Coffee-Shop Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Back to another episode of "kitchenette baking"... I've been going through my repertoire of recipes looking for ones that don't require a stand mixer (surprisingly few) and of course, muffins being one of the simplest and easiest batters to prepare, I decided on my second favourite kind after lemon-cranberry.

Mostly my decision was made by dollar-each boxes of blueberries in Chinatown. It's been a while since I've made something fruity, and these are not unlike the overpriced but very delicious muffins sold at various chain coffee shops. The streusel on top gives it a little something extra, a crunchy contrast to the soft pillowy innards and gooey roasted berries, flavoured with cinnamon. I've been fixated on blueberry muffins for quite a long time (since learning that a certain Canadian coffee chain can't even be bothered to put real fruit in theirs) and this might be the champion of all muffins for me.

As I said before, it's really easy and fast to prepare. I did it while waiting for my laundry to be done, and within the hour I had a really good batch of 14 muffins to share amongst my peers in the lab (they liked them a lot, especially that they were not too sweet and had tons of berries) as well as for myself. I made a couple of modifications but including brown sugar and adding more blueberries, because why not? I also added some lemon juice to give some more lift to the baking powder through its acidity. Buttermilk would also work well.

I can't wait to make these muffins again back in Mississauga when I get my hands on some pick-your-own berries at the farm to take home. I've got a lot of ideas for modifications that could be good- for instance, using some cornmeal, a flavoured oil like olive oil, lemon zest, or replacing the streusel with a simple sprinkle of raw sugar for a little texture. However, no modifications are needed- these are good just as they are, and perfect with coffee or tea and the smug satisfaction of doing what coffee shops do yourself, and so much better.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Adapted from Edible Garden
Makes 8 large or 16 small muffins

1 1/2 C. All purpose flour
2 1/4 Tsp. Baking powder, preferably aluminium-free
Pinch of salt
3/4 C. Sugar
1/3 C. Neutral oil, such as canola
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract (optional, or use 1 Tsp. Cinnamon or the zest of 1 lemon)
1 Egg
1/3 -1/2 C. Milk, or buttermilk
 1 TBSP lemon juice
1 - 1 1/2  C. Fresh or frozen unthawed blueberries

For the Streusel:
1/4 C. (60 g.) Butter, softened
1/3 C. Flour
1/2 C. Light brown sugar (or white)
2 Tsp. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200.

Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder (and cinnamon, if using here). Separately, mix 1/3 C. of the milk, oil and the egg, as well as vanilla or zest if using. Mix into the dry ingredients, adding more milk if the batter is too thick - you want it to be about as runny as toothpaste, thick enough to spoon but still smooth and paste-like.

Stir in the blueberries and distribute into paper-lined or greased and floured muffin pans, filling them up to the rim so that the "muffin-top" can form.

For the streusel, mix all well with your hands or a pastry cutter until very crumbly and well-mixed. Spread evenly over the surface of each muffin- there's a lot of streusel, but be generous, nobody's ever complained about too much streusel.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a fork poked inside comes out clean. Let cool before removing from the pan.

Kluski na Parze/Polish Steamed Dumplings with Berry Sauce and Sour Cream

Though my family regularly ate traditional Polish foods since I was young, we were typically limited to ready-made foods available in the GTA's numerous Central/Eastern European markets. That meant lots of pierogi, borscht from concentrate, potato dumplings with plums, and so on. But the first time that I had the steamed buns that were apparently quite common was at my aunt's home in Poland. She somehow had access to frozen ones, which made me wonder why I never saw them around Mississauga- maybe because I wasn't looking! But in any case, I wanted to try making them myself.

The sweet version I show here is not the only way that they can be served- a sauce made with meat or mushrooms is also an option, though according to my father nobody eats them savoury where he's from in the Southwest. It does bear some similarity to the Germknödel of Austria, so perhaps sweet main courses are typical of the more mountainous parts of Central Europe. 

The best way to serve these, in my opinion, is with a simple berry sauce made from pureed fruit only lightly sweetened, and some sour cream. There are many other ways to make steamed dumplings, such as by frying with butter and sugar and sprinkling with sweetened ground poppyseed or breadcrumbs, but this is ideal for the berry season. You can have them as a main course or dessert, and freeze the finished dumplings to steam again later on. 

