Basic Streusel Recipe
You’ll find yourself using this Basic Streusel Recipe over and over again! It’s so simple to make, in just one bowl, and it’s great on everything from muffins and breads, to pies and fruit crisps. This buttery, sweet crumb topping is sure to be a favorite on all your best homemade baked goods!
Yes, you read that right. This is a recipe for streusel. Just streusel. Only streusel.
I know it may sound a bit strange to devote a whole post to crumb topping, but the thing is, I just recently realized just how often I find myself referring back to this simple formula.
- It’s easy. It all happens in one bowl (or pot, as it were). No big clunky food processor with tons of pieces to wash. You don’t even have to get your hands dirty!
- You don’t have to bake it. You can- but if you want to put it on a no-bake type situation, or an already baked type situation, just stir it over medium-low heat for a minute or two, to cook out the raw flour taste.
- It’s versatile. I use this buttery crumble topping on everything from muffins and breads, to fruit crisps and pies, even donuts!
- It’s customize-able. Putting this on a berry dessert? Sub out the cinnamon for citrus zest. Want something a little lighter and more subtle? Use white sugar instead of brown. Want to add some substance? Try adding oats, chia seeds, and/or nuts. My hubby and kids love when I add walnuts or pecans to this. They give it some added crunch and a toasty flavor that’s just so warm and homey.
It’s all as easy as melting a bit of butter and adding flour, sugar, and salt. Throw in some cinnamon too! You can go with as much or as little as you like. When I’m making something like pumpkin bread or apple pie, I’ll add a lot of cinnamon- two whole teaspoons. This time, I chose to keep it a little more subtle with just one.
Toss it all together with a fork until the ingredients are evenly dispersed. I like when there’s an even mix of big, boulder-like hunks and smaller, finer crumbs.
Big fan of anything with streusel? Here are some more ideas for how to use this recipe:
Blood Orange Mini-Muffins
New York Crumb Cheesecake
Best Ever Blueberry Muffins
Homemade Crumb Donuts
I think you’ll find yourself looking to this recipe again and again. It’s just so great on so many things. If you end up trying it, I’d love to see how you choose to use it! Shoot me an Instagram pic! You can tag me with @bakingamoment 😉
** HERE’S ANOTHER VIDEO! THIS WAS A LIVE RECIPE DEMO AND IT’S GOT TONS OF GREAT INFO! **
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Basic Streusel Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour, (or whole wheat)
- 1/2 cup (110 g) light brown sugar, (or dark brown, or granulated (white) sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, (or 1 tablespoon citrus zest)
- 1/3 cup (27 g) oats,, nuts, or seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Place the butter in a small pot over medium-low heat, until melted.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients with a fork, until evenly distributed.
I am a Type 1 diabetic and counting carbs is essential for tight control. The label indicates 23 grams of carbohydrates which usually means per serving but it does not indicate the size of the serving. Very important.
If you look towards the top of the recipe card, you’ll see the recipe makes 12 servings. So 1 serving would be 1/12 of the whole recipe. Hope this helps!
Yum!! Simply the best and oh so easy to make. Thanks
So this is enough to top a 9″ pie? Thank you1
When do you put the streusel topping on the pie? TY
Before you bake it- what kind of pie are you making? If it needs a long bake you may want to wait until like 15 or 20 minutes before it’s done, so the topping doesn’t burn.
I am watching your video on making crumb topping, and it looks wonderful!
I will need to make some adjustments related to my family food intolerances,
Some of your viewers asked questions about using substitutes, so I thought I would share some of my issues and experiences with you. It is too bad that sugar and flour adjustments can majorly change the texture as well as flavor, but we do the best we can… ( I don’t have enough major successes to start my own blog!)
I adjust my desert recipes for my husband since he is diabetic. It turns out that “one-to-one sugar” substitutes have maltodextrin as a base. When I looked maltodextrin up online, I found that had a higher glycemic index than sugar! Russ’s blood sugar had been climbing so quickly after I started using the sweeteners with maltodextrin, that we were concerned he might have to go from oral db meds to insulin.
There are not too many options that taste very good but xylitol containing sweeteners taste pretty good, but can cause diarrhea. (Just beware of maltodextrin!) Xylitol is not as much of a diarrhea problem as some other sugar alcohols (they usually end in “ol” ).
Some recipes I can cut the sugar in half and it still tastes fine. Other substitutions don’t really work for most people.
For cookies and some recipes, I use 1/3 cup sugar, 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons liquid stevia (or liquid Splenda) and 1/3 cup applesauce to replace 1 cup of sugar. It really is not a great option. (It is not nearly as good as one-to-one sugar substitutes) He is reasonably satisfied. Increasing flavoring helps as well, so I double or triple vanilla, cinnamon, zest, etc. (I do not like vanilla flavored liquid stevia.)
He is gluten intolerant as well! I like Bob’s Red Mill gf flour in the light blue package, NOT the red package (which contains pea powder). One thing to look for is that the gf flour must contain xanthan gum, or you need to add some,. The amount is according to the xanthan package. I use a little less gf flour than regular in a recipe. Like 1/4 cup less in a cookie recipe.
So you can see how Desserts have been a problem with our family of dessert-aholics!
Take care,
Candy
(Yes that has alway’s been my nickname. And I am a retired Dietitian/Nutritionist as well!)
This is all SUCH great info Candy! I’m so happy you shared it. I know that so many other readers will benefit from this. Thanks so much for taking the time!
I cannot tell you how many years I “cut” the butter in to make streusel! Ugh! Thank you soooooo much for making my baking easier!!
Hello thank you for this recipe!! I only needed half the recipe Is there a way to store or freeze the unused portion?
Yes! Store it in the fridge or freezer, it should keep well for a few weeks at least.
Can this topping be baked to add to already baked cupcakes with frosting?
If so how long should it be baked for?
Thank you
You can bake it on a sheet pan in the oven for 5 or 10 minutes, but if you do that it becomes pretty crunchy. Another alternative would be just to cook it in the pot over low heat, stirring, for 5 minutes or so, just to get the raw taste out of the flour. That’s what I usually do for the type of application you’re describing, but either method will work! Good luck!
Can you add apple to this Streusel recipe? I wanted to add it to an already baked cheesecake.
That sounds delicious!
I’ve been forever searching for a copycat recipe for my favorite chocolate cake from my childhood. It was a box mix – Pillsbury I believe – chocolate streusel swirl bundt cake. I’ve tried a couple things but haven’t yet come close. This looks like it’s worth trying, but how much cocoa should I add/subsitute to the recipe to make it a chocolate crumble ?
Hey Sharie! You can find a chocolate version within this post: https://bakingamoment.com/baked-chocolate-crumb-donuts/. Hope it’s as good as you remember!
I’m going to be making this recipe tonight to top some blueberry mini muffins and I’ll let you know how that turns out. I’ll also be posting it to my Facebook page and perhaps my own blog with a link to yours. My question is, is this a recipe that you could make before hand and keep it on hand for different recipes throughout the week? I am not a baker or a cook, but, I assume if I did try to do that, it would need refrigerated because of the butter. Thank you very much for posting this, I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Erika! You can absolutely do that and yes the fridge is probably a good idea if you’re storing it for long stretches of time. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your muffins!
Great recipe
Thank you!
Looks yummy! Does it get real crunchy? I’m trying to find one that stays kind of soft on top of muffins and coffee cake
Hey Kathy! No it’s not really crunchy, only on the tippy tops and edges. It’s got kind of a sandy texture underneath. That maybe sounds weird but it is really good!