Raspberry Muffins with Streusel (25 cents/each!)

These yummy Raspberry Muffins are light and fluffy, dotted with fresh raspberries and topped with a lid of crunchy nuts and sugar bits. So easy to make, yet they feel so special!

Jump to:

• Serving suggestions
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Freezing instructions
• Tips for success
• Recipe Costs
• Kitchen Equipment
• Raspberry Muffins with Nutty Streusel Recipe

Homemade raspberry muffins are the bees’ knees. Tender muffin crumb dotted with sweet-tart berries… the only thing better is the crunchy nutty streusel that tops it off. Each bite is a flavor explosion! So much so, you’ll be glad that this recipe makes a big batch.

I played in the kitchen recently with this recipe, adapting an old family favorite to make good use of my homemade muffin mix. Typically, I make just a dozen with the mix, but I found that for this recipe, the twelve muffins had inordinately-sized muffin tops. In order to ensure adequate streusel coverage, I split the batch into two dozen, smaller raspberry muffins.

The result is a bulk-batch of diminutive, sweet treats, that are perfect for breakfast, snack, or dessert!

Serving suggestions

Muffins are a perfect accompaniment to tea, coffee, or milk, making them a great mid-morning (or late afternoon!) snack. These raspberry muffins are equally delicious served at breakfast or tucked into lunch boxes.

Ingredients

At Good Cheap Eats we don’t want you to spend a lot of money on specialty ingredients. Rather, we want to help you expand your flavor horizons with typical grocery staples that can be mixed and matched in delicious ways.

These muffins call for pretty standard baking ingredients, but just a few touches of spice and zest, not to mention a Nutty Streusel Topping, take these baked goodies over the top.

You’ll need:

• Flour – My homemade muffin mix calls for all-purpose as well as a bit of whole wheat. If you don’t have whole wheat, just sub more all-purpose flour.
• Granulated sugar – Or you can also use natural cane sugar, or sucanat. 
• Baking powder – This is needed for your muffins to rise.
• Cinnamon – I love the addition of cinnamon in these muffins! Don’t leave it out.
• Salt – A little salt always helps to balance all the sweetness and give texture to your muffins.
• Buttermilk – This helps give your muffins a lift. You can buy commercial buttermilk or make your own cultured buttermilk.
• Oil – I used a neutral oil, like avocado. Use what you normally do for baking. 
• Eggs – Two whole large eggs. Just give them a quick whisk before adding them to your bowl.
• Orange – I love a little fresh citrus zest to help brighten up these muffins. Orange pairs beautifully with the raspberries.
• Raspberries – I typically use frozen because that’s often the cheapest form I find, but you can absolutely use fresh. Either way fold them in gently.

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Streusel is a nutty, crumb topping that is delicious on pies, muffins, and coffeecakes. It takes pumpkin pie over the top and makes the simplest muffin seem special.

For the streusel topping, you’ll need: 

• Brown sugar – Either light or dark brown sugar will work. You can also make your own brown sugar if you run out.
• Flour – All-purpose is just fine. 
• Butter – Butter gives your streusel a rich flavor, but you can also use margarine or a plant-based butter, if you prefer
• Nuts – I love pecans, but you can use any nut or even a seed like sunflower or pepita to give the the topping a bit of a crunch. You can also omit the nuts if needed for allergy reasons.

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Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin pan with muffin papers.
• Whisk together the homemade muffin mix, cinnamon, and orange zest in a large bowl.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, and eggs until blended. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and give it a few folds. Add the raspberries. Fold just until combined; do not overmix. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, dividing evenly. The cups should fall under the full line.
• To make the topping, combine the flour, and butter in a small bowl with a pastry blender or fork. Once coarse crumbs have formed, stir in the brown sugar and nuts. Divide this mixture among the muffin cups.
• Bake for 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Pro tip: see Freezing Instructions below for instructions for freezing unbaked or baked muffins.

Storage

Baked muffins are good for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Freeze baked muffins for longer storage.

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Freezing instructions

Muffins are great for freezing. Why buy one at the coffee shop when you can bake them yourself for so much less? Freezing helps you keep up your muffin habit for a lot less cash.

To freeze unbaked muffins:

If you don’t want to bake all 24 muffins at one time, you can freeze them unbaked! To do so, you must use paper liners. Place the muffin tins in the freezer until the batter is frozen solid.

Once frozen, carefully remove the cups from the tin and place them in an airtight container with a lid. The crumbs of the streusel will not completely stick together, so do this carefully to avoid spillage. Freeze until ready to bake.

To bake: place the frozen muffin “pucks” back into the muffin tin and bake as directed.

