Adapted from The Best of BetterBaking.com by Marcy Goldman.
For the streusel topping:
- 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
- In a bowl, combine all of the streusel topping ingredients.
- With your fingers, combine until you have a crumbly mixture.
- Set aside if using immediately or store in the refrigerator.
For the muffins:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1-1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1-1/2 tablespoons grated citrus zest (I use lemon or orange.)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you may need a bit more if the batter is too wet)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1-3/4 cups fruit (coarsely chopped if using fruits like apples, banana or pears)
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. If you don't have paper liners butter and flour the muffin tin.
- In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda); set aside.
- In another bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, citrus zest and egg. Once combined, stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Gently mix in the fruit. If the batter seems to liquidy, add a tiny bit more flour. The batter should be fairly stiff.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups filling them right to the top. Divide the streusel topping equally among the muffins.
- Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 12 minutes. When the muffins are done they will spring back when lightly pressed. Otherwise, test the muffins by inserting a toothpick.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove the muffins and let them cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy!
Note: These muffins freeze well so feel free to bake up a huge batch! When mixing the batter, be careful not to overmix.
