Raspberry and pecan crumble muffins

I sort of inherited this great little recipe book called Muffins and Quickbreads when an old housemate of mine moved out. By ‘sort of inherited’ I mean she left it behind and I didn’t remind her or try to get it back to her. Naughty I know, but like I said, it’s a great little book.

There are so many lovely recipes in it sometimes it’s a little overwhelming and, until recently I’d stuck to 1 or 2 that I knew I really liked. But a few weeks ago I though it’d be criminal to leave the Raspberry Crumble muffins untried for much longer. A walk with Sally and Sarah and a picnic on the beach seemed like the perfect opportunity. Again, the picture doesn’t really do them justice. All the darker brown stuff on top is crumbly, pecan, sugary yumminess.

170g plain flour
55g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
2 tsps baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
115g butter, melted
1 egg
125ml milk
140g fresh raspberries
grated rind of 1 lemon
For the crumble topping:
30g finely chopped pecans (or you can use walnuts)
55g dark brown sugar
3 tbsps plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsps butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C/Gas mark 4. Grease 12 muffin tins or use paper cases.
2. Sift flour into a bowl. Add the sugars, baking powder, salt & cinnamon and stir just enough to blend.
3. Make a well in the centre. Place the butter, egg & milk in the centre and mix until just combined. (I always think of Delia when I stir muffins – “undermixing is the golden rule”). Stir in the raspberries* and lemon rind. Spoon mixture into the prepared tins, filling almost to the top.
4. For the crumble topping, mix the nuts, sugar, flour & cinnamon in a bowl. Add the melted butter and stir to blend.
5. Spoon some of the crumble over each bun. Bake until browned, about 25 mins. Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm or cold.
*I wouldn’t normally consider it, but on this occasion I used tinned raspberries because they’re very expensive fresh at the moment. They tasted great, just had smaller bits!

I also think these might be extra nice with a little chunk of white chocolate squidged into the top before you add the crumble topping!

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