Strawberry Walnut Muffins with Streusel Topping
A bakery-style strawberry muffin made with fresh strawberries, toasted walnuts, and a sweet streusel topping. Moist, hearty, and lightly flavored with orange zest, these muffins are substantial, flavorful, and well worth the effort to make at home.
Equipment
- standard muffin tin
- Whisk
- citrus zester
- 4 mixing bowls, various sizes (for streusel, wet ingredients, dry ingredients, and prepping the mix-ins)
Ingredients
For the Muffins
- 1½ cups strawberries, diced small (¼-inch)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1½ tsp grated orange zest
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup neutral oil, such as canola or avocado
- ¾ cup full-fat sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- ¾ cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 tbsp flour, for tossing strawberries
For the Streusel Topping
- ⅓ cup all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉.
- Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
Prepare the Strawberries
- Place diced strawberries onto a paper towel (or clean kitchen towel) to soak up excess juice while prepping remainder of recipe.
Make the Streusel
- In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, chopped walnuts, and a pinch of salt.
- Add the softened butter and work it into the dry ingredients using your fingers or a fork.
Prepare the Muffin Batter
- Place sugar and orange zest into a large mixing bowl.
- Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until incorporated into the sugar.
- Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sour cream, vanilla extract and almond extract until smooth.
- Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix with spatula just until combined. Do not over-mix the batter.
- Toss strawberries and chopped walnuts with 1 tbsp flour in a medium bowl until coated.
- Gently fold the strawberry walnut mixture into the batter.
Assemble and Bake
- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling nearly to the top.
- Sprinkle generously with the streusel, pressing lightly so it adheres to the top of the muffin batter.
- Bake at 375℉ for 22-24 minutes until tops are lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
Notes
- Do Not Skip Drying the Strawberries. Fresh strawberries hold a lot of moisture. After dicing, allow them to rest on paper towels and gently blot before tossing with flour. This prevents excess liquid from weighing down the batter.
- Chop Strawberries Small. Keep pieces about ¼-inch. Larger pieces will release more juice and can create dense pockets in the muffins.
- Rub the Zest into the Sugar. Mixing the orange zest directly into the sugar releases the essential oils and gives the muffins a subtle, beautiful citrus aroma.
- Do Not Overmix. Mix the batter just until combined. Overmixing will create dense muffins.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days. Because of the fresh fruit, they are best enjoyed the day they are baked.
- These freeze well. Wrap individually and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
