Bakery-style raspberry and star anise crumble muffins. They are loaded with an incredible amount of crumb topping and feature a generous amount of beautiful warm spice.
Hey weekend: I AM READY FOR YOU.
To clarify, mostly I’m ready for my glass of wine tonight.
But I’m also excited to dive into some new (black authored!) cookbooks, finish up White Fragility (<– so eye opening, highly recommend especially for those of us who think we’re *so* not racist), spend some time outside if it ever stops raining, catch up on the ongoing “Camp In The Time Of COVID???” debate taking place in my local Facebook moms group, and make pie.
And then maybe after all that there might even be some time left over for muffin baking!
Honestly, the hardest part of making these is restraining my child from eating all of the raspberries so that they can actually make it into the muffins. That girl is a raspberry fiend and has been known to eat an entire carton in one sitting before I even realize what’s happening. It’s an expensive habit, I’ll tell you that much.
What is so intriguing about these muffins is the use of star anise – a spice I barely ever use. In fact, the jar I had sitting in my pantry was so old that I had to replace it before making these.
Star anise has such a beautifully floral flavor that is inherently sweet. It pairs well with tart fruits and is also used to enhance the flavor of meat in many Asian (specifically, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indian) cuisines. In this recipe from The Violet Bakery Cookbook it is used in both the muffin batter itself and the crumble topping, along with the usual muffin spice all-stars, cinnamon and ginger. The muffins themselves have a hearty crumb that is topped with a generous amount of the crumble topping. They work well as a weekend treat but I’ve also been known to eat them all week long, as the mood strikes.
- ½ cup (113 g) cold unsalted butter
- 1 cup (140 g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (100 g) dark muscovado sugar
- ½ tsp ground star anise
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ¾ cup + 2 tbsp (200 g) unsalted butter
- 4¼ cups (600 g) all purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground star anise
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1¼ cups (250 g) sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups (300 g) whole milk
- 2¾ cups (400 g) raspberries
- Heat oven to 375F (190C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.
- For the crumble, whisk together the flour, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into ½-inch cubes and cut it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until it starts to come together into clumps. Refrigerate while preparing the rest of the batter.
- For the muffins, melt the butter and set it aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Slowly whisk in the melted butter, then follow with the milk and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together until just combined. Add in the berries and gently stir together until they are mixed in completely.
- Scoop the muffin batter into the paper liners. The batter will be very thick and the muffin cups will be very full. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the muffins. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the tops are golden and spring back when touched.
- Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely before serving.
We have a similar problem with blueberries being devoured.