One of Addison’s former daycare classmates recently became a big brother. I offered to bring the newly expanded family some food so they could have one less thing to stress about. I know that most people in my situation bring new parents some comforting foods like baked pastas, enchiladas, soups and other freezer-friendly dinner items. I remembered my days of being a new parent and was grateful for these dinner items, but what I needed and wanted at the time was something for breakfast.
While I did make some dinner items for the family (chicken lo mein and stovetop mac and cheese), I wanted to make sure that our friends had something to eat in the mornings. We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I couldn’t let the new parents go hungry in the mornings. I made them a batch of cereal bars and then decided to whip up some muffins as well. I turned to my trusty Dorie Greenspan book and went on baking.
These allspice crumb muffins were awesome! The muffins were not too sweet and had a nice undertone of allspice (it was not overpowering). The crumb topping was my husband’s favorite part. He noted that the muffins slightly dried out overnight, but that’s partially my fault because I had left our batch sitting on the counter overnight. I should have put them in an airtight container but forgot.
Congratulations to the new parents, and I hope that you and your family enjoy these muffins and the other goodies we made!
Allspice crumb muffins
Ingredients
Crumb topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into bits
Allspice muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk I used 2% since that is what I had
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or spray a regular-sized muffin pan or line with 12 cupcake liners. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Make the crumb topping
- Mix the flour, brown sugar, and allspice in a small bowl. Add the chunks of cold butter and mix with your hands by pinching the mixture between your fingers. Keep pinching until you have uneven, pea-sized crumbs. Place in the refrigerator (the crumb topping can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the refrigerator).
Make the muffins
- Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, allspice, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add in the brown sugar, and stir until no lumps remain. In a separate large bowl, mix together the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. With a whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. The batter will be lumpy.
- Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle the crumb topping over each muffin, then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin. Cool completely.
That was a great idea making them something for breakfast! And these look fantastic 🙂
How sweet of you to make breakfast…it's one of the most important meals of the day especially for new mothers. I'm in love with the new layout of the site, it's soooo gorgeous!
Aw, thanks, Krystal. I love the blog's new look too!
for the muffins, can i substitute light brown sugar with honey or maple syrup?
Hi Kat. Yes, you certainly can substitute with honey or maple syrup, but you'll need to add more dry ingredients (like flour) to make up for the additional liquid. I'd start with half a Tablespoon of flour and go from there. If the mixture still looks too wet, add more flour. Just don't add too much or else the muffins will be too dense and hard.