumb topping:
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
For the muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil, I use sunflower oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, unthawed
For the glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, maybe more
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Line 12 regular muffin tins with paper liners or butter/spray the pans.
For the crumble:
- Mix ½ cup all-purpose flour and ⅓ cup light brown sugar in a bowl.
- Add ¼ cup unsalted butter, in cold pieces and integrate until crumbly. Refrigerate while making the batter.
For the blueberry muffins:
- In a large bowl, sift 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamonand ½ teaspoon salt. Add ½ cup sugar and ½ cup light brown sugar and stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk 2 eggs, ¾ cup buttermilk, ½ cup vegetable oil and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. Do not beat, but mix well until no streaks of egg whites remain.
- Add the wet ingredients at once to the dry ingredients.
- Stir until you barely have streaks of flour, but do not overmix. It will be lumpy and not completely smooth, and that is fine.
- Fold in 1 ½ cups blueberries lightly. Be careful not to mash them. I do it with a rubber spatula.
- Divide evenly among the muffin cups or liners, filling no more than ¾ of their capacity.
- Sprinkle the crumble on top, clumping it a little.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is cracked, golden brown and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.
For the glaze:
- Mix ¾ cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Add more juice, ¼ teaspoon at a time, if you want it thinner.
- Drizzle it lightly over the streusel. You might not need to use all of it.
Dp says
Perfect muffins. Easy to make and delicious.
Jo says
Neighbor made these and they are absolutely delicious. They were a perfect breakfast with coffee on a rainy morning. Thanks for creating a very easy and delightful recipe.
Paula Montenegro says
Thanks Jo! Happy to know you loved them.