Polish Steamed Buns
From Senses in the Kitchen

500 g. Flour
250 ml. Milk
3 TBSP Butter
2 Eggs
21 g. Fresh yeast, or 2 1/4 Tsp. Active dry yeast
2 Tsp. Vanilla sugar (or 1/2 Tsp. plain sugar for savoury buns)
1/2 Tsp. Salt

Berry Sauce
1 C. Raspberries
1 C. Chopped strawberries
1-2 TBSP Sugar
1 TBSP Rum

About 1/2 C. 18% Sour cream

Cook together the raspberries and strawberries. Add the rum and sugar to taste, depending on the sweetness of the berries. Let cook on low until slightly thickened and serve alongside buns, with vanilla sauce or sour cream.


Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Heat the milk until steaming and mix in the butter to dissolve. Let cool until lukewarm and dissolve the yeast. Add the milk mixture and eggs to the flour mixture and knead until smooth and elastic.

Let rise about 1 hour, or until doubled. Divide into 12 pieces on a floured surface and form smooth balls. Let rise covered for 20 minutes.

Heat a pot of water to boiling with a large colander or tearag secured on top. Alternatively, use a bamboo steamer. Place each bun on a square of baking parchment and steam about 3 at a time, covered with a a lid, or better, a lightly dampened tearag. Try and find a lid that minimized the chances of water dripping onto the buns, as this makes them sieze and become wrinkly- the tearag method works well for this reason.

Serve with sauce and sour cream while warm.

Buttermilk Streusel Cake with Fruit

This is one of my recurring favourites, especially when I have a little buttermilk kicking about in the fridge. It's one of those infinitely variable cakes that you can adjust to suit whatever fruit you have on hand. Rhubarb, as the original recipe used, is great, but so are berries, stone fruit and mandarins. You can omit the streusel and use some sliced nuts or a sprinkling of sugar to further simplify the already extremely easy recipe, and change the flavours up a little- I used lemon zest to make it taste bright and fresh, but nutmeg goes very well with peaches, too. You can add a little almond extract for stone fruit, some orange zest with blueberries, cinnamon with apples, and so on. If you don't have any fruit, you can also just make a straight-up streusel cake, substituting a quarter of the flour used with cocoa powder to make a chocolate version. You can even marble the chocolate and vanilla parts- this is a very versatile recipe.

While it's delicious on its own, accompaniments are welcome. Vanilla sauce, whipped cream or sour cream all give a textural counterpart to the spongy cake and crunchy streusel. Which one you use depends of whether the fruit you chose is more sweet or sour- use the former two with more sour fruit, and the latter with sweeter ones.

I used a couple of peaches, some blueberries and raspberries, a nectarine and my leftover 18% sour cream. As always, this cake tastes extremely bright and summery, soft and tender with the right amount of crispy streusel, the fruits adding colour and flavour. Just make sure the fruits are in relatively light pieces so they don't sink into the cake. If you don't have cake flour, substituting 30 grams of the flour called for with cornstarch will let you use all purpose flour. This will make the cake lighter and more tender. Once good trick is to use vanilla pudding powder instead of cornstarch for this in order to add some extra vanilla and colour. 

Don't forget to make some coffee or tea to go with it!


Buttermilk Streusel Cake with Fruit
Adapted from Chefkoch

280 g. Sugar
3 Eggs, room temperature
2 Packets vanilla sugar
Zest of one lemon
Pinch of salt
375 ml. Buttermilk
375 g. Cake flour
2 1/4 Tsp. Baking powder

To Top:
400-500 g. Fruit, in thin slices if large
60 g. Butter, softened but cool
60 g. Sugar
1 Packet vanilla sugar, or 1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
90 g. Cake flour

Grease and line a 8"x8" or 9"x13" baking pan. Preheat the oven to 200℃.

Beat the eggs, zest, salt and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Whisk in the buttermilk and sift in the flour and baking powder.

Pour into the prepared baking pan and top with fruit. Mix the butter, flour and sugar with hands and sprinkle the pieces on top of the fruit.

Bake for 20 minutes at 190℃, and 15 minutes at 180℃. Serve with vanilla sauce, whipped cream or sour cream.