Carrot Muffin with Oat Streusel Topping Recipe
If you guys have been following us for a while now, you will know that we own several cookbooks by Thomas Keller. A couple years ago, we were in Napa Valley where we tried a few pastries from Bouchon Bakery as we were in town to visit the French Laundry. We enjoyed their pastries so much we decided to buy their cookbook! One of the recipes that really caught our eye was their carrot muffin recipe.
Their Carrot Muffin recipe included an Oat Streusel topping which gives the muffin a nice sweet yet crunchy texture. It reminds me of my infamous Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake. A streusel is a crumbly topping made of flour, butter, and sugar that is often baked on top of muffins, coffee cakes, and quick bread for extra flavour and crunch.
As with any Thomas Keller recipe, his ingredients are measured in grams. If you haven’t read my Top 10 Must Have Baking Supplies post yet, you’ll know that a digital food scale is an invaluable tool that you should have in the kitchen. However, he does provide traditional measuring cup/spoon measurements so I’ll provide those where I can.
This muffin recipe can be prepared the night before so that you can have freshly baked muffins in the morning (hence the prep time of 12 hours). However, you’re more than welcome to bake them the day of if you just can’t wait 🙂
How to Make Carrot Muffin
- Sift Dry Ingredients Together – First, we’ll make the muffin batter. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add in salt and whisk together.
- Whisk Together Wet Ingredients – Whisk together sugar, oil, and vanilla in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and mix on low speed for about a minute. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can just do this in a large bowl with a whisk. Add the eggs and mix on low speed for about 1 minute until incorporated.
- Combine Dry & Wet Ingredients – Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed until combined. Do not overmix the batter! You just need to mix until there are no dry lumps left in the batter.
- Fold in Shredded Carrots – If making in advance, you can place batter in covered container and refrigerate overnight or up to 36 hours.
- Make Oat Streusel Topping – Combine streusel topping ingredients in a bowl and using a pastry cutter, cut in your cold butter until you get a crumbly mixture as shown in the image below. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use a fork or even use your hands to crush the cold butter into the flour mixture.
6. Fill Muffin Tins with Muffin Batter – When you’re ready to bake your muffins, preheat your oven to 425F. Fill your muffin tins lined with cupcake liners 2/3 full.
7. Add Streusel Topping – Sprinkle the top of the muffin batter with your Oat Streusel Topping.
8. Bake – Bake for 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the muffin.
That’s it! These muffins are best enjoyed the day of. If you would like to enjoy them throughout the week, I recommend freezing them and reheating them the day of when you want to eat them either in the oven or the microwave. These muffins would be a great addition to your breakfast recipe repertoire and perhaps a great addition for brunch as well. Feel free to check out our other Breakfast/Brunch recipes!
Carrot Muffin with Oat Streusel Topping Recipe
Ingredients
Carrot Muffin*
- 180g (1 1/4 cups + 2 tsp) all purpose flour
- 3g (1/2 + 1/8 tsp) baking soda
- 1g (1/4 tsp) baking powder
- 2g (3/4 + 1/8 tsp) ground cinnamon
- 2g (1/2 + 1/8 tsp) kosher salt
- 207g (1 cup + 2 tsp) granulated sugar
- 142g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) canola oil
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 80g of eggs (~1 and a half large eggs) (room temperature)
- 212g (1 3/4 cups) shredded carrots
Oat Streusel Topping**
- 35g (1/4 cup) all purpose flour
- 27g (1/4 cup + 1 tsp) old fashioned oats
- 13g (2 tbsp + 3/4 tsp) light brown sugar
- 7g (1/2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp) sugar
- small pinch of ground cinnamon
- small pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- small pinch of kosher salt
- 28g (1oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
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Instructions
- 1. First, we’ll prepare our muffin batter. If you’re not making these muffins the night before (i.e. baking day of), preheat oven to 425F.
- 2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add in salt and whisk together.
- 3. Combine the sugar, oil, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and mix on low speed for about a minute.
- 4. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the eggs and mix on low speed for about 1 minute until incorporated.
- 5. Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed until combined. Do not overmix the batter! You just need to mix until there are no dry lumps left in the batter.
- 6. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again before adding in your shredded carrots. Fold the carrots into your batter until well combined. If preparing ahead, transfer batter to covered container and refrigerate overnight or up to 36 hours.
- 7. Meanwhile, you can prepare the Oat Streusel Topping. Combine all ingredients except the butter in a medium bowl and whisk together until well combined. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the cold butter into the dry ingredients until the butter turns into tiny little pieces and your streusel has a coarse texture. If preparing ahead of time, you may cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- 8. To make the muffins, line the muffin pan with muffin papers/cupcake liners and spoon the batter evenly into each liner, filling them 2/3 full. Then, top the muffins with streusel topping. Be sure to not add too thick of a layer or else it will not crisp up properly.
- 9. When you’re ready to bake, lower the oven temperature to 325F and bake for 30 minutes or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean (i.e. no batter sticking to it). Allow to cool completely before eating. These muffins are best consumed the day of. If you would like to enjoy them over the course of the week, I recommend you freeze them and pop them in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 350F to reheat or microwave them.
