Spice up your cakes, pies, muffins with this simple no fuss Streusel Topping Recipe. This recipe comes together in 5 mins and mind you - no pastry cutter needed. Included is all also some tips to customise it as per flavours or needs.
What does Streusel mean?
In baking, streusel is a crumbly topping formed by rubbing cold butter with flour and sugar. Sometimes flavouring agents in the form of nuts, spices and essence are also added to amp up the flavour quotient.
Mostly it is a topping that goes on top of muffins, pies and cakes. At time it can also be added as a filling layer, as commonly seen in pumpkin cakes, cheesecakes or in coffee cakes. Or added as a crunchy element in plated desserts.
Why is it a magical topping?
This one streusel topping recipe can take your baked goodies from being meh to wow effortlessly.
- Ease of making - All you need is a bowl and 4 ingredients to make this topping. No need for pastry cutter, food processor or anything else.
- Flavour Quotient - The butter and flour crisps up upon baking or cooking giving a beautiful texture to your otherwise plain muffins. And when combined with flavouring agents like cinnamon or lemon can easily amp up the overall taste of the final product.
- No oven?? - You can still make this recipe. Simply saute it for few minutes in a saucepan over a medium heat for the raw taste of flour to disappear and everything to crisp up. You can use this to top your everyday oatmeal, plated desserts or simply have it with ice-cream.
- Customize-able - Depending upon what flavour your cake or muffin is you can easily switch it up with your spices. For eg I made this with lemon zest for lemon streusel muffins whereas flavoured it with cinnamon when I made it for my cinnamon roll cheesecake and apple crisps. Same recipe but different variations.
That is exactly why I thought this magical topping deserves a separate post for itself because of its versatility.
Ingredients:
- Fat: Using cold cubed butter is the key to making this recipe. For maximum flavour please only use butter and not margarine.
- Flour: Usually streusel recipe is made using just all purpose flour. But adding little almond flour gives it a rich, sophisticated and a different flavour. Such small additions is what will make you stand out as a homebaker.
- Brown Sugar: You cannot skip it. Brown Sugar adds the colour and caramalised flavour
- Flavourings: Today I am using lemon zest as I am going to top this on our lemon streusel muffins.
Step by Step Instructions:
In a mixing bowl add all the ingredients except for the butter, give a quick mix (images 1-2).
Then add the butter and press it or rub it into the flour mixture so that the flour is completely coated by the butter and it resembles a sand like texture (images 3-4).
PRO TIP: Shake your bowl to and fro once that way all big chunks of butter will come on top of the bowl and then you can rub those too.
Thats about it.
Isn't this streusel topping recipe a super easy recipe? Now you can top this on top of your favourite muffins, pies, cakes or crisps and take it to the next level.
Alternatively you can toast the streusel crumb topping in the oven or on a stove top and top it on your everyday oatmeal or add it as a crunchy element in your plated desserts or simply top it on vanilla ice-cream. So yum!!
Storage Instructions (Shelf - Life)
Transfer the topping mix into an air tight container and store it in the refrigerator for about a week or in the freezer for 2 months.
Once topped on the muffins or cakes and baked, the shelf life would depend upon the baked goodies.
The toasted streusel topping would last for 3-5 days in an air tight container at room temperature.
Baker's Tips:
- Use cold butter and remember to cube it down, that way it would be easier for you to rub the two together. If using warm or melted butter the texture would differ.
- Adjust the flavourings depending upon the type of goodies to be baked.
- Once you have rubbed the two together, shake the bowl to and fro that way any big chunks of butter if left out would come to the top, you can then rub that too.
Variations:
The basic ingredients for a crumb topping are simple - butter, flour and sugar. When you rub the butter into flour you get this amazing sand-like texture which when baked turns crispy and crunchy.
And this, when topped on a cake, becomes your crumb topping or streusel topping.
This basic crumb can be taken up a notch by adding some flavourings to it like cinnamon to make a dutch apple cake or cardamom to make a cardamom crumble. The combination of the cinnamon crumble with grated apple cake makes the best cinnamon apple crumble recipe I used the cardamom crumble while plating up this elegant Master Chef style dessert - Malai sandwich and kesar mousse.
Few other things that you can try:
- Spices: If making an apple or pumpkin or cinnamon flavoured muffins, cheesecakes, cakes, pies or crisps use 1 tsp of cinnamon in place of lemon zest. Other spices such as nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, allspice, or pumpkin spice will also work.
- Addition of oats: Oats makes the crumble or streusel topping even more crispier. Food 52 also recommends toasting the oats prior to adding for even better flavour quotient. This apple streusel topping recipe is to die for.
- Nuts: Nuts add in a great bite to the overall recipe. Feel free to include any of your choice depending upon the recipe you are baking. Pecans are my favourite and it practically pairs well with almost all recipes. No matter what nuts you are using remember to chop them beforehand. About 50 gms should work fine.
And the best part if you do not have an oven, you can toast this mixture and top it on your oatmeal or favourite ice-cream for an additional flavour.
Recipe FAQ's
There is a debate about whether what Germans call a Streusel and Americans call crumb topping the same? As for me the basic ingredients remains the same which is the flour, butter and sugar. The little add ons like oats or spices is what makes the difference. And also the ratio of sugar:butter:flour is different.
If the ratio of butter to flour is off, the topping won't be crunchy. Using a weighing scale is the right way to follow any baking recipe. If the butter is less, the crumble will mixture will be dry and won't turn crunchy.
Just dump all the ingredients in to your food processor and pulse until you get the wet sand like texture. It couldn't be easier than that.
Related Recipes:
- Baked Apple Crisp
- Dutch Apple Crumble
- Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake
- Eggless Blueberry Muffins
- Eggless Lemon Streusel Muffins
- Yogurt Coffee Cake recipe
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Streusel Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (90 gms) APF/Plain Flour/Maida
- 1/2 cup (45 gms) Almond Flour
- 1/2 cup (90 gms) Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp Lemon zest
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/3 cup (76 gms) Cold Butter cubed
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except for the butter in a mixing bowl and mix well.
- Next add the butter and rub it along with the flour until it resembles a wet sand like texture.
Video
Notes
- Use cold butter and remember to cube it down, that way it would be easier for you to rub the two together. If using warm or melted butter the texture would differ.
- Adjust the flavourings depending upon the type of goodies to be baked.
- Once you have rubbed the two together, shake the bowl to and fro that way any big chunks of butter if left out would come to the top, you can then rub that too.
- You can swap the lemon zest with any other spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg etc depending upon the type of recipe you are making. Like 1 tsp cinnamon powder for making apple based cakes, crips or pumpkin based recipes and 1 tsp cardamom for making Indian based desserts.
- Store this mixture in an air tight container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or 1 to 2 months in the freezer and use as and when needed.
- If you do not have an oven, you can toast this mixture on a pan and use it as a topping in your oatmeal or even while serving ice-creams.
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