Alternatively, you can freeze the muffins prior to adding the streusel. Store the streusel in its own ziptop freezer bag along with the frozen muffins. Add the streusel prior to baking.

To freeze baked muffins:

• Prepare the raspberry muffins according to the recipe. Cool completely on a rack.
• For individual freezing, wrap each in plastic or beeswax wrap and place them all in ziptop freezer bag.
• For freezing many, place them in a large container with a lid, tucking parchment, deli wraps, or beeswax wrap around them as a layer of protection against the cold.
• To serve: place the desire number of muffins on the counter about an hour before serving. They will thaw at room temperature. 

Tips for success

Keep a mix on hand.

Having mixes premade is such a happy thing for me. No measuring too early in the morning, no flour flying. And I especially love it that I can customize mixes. Since it’s so easy to prepare baked goods with a homemade mix, I feel a little added inspiration to get creative.

This homemade muffin mix allows you not only to have a homemade mix at the ready, but it also offers you a lot of freedom in your baking. Add whatever “mix-ins” sound good to you. These Raspberry Muffins are just one of the many ways you can make good use of the mix.

Raspberries, fresh or frozen?

Aw, the million dollar question! The best thing is you can use either.

If you do use frozen raspberries, just be sure not to thaw them first. If you thaw the berries first, it will add too much liquid to your batter and the juices will discolor the batter. Add them frozen and fold in gently.

Can I change the flavoring in these muffins?

While I love the combination of cinnamon and orange to offset the sweet tartness of the raspberries, you can absolutely go in a different direction based on your tastes and what you have on hand.

• Use a favorite extract. Add just 1 teaspoon to the batter. Almond extract would be fantastic!
• Use a different zest. Lime, lemon, or grapefruit will all be delicious.
• Use a different milk. You can swap out regular milk and use coconut milk for regular cow’s milk, almond milk, or other plant-based milk. If you want to get wild, you can also use brewed tea, such as Earl Grey, instead of the milk. Keep in mind that buttermilk is acidic which is necessary to react with the baking powder. If you use a different liquid, be sure to substitute a tablespoon of white vinegar for some of the liquid to ensure a bit of acidity.
• Add some chocolate chips. Try stirring in some dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and semisweet. 

Recipe Costs

Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.

• Mix & Match muffin mix – $0.92
• buttermilk – $1.20
• oil – $0.16
• eggs – $0.50
• orange zest – $0.20
• cinnamon – $0.02
• raspberries – $1.00
• flour – $0.08
• butter – $0.46
• brown sugar – $0.09
• nuts – $1.33

Two dozen of these delicious raspberry muffins with streusel topping pencils out to cost $5.96 or 25 cents each!

While they are half-size of what you’d find at the bakery, you can’t argue at that price, even doubled!

How to save even more money

Follow the Good Cheap Eats System and you’ll be able to shave more off the price of these delicious, homemade muffins. 

• Use what you have. If you don’t have raspberries, use blueberries or blackberries instead. Out of nuts? Omit them from the streusel. You’ll still have a tasty muffin!
• Make a plan for leftovers. Whether it’s freezing the muffins to avoid wasting them or making sure you use up the rest of the raspberries (raspberry sauce is a good option!), make sure you plan to use up both the prepped food and the leftover ingredients.
• Visit the store with the best prices. There is a wide range of prices charged for the exact same product, depending on where you shop. Be sure that you’re frequenting the store that offers the best prices overall.
• Check the sales and clearance. The highest priced items here are the buttermilk, raspberries, and nuts. Watch for sales on these items and stock up so you can make budget muffins whenever you want. The holiday time is great for having sales on things like nuts.
• Opt for lower price alternatives. As mentioned earlier, you can swap out ingredients for others like the milk. Using regular dairy milk would reduce the cost of this batch down significantly. Will the texture and flavor be slightly different? Sure, but not enough to matter compared to cost savings.

Kitchen Equipment

After years of weekly muffin baking, I’ve come across a few tools that I absolutely LOVE for muffin baking:

• parchment muffin papers – I prefer using muffin papers since we’re such an on-the-go household. Muffin liners make it easier for transport as well as serving. I’ve found that parchment is the best for not sticking to the muffin.
• USA muffin pan – Whether you use papers or not, the USA pan is the best for easy clean up since there’s no need to grease the pan. Everything cleans up easily.
• Rubber spatula – I like to get every last bit of batter to make sure my muffins are big. A rubber spatula makes that easy.
• stainless steel mixing bowls – A good set of mixing bowls makes baking such a pleasure!
• 1/4 cup scoop – This scoop is ideal for dividing the dough easily and with less mess.

This post was originally published on June 28, 2008. It has been dramatically updated for content and clarity.