Raspberry Streusel Muffins
Once upon a time I had magical raspberry bushes. I didn’t buy or grow them. Even better; I inherited them from the family that lived in the house before I did. I did nothing to tend them (I learned later that’s mostly what they need to thrive). I didn’t really water them, I never cut them back and yet summer after summer they produced the most robust raspberry crop from July to October. The bushes would grow taller than the fence and sometimes get so heavy with berries, they would finally tip over, falling to the ground.
So maybe they weren’t technically magic raspberries but they kind of felt that way, producing a bumper crop over and over again, often still pumping out raspberries well into the fall.
When I look back at pictures from our time in that house, I’m instantly transported back to all the hours spent in the backyard, playing t-ball with toddlers, throwing tennis balls for the dogs, mowing the grass (always mowing the grass), rebuilding the deck and yes, really truly, picking raspberries. I have probably a hundred photos of my children with red stained cheeks, proudly holding bowls or handfuls of the bright red berry.
Sadly, we don’t live in that house anymore and the magic raspberries didn’t come along (I should have transplanted a few). We’ve planted raspberry bushes several times over the years but they just never took off.
All that to say, as March arrives and with it the promise of spring, I knew we needed a bright and cheerful spring inspired recipe. The bag of last years raspberries, gifted from a friend, found deep in the back of the freezer, was just the inspiration I was looking for.
I don’t know what it is about the spring and the anticipation of summer, but just seeing the bag of frozen raspberries has me dreaming of summer concerts tucked into the beautiful lavender fields at Gilbert Cellars or a slow stroll, coffee in hand, through the downtown Farmer’s Market. For me personally,’ll spend the majority of the summer sitting in ball fields and lacrosse fields but dotted throughout the warm months will be dinners on the grass at Cowiche Brewery and hikes in Chinook Pass. We’ll steal away for margaritas on the patio at Cowiche Kitchen and an epic dinner at Crafted.
While we wait for warmer months to arrive, we have these bright and lovely raspberry muffins to get us through. This recipe is a copycat of a lovely muffin recipe from the food website, Smitten Kitchen. These bakery style muffins are dense and perfectly crumbly, not too sweet and absolutely packed with raspberries. The recipe lends well to frozen raspberries versus fresh ones. Not that you can’t use fresh raspberries, but this specific recipe accommodates for the frozen fruit. The other unique component to the recipe is that you actually make the streusel topping first, portion a small amount to the side and then continue making the batter all in one bowl. I was initially a little unsure of the process but the muffins turned out beautifully and anytime I can dirty a few less dishes or streamline a recipe, I’m all for it. This recipe makes 12 large bakery-style muffins and can easily be halved to make 6 instead. Don’t be afraid to overfill the muffin tins, the batter doesn’t spread and you’ll end up with beautiful, tall muffins.
Raspberry Streusel Muffins
10 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 medium-size lemon
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups plain Geek yogurt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
16 ounces frozen raspberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Very lightly coat a standard muffin tin with cooking spray and then line the cups with muffin liners.
Make the streusel first. In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup of all-purpose flour until it forms a clumpy mixture. Scoop out 1/3 cup and set it aside in a small bowl; this will be your streusel topping.
For the muffin batter: grate the zest of your lemon into the large bowl with the remaining streusel in it, then juice the lemon over it too. Add the yogurt and eggs and whisk to combine as smoothly as you can, but it’s okay if the batter has a few little lumps in it.
Sprinkle the surface of the batter with baking powder, baking soda, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and whisk to thoroughly combine, going several times more around the bowl than seems necessary. Add remaining 2 1/3 cups of flour and all of the berries. Stir gently, just until the flour disappears.
Divide batter between 12 prepared muffin cups; go ahead and heap it as much as is needed. Divide reserved streusel between muffin tops and use your fingers to push any that lands on the muffin tin back to a nearby muffin.
Bake muffins for 25 to 30 minutes, and until a toothpick inserted from the top to the center of the muffin comes out batter-free. Let cool completely in the pan. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve immediately.