Recipe: Lemon Crumble Muffins

Lemon Crumble Muffins
Recipe by Elizebett Rocha Bento Eslinger

I’m a huge fan of lemon-based desserts and crumble-based desserts, so I figured: why not combine lemon and a brown sugar crumble into one gorgeous muffin? These muffins are a huge hit in my house, and they look like they’ve come out of a professional bakery. This recipe makes 12 muffins. 

Ingredients - Crumb Topping

• 80g (~ ⅔ cup) all-purpose flour
• 50g (~ ¼ cup packed) brown sugar
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 pinch of table salt
• 55 g (~4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients - Batter

• 200g (~1 cup) milk
• 140g (~⅔ cup) vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 15 g (~2 tbsp) grated lemon zest (about 3 large lemons)
• 340 g (about 2 ½ cups) all purpose flour, sifted
• 85 g (about ½ cup) granulated sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder, sifted 
• 1 tsp table salt

Ingredients - Lemon Icing (optional)

• 115g (~1 cup) powdered sugar
• 1 pinch table salt
• 1-3 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by lining with paper muffin cups or greasing with baking spray.
2. To make the crumb topping:
• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Add the melted butter and mix well until all dry ingredients are moistened. You should have a thick, crumbled mix. Set aside.
3. To make the muffin batter:
• In a large bowl, beat together milk, oil, egg, and lemon zest. Set aside
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until the flour is just moistened. Batter will be lumpy.
4. Evenly divide and scoop the muffin batter into the prepared pan (and ~⅓ cup of batter in each cup). Evenly divide and crumble the topping on the batter in each cup. Gently press the topping onto the surface of the batter (to keep the crumb from spilling off when the muffins rise and bake in the oven).
5. Bake the muffins until golden brown for 18-22 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean and/or the internal temperature once baked is 200 degrees F.
6. Immediately remove muffins from the pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes.
• If using the icing: make the icing by whisking together powdered sugar and salt in a small bowl. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Add a little more juice, ~½ to 1 tsp at a time until the icing is a pourable consistency. Drizzle a little icing on top of each muffin. Serve.