One of the things I like best about these Strawberry Oat Crumb Bars is that they are made with fresh strawberries instead of jam. I first made these a few months ago and loved the rich, buttery taste of these bars that are big on strawberry flavor! They’re a nice, simple Continue reading
Now that it feels like autumn is in the air, I thought I’d make some muffins with one of my favorite autumn fruits–fresh pears! A friend and I did some pear-picking, and I picked enough to make these muffins. If you like moist muffins filled with lots of small chunks of fresh fruit and topped with a sweet crumb topping, then these muffins are for you! The mild gingery flavor is just right and goes so well with the pears.
These muffins taste great warm or cooled. Great for an autumn breakfast or brunch. Or snack or dessert…let’s just say they are great anytime you want a good, moist, sweet muffin. With a nice hot cup of coffee or tea!
GINGER-PEAR MUFFINS WITH CRUMB TOPPING by NancyC
Makes about 15 regular-size muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup light olive oil
- 1/3 cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups finely chopped pears, peeled or unpeeled (about 2 large or 3 medium pears)
FOR CRUMB TOPPING:
- 1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners; set aside.
Make the Crumb Topping: mix flour, light brown sugar, and ground ginger in a medium-size bowl. Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender until mixture becomes crumbly; set aside.
In large bowl, blend flour, sugar, baking soda, ginger, and salt; set aside.
In medium-size bowl, mix egg, olive oil, Greek yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Fold in the chopped pears, blending evenly into the batter.
Fill lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle crumb topping over the muffins, then bake at 350˚F for 19-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let muffins cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
I over-filled some of my muffin cups a little with batter, closer to 3/4 full, and when you do that, the batter will overflow a little onto your muffin pan around the edges. Which isn’t a big deal if you’re using a non-stick pan–they still come out pretty easily. But if you’re using a regular pan, you’ll want to make sure you just fill the muffin cups 2/3 full of batter.
Do you like pears and baking with pears? What’s your favorite pear recipe?
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Crumb-topped coffee cakes are my favorite kind. That’s why I wanted to try this recipe–it’s actually a blueberry coffee cake recipe, but I substituted the blackberries I had recently picked. I doubled the original recipe so I could make it in a 9 x 13″ pan, but when it came to the topping, I doubled it twice because the original topping amounts seemed a little small. I’m glad I did that, because the topping ended up being just right–not too heavy and not too light.
The top of this crumble-covered coffee cake is a little bumpy, just so you know what to expect, and inside it’s moistened by the juicy blackberries and small chunks of cream cheese that are stirred into the batter. It’s great for a summer breakfast or brunch and a great way to use your blackberries!
BLACKBERRY CRUMB COFFEE CAKE by NancyC, adapted from Taste of Home
Makes a 9 x 13″ pan
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour, divided
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup Half & Half (light cream)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (or you can substitute blueberries)
- 6 ounces of cream cheese, cut into small cubes (measure from an 8-ounce block, or use two 3-0unce packages)
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 Tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease a 9 x 13″ baking pan; set aside.
In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs; set aside.
In medium size bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to creamed butter mixture alternately with Half & Half and milk.
In another medium size bowl, toss blackberries with remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Stir the blackberries and cubes of cream cheese into batter (batter will be thick). Spoon batter into prepared 9 x 13″ baking pan.
For topping, in a small bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 375˚F for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, then cut into squares and serve.
Note: If using frozen blackberries (or blueberries), use without thawing to avoid discoloring the batter.
Fresh blackberries taste great in so many things! I still have a few more blackberry recipes I’ll be posting soon! Have you tried any good blackberry recipes this summer?
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All I can say is, whoever invented crumb bars was a genius. The buttery crumb topping…the fruit filling…they’re just hard to resist, especially when you make them with fresh summer fruit! I had the chance to pick some fresh wild blackberries growing right by Linn and Gayla’s home recently and I knew I was going to want to try making some crumb bars. I had made some Raspberry Jam Oat Crumble Bars last year, which have a tasty, oaty crust and crumble topping. So this year, since I had picked quite a few of those lovely blackberries, I had enough to make these crumb bars, plus a few other recipes I’ll be posting later.
If you like blackberries, you must try these! The crust and crumbly topping is rich and buttery, and the fresh blackberries, mixed with some blackberry jam, make a wonderful rich, fruity filling.
BLACKBERRY CRUMB BARS by NancyC, adapted from Allrecipes.com
Makes a 9 x 13″ pan
For the crust:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and diced
- 1 large egg
For the filling:
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3 cups fresh blackberries
- 1 cup blackberry jam
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Grease a 9 x 13″ pan or line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, blend 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and flour. Mix in cinnamon and salt. Using a fork or pastry cutter, blend in the small pieces of butter and then add in the egg, blending everything well. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into prepared pan.
In another medium bowl, blend 1/4 cup sugar and the cornstarch. Gently mix in the blackberries and jam. Gently spread the mixture over the dough (don’t let this berry filling mixture touch the pan edges, to avoid burning).
Crumble the remaining half of the dough over the berry filling layer.
Bake at 375˚F for 35 minutes, or until top is slightly brown.
Cool completely, then cut into bars and serve.
Yes, you’ll want to cut these into bars instead of the big square that I cut for the photo, because they’re pretty rich! Unless you’re really hungry…then cut yourself a big square and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top while you’re at it!
Are you a fan of crumb bars like I am?
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