I adapted this recipe in two ways– since fresh berries are out of season, I used frozen without any problems. Since I freeze olallieberies (I live in California), I substituted those instead of blackberries and raspberries. The muffins were very moist and not too sweet. The crunch of the pecan streusel with a touch of fresh orange zest has made these muffins my new favorites. I also doubled the recipe and make one beautiful tea loaf.
One of the perks for food bloggers, is being asked to review products. I’m in! Last week, I received a lovely small unglazed loaf pan from Artisan Bakeware.
I have only a few pieces of stoneware, and I have to say that I liked the feel of this American hand-painted baking product.
…a copy of Tate’s Bake Shop owner, Kathleen King’s, cookbook. I bookmarked a dozen recipes. It’s a lovely cookbook, indeed.
Today, I want review Artisan Bakeware, by focusing on how their product worked . Fortunately, I found a recipe for Double Berry Crumb Muffins on page 14 of the Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook. I decided to double the recipe so that I could bake a “tea loaf”.
Since I live in California, we grown our own olallieberries in our backyard. I also buy extra from a local farm stand, and then freeze them in 2 cup increments. Chinese take-out style boxes are perfect for this:
Here are the dry ingredients: unbleached flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. I reserved some of the flour and sprinkled them over the berries. I do this so that the berries won’t sink to the bottom of each muffin.
The wet ingredients are milk, eggs and the melted butter. Whisk them together, and add to the dry ingredients.
Mix the wet and dry just until combined; don’t over mix. Gently fold the berries in. You can grease a muffin tin, but I decided to use muffin liners. This used my large muffin tin, which makes six at a time.
Top each muffin with the streusel. NOTE: Next time, I’ll add double the amount of streusel.
Bake at 400F for 20-24 minutes. My muffins were extra-large, so they took a little extra time. A tip I learned from King Arthur Flour– tip the muffins to one side so that they don’t become soggy on the bottom. After a few minutes, move them to a cooling rack.
Recipe Review: I love to bake homemade muffins for breakfast. I was able to make this batter in 15 minutes, plus take photographs. This recipe is easy enough for beginner bakers. The texture of the muffins were moist and very tender. There were a LOT of berries, so decrease the amount if you prefer more muffin to berry ratio. My husband adores berries, so he was very happy with the way I made them. The cinnamon is very subtle, and the sweetness was just right. I would definitely layer more streusel on top (which explains why I had some leftover), and maybe chop my pecans not quite as small as I did this time (I cheated and used a mini-chopper). I loved the orange zest, which complimented the cinnamon and berries perfectly. The “tea loaf” was equally moist. On a five star rating, this earned a 4 1/2 by my husband, son and me. I ate one, thank you very much. How’s that for willpower? The boys will devour the rest, no doubt.
Double Berry Crumb Muffins
Ingredients
Crumb Topping:
- 1/4 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour I only use unbleached
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
Muffin Batter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour I used unbleached
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup blackberries (cut them in half if they are large)
- 1 cup raspberries
- NOTE: I used 2 cups frozen berries with no problems
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease 1 1/2 inch muffin cups.
- NOTE: I used large muffin liners and made 8 large muffins.
For the topping:
- In a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour, pecans, butter and orange zest. Mix it together until it is crumbly. Set aside.
For the batter:
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate small bowl combine the milk, butter and egg.
- Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and fold them in. Fold in the berries and spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
- Spoon the crumb mixture evenly on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
- NOTE: I doubled the recipe and baked on small loaf, in addition to the muffins. It turned out beautifully.
Wow! Your pictures are mouth-watering! I'm doing a Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway myself! I would love to visit their shop on Long Island someday! Happy Holidays!
This looks so delicious!The berry loaf would be a great gift!
I found it hard to squeeze in the tate's giveaway also, so don't feel bad! I really liked the cookbook and found it super user-friendly! These are definitely going on my list of recipes to make from it!
Olallieberries, yum!
The Tate's Bake Shop cookies were a welcome diversion from work, holiday planning, etc.I can't wait to bake some more from the cookbook.
These look good and so pretty in the loaf tin – lovely gift for someone.
It looks like Tate's Cook Book is filled with wonderful recipes and Artisan Bakeware's lovely loaf pan did a beauiful job baking the tea loaf.
Happiest holiday best wishes to you and your family, Debby.
I never heard of olallieberries but I sure wish they grew here. Those muffins and the loaf look so tempting and that pan looks like it cleans up so easily.
these look most excellent. orange zest and berries… can't go wrong there. love the loaf pan too.
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Those looks very yummy! I love anything with berries. And muffins…well you can't go wrong with muffins!
Thanks for the review! I love unglazed stoneware/bakeware…I have several pieces from another company and I use them often. I'm going to have to have a peek at Emerson Creek Pottery and see if they have something I can't live without. LOL
The crumb topping is beautiful, and I do love the rustic look of the loaf pan. Hmm – I have some frozen berries in the freezer …
Oh I'd love one of those muffins or a slice of that tea loaf. I love the loaded berries in there.
P.S. Because I know you're a stickler for these things, you missed the 'e' in Bake Shop in your title.
Debby – I love that you chose a muffin and a tea loaf to represent this book. Both look delicious and would be a welcome change to all the cookies I've been eating.
I hope you are enjoying your vacation.