Mixed Berry Muffin Recipe

When wrapped individually and kept in the freezer, they are a delicious grab-and-go breakfast on busy weekday mornings. But, they are also my favorite muffin to bake on a leisurely weekend morning when the most important thing I need to do is decide whether I’m going to eat another. Which, of course, I am.

Just like my favorite Lemon Blueberry Muffin recipe, these Mixed Berry Muffins have a soft, tender texture that’s packed with berries. But, instead where the lemon blueberry muffins are topped with a lemony glaze, these berry muffins are topped with heaps of buttery brown sugar streusel.

The things I love the most about these muffins (in no particular order):

• TONS of buttery brown sugar streusel.
• They can be made with fresh OR frozen berries. This means you can make them year round, not just during berry season. 👏
• They are HUGE. These are generous, fill you up and keep you far away from hangry kind of muffins. (BTW – If you’re looking for small, dainty muffins check out these cinnamon streusel mini muffins.)

Ingredients Needed to Prepare this Recipe

• Brown sugar and granulated white sugar: Brown sugar in the streusel, white sugar in the muffins.
• All-purpose flour. I prefer unbleached.
• Cinnamon. Just a hint of ground cinnamon in the streusel is a delicious warm complement to brown sugar and butter.
• Salt. You can use kosher salt or table salt to make these muffins, just pay attention to the different amounts listed in the recipe card for each.
• Old-fashioned oats. In a pinch you can use the quick cooking kind, but old-fashioned oats give the streusel a better texture.
• Butter! I used salted butter but if you’re sensitive to salt, use unsalted.
• Baking powder. I prefer to use baking powder with no added aluminum which can give baked goods a slightly metallic taste.
• Eggs.
• Plain, unsweetened yogurt. Use regular or Greek yogurt, preferably full fat.
• Finely grated lemon zest.
• Pure vanilla extract.
• Fresh OR frozen berries – any kind or combination.

How to Make the Best Brown Sugar Streusel

The buttery, brown sugar streusel on these muffins is my favorite part. I love the sugary crunch it adds to each bite of soft, tender muffin. SO GOOD.

While making streusel couldn’t be easier, there are a few tips that will ensure that crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth texture we’re after:

1. When measuring brown sugar, make sure you pack it into the measuring cup. Scoop some brown sugar into a measuring cup and then use a spoon or your fingers to really press it in there.
2. If you’re not a fan of cinnamon, just leave it out. Other delicious options are cardamom, ginger and nutmeg. Just be careful how much you use. With spices like ginger and nutmeg, a little goes a long way. Start with a little, taste, and add more if you like.
3. Make sure the butter is soft, but not melted. The best way to achieve room temperature butter is to leave it out at room temperature for an hour or two. Obviously. If you’re anything like me and never remember to do this, here’s how to bring butter to room temperature quickly.
4. Use your fingers. I mean, you could use a spoon. But it’s so much easier to just smoosh everything around with your fingers until all the dry ingredient are moistened with the butter.

3 Easy Steps to Perfect Berry Muffins

Like the streusel, making these muffins requires little else then dumping ingredients into a bowl and mixing them up.

You’ll get the best rise with these muffins if you get them in the oven right after mixing up the batter. So, mix up the streusel first and cover it so it won’t dry out.

Preheat the oven, line a muffin pan with paper liners, then mix up the batter in 3 easy steps:

1. Dump the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium size bowl and use a whisk to blend it all together.
2. Add the melted butter, sugar, and eggs to another bowl and and whisk for about 30 seconds. Dump in the yogurt, lemon zest and vanilla extract and whisk some more just until the batter is looking nice and smooth.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the egg and sugar mixture and stir just until the flour is about 75% incorporated. Dump in the berries. At this point, I usually abandon the spoon and use my hands to mix the berries into the batter. The batter is thick and it’s just easier to use your hands. Wash them first, of course.

The Secret to Making Large Muffins with Lots of Streusel

Tulip paper liners are one of my favorite things. Here’s why:

• Their pointy tops hold in all that yummy streusel as the muffins rise in the oven. This means you can top your muffins with a LOT of streusel. The more streusel the better, in my book.
• They fit inside a regular size muffin tin but rise up above the top. This means you can add more batter to each cup and bake up large, tall muffins without having to use a jumbo size muffin pan.
• Tulip liners make it super easy to remove muffins from the pan as soon as they are finished baking. Just grab hold of those tulip tops and lift them right out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool.
• They unfurl into a nice little paper plate on those mornings when you grab a muffin before rushing out the door.

FAQs and Expert Tips

📖 Recipe

Mixed Berry Muffins with Streusel

Yield:
12 large muffins

Prep Time:
20 minutes

Cook Time:
25 minutes

Total Time:
45 minutes

These simple mixed berry muffins are packed with berries and a generous amount of brown sugar streusel. Make with fresh or frozen berries.

Ingredients

FOR THE STREUSEL

• ¾ cup (160 grams) brown sugar

• ¾ cup (90 grams) all-purpose flour

• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, OR ½ teaspoon table salt

• ⅓ cup (30 grams) of old-fashioned oats

• 6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter, melted

FOR THE MUFFINS:

• 2 cups (240 grams) of all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt, OR ¼ teaspoon table salt

• 4 tablespoons (57 grams) butter, melted

• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1 ¼ cups (284 grams) of plain, unsweetened yogurt

• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 heaping cups (about 320 grams) of fresh or frozen berries

Instructions

MAKE THE STREUSEL:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover, and set aside.

BAKE THE MUFFINS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and line a muffin pan with paper liners, preferably tulip liners (*See note).
2. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium size bowl and mix with a wire whisk to combine.
3. Add the melted butter, sugar, and eggs to another medium size bowl and whisk vigorously with a wire whisk for about 30 seconds, until well combined. Add the yogurt, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and whisk for a few seconds more, until the batter is smooth.
4. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients and then the berries. The batter will be very thick. If using fresh berries, fold them into the batter as gently as you can with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. When mixing in frozen berries, I usually use my hands to fully incorporate them into the batter.
5. If using tulip muffin liners, distribute the batter amongst 12 muffin cups. If using regular muffin liners, fill 18 – 24 muffin cups half full. The batter is very thick, so use your fingers or the back of a spoon to press the batter gently into each cup. Evenly distribute the crumb topping across all the muffins.
6. If using tulip liners, bake for 28 – 32 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out mostly clean. If baking slightly smaller muffins in regular muffin liners, bake for 18 -23 minutes.
7. Let the muffins cool inside the pan placed on a wire rack for about 10 minutes then remove and serve. Or, let cool completely and wrap individually or store in an air-tight container.

Notes

• Tulip liners are perfect for these muffins because they hold in all the streusel while the muffins bake. Tulip liners also hold more batter than regular paper liners so you’ll end up with 12 large muffins.
• If you use regular paper liners, this recipe will make 18-24 smaller muffins that will not take as long to bake: 18-23 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12

Serving Size: 1

Amount Per Serving:

Calories: 340Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 481mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 2gSugar: 30gProtein: 6g