New York-Style Coffee Cake Crumb Muffins

I pretty much share all my treats with coworkers & friends because there’s no way it’s healthy if Jason and I ate all of them! I love that the panettone baking cups stand up on their own so you don’t even have to put them in a muffin tin.

You just place them on a baking sheet and bake! They fill a lot too, which was great for this recipe since the crumb to cake ratio was about 3:1 – the best!

Sidenote: You know what’s worse than craving Chick-Fil-A on a Sunday and having it be closed? Rolling up to a Chick-Fil-A on a Thursday evening and seeing that it’s CLOSED due to renovations.

What the what?! So inappropriate!

We pulled up to the CFA parking lot and there were about 7 other cars just parked in the parking lot looking as confused as we were trying to quickly think of plan B for dinner.

Can you imagine if you had a wailing 5 year old in the backseat? “But I WANT Chick-Fil-A!!!!!” Yeah, good thing we don’t have one of those. This lady even got out of the car to see if this was a joke.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a joke. Lame-o.

When it comes to crumb cakes, especially the New York-style coffee crumb cakes, I’m all about the crumb.

I prefer very little cake and a massive crumb topping. When I found this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, I knew I had to try it.

If you’re tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour – don’t. Just go to the store and buy cake flour. Why?

If you use all-purpose flour, you’re going to end up with a dry, tough muffin. Also, use buttermilk! If you don’t have it, you can always substitute it with plain yogurt or put 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into 1 cup of milk.

The recipe says it makes a dozen and you might find that a little unbelievable, but remember: this recipe is more about the crumb topping than the cake.

This recipe has just a cushion of cake compared to the massive crumb topping. If you want to make an even ratio of cake vs. crumb, then it’ll only make 6 muffins.

New York-Style Coffee Cake Crumb Muffins

If there is crumb in the name for crumb muffins, you better believe there should be a lot of crumb on top!

3.50 from 6 votes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 1 dozen

Author: Julie Chiou

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Ingredients 

½1x2x3x

US CustomaryMetric

For the crumb topping

• ▢ ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 8 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• ▢ 1 ¾ cups cake flour

For the muffin

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup cake flour
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 egg yolk
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅓ cup buttermilk, or 1/3 cup plain yogurt

The default measuring system for this website is US Customary. Unit conversions are provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. While we strive to provide accurate unit conversions, please be aware that there may be some discrepancies.

Equipment

• Muffin pan
• Stand mixer
• Hand mixer

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Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 °F. Line muffin pan with baking cups or prepare panettone baking cups by spraying them lightly with cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Pour the butter over top and using a wooden spoon, mix until incorporated. Then add the cake flour and mix until mixture resembles a thick and cohesive dough. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and buttermilk and mix until all has been incorporated and batter is light and fluffy.
• Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup (**see NOTES below), divide up batter into prepared muffin pan. Then, sprinkle a generous amount of the crumb topping on top, using your fingers to pinch the dough into a crumbly mixture, if not already. Do not press the crumb topping into the batter. Just let it sit on top.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until crumbs are golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (Note: I did stick my muffins under the broiler at about the 15 minute baking mark so the tops would get nice and brown. If you do this, make sure to watch it carefully. You do not have to do the broiler step and can omit it completely.)
• Let muffins cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Recipe Notes

You'll need to use deeper/taller than normal baking cups for this (like panettone baking cups) otherwise the crumb topping will fall off. If you use normal baking cups, use less batter then add the crumb topping.

Source: Cook's Illustrated

NUTRITION FACTS

Serving: 1 Muffin | Calories: 339 kcal | Carbohydrates: 49 g | Protein: 4 g | Fat: 14 g | Fiber: 2 g | Sugar: 23 g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For the most precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator based on the actual ingredients you used in the recipe.

Course: Muffin

Cuisine: American

Keyword: muffin recipe

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