Blackberry Coffee Cake Muffins

by Jillian
Moist and incredibly fluffy muffins that are brimming with blackberries, swirled with cinnamon sugar, topped with brown sugary streusel, and drizzled in silky sweet vanilla icing!

Moist and incredibly fluffy muffins that are brimming with blackberries, swirled with cinnamon sugar, topped with brown sugary streusel, and drizzled in silky sweet vanilla icing!

If there’s any berry that I simply cannot get enough of, it’s DEFINITELY blackberries. They’re sweet, slightly tart, and not to mention, I can get them for free this time of year since we’re absolutely surrounded by blackberry bushes! In fact, last year we picked so many, we still have about 8 bags of blackberries in our freezer.

So because I still have an abundance of frozen blackberries, I decided it might be a good idea to use some of it up to make room for the new blackberries that I’ll likely be replacing them with this week. 

How about blackberry muffins?

Or better yet…blackberry COFFEE CAKE muffins?

Are these muffins stunning or what??

As you can see, these Blackberry Coffee Cake Muffins are dressed to the nines! Not only are they loaded with juicy blackberries, but they’re swirled with cinnamon-sugar and studded with a GENEROUS helping of brown sugary streusel topping. If that wasn’t enough, I also drizzled these muffins with some sweet vanilla icing too!

Yep, when I make muffins, I MAKE muffins. I don’t play around. My goal is ALWAYS to load them up with as much deliciousness as possible. I mean, if you’re gonna create an excuse to eat cake in the morning, you might as well go ALL the way, right?

You might have noticed that these muffins are just “a little” larger than your average muffin. That’s because I baked them up in my jumbo muffin pan. I figured that a regular-sized muffin just wasn’t big enough to contain the amount of deliciousness packed into the muffins. I also figured I’d feel less guilty about eating one jumbo muffin over two or three regular muffins. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

But enough of me blabbering on and on about how PHENOMENAL these muffins are. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of how these fluffy puffs of berry-liciousness come together, shall we?

For these muffins, I used equal parts vegetable oil and butter in the batter. When it comes to fats, oil does a better job of creating that moist and fluffy texture, while butter provides better flavor. To further enhance that flavor, I also browned the butter, which gives the muffins a nice toasty nuttiness! 

Instead of adding milk or buttermilk to the batter, I used yogurt. Whether it’s plain or flavored doesn’t really make a huge difference. For these muffins, I used vanilla-flavored yogurt, which has a more subtle flavor.

When it comes to the mixing method, it’s pretty straightforward. Combine all of the dry ingredients, combine all of the wet ingredients, then gently fold the dry and the wet ingredients together until ALMOST combined. Toss in the blackberries, and continue folding until the berries are evenly distributed.

TIP: If you want to prevent the berries from smashing or bleeding into the batter while you’re mixing, I HIGHLY recommend flash-freezing them first. All you have to do is pour your blackberries into one even layer on a baking sheet, and chill them in the freezer until they’re solid. This should take no more than an hour. This makes mixing SO much easier!

Oh, and try to resist the temptation to overmix the batter! A few dry pockets of flour is exactly what you want to see when it comes to muffin batter. This is what will create those soft, bouncy-licious muffins. (Ok, I promise to stop adding the word, “liciousness”, to every freaking word…for now.)

To create those delicious ribbons of cinnamon-sugar inside each muffin, I did a simple layering process. First, I scooped a heaping tablespoon of batter into the muffin pan. Then I sprinkled about a teaspoon of cinnamon-sugar evenly on top. Then I added another tablespoon of batter, followed by another teaspoon of cinnamon-sugar. The final layer is a tablespoon of batter–make sure that the batter goes up to almost the top of the muffin pan. This will help create those tall nicely-domed muffin tops.

To kick up the sweetness factor in these muffins, I piled them high with a crumbly, brown sugary streusel made of butter, flour, brown sugar, almonds, and cinnamon. At first, I thought I’d made too much streusel topping. However, as the muffins bake in the oven, the muffin tops expand, allowing the streusel topping to evenly spread out and cover the entire surface. Trust me, you’ll definitely want to use up all of that wonderful streusel topping!

Although they can be a bit of a bugger to make, I highly recommend making your own muffin liners, like I did for these muffins. For one thing, they just give the muffins a nice old-fashioned bakery appearance, but they also keep the streusel topping more contained and on top of the muffin since they have higher sides. I found a great video on how to make muffin liners out of parchment paper over here.

Once baked up, it’s a good time to make the vanilla icing since the muffins need a little time to rest and cool. All you have to do is whisk some powdered sugar, cream/milk, vanilla, and a splash of water together until nice and smooth. 

Now you’re in the home stretch! Drizzle that vanilla icing ALL OVER the muffins while singing “POUR some SUGAR ON ME!!”

Ok, so maybe that last step isn’t totally necessary…

Moist and incredibly fluffy muffins that are brimming with blackberries, swirled with cinnamon sugar, topped with brown sugary streusel, and drizzled in silky sweet vanilla icing!

Blackberry Coffee Cake Muffins

Moist and incredibly fluffy muffins that are brimming with blackberries, swirled with cinnamon sugar, topped with brown sugary streusel, and drizzled in silky sweet vanilla icing!
Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 8 Jumbo-sized Muffins

Ingredients
  

Cinnamon-Sugar Swirl:

  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Streusel Topping:

  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup sliced almonds
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Muffin Batter:

  • ¼ cup unsalted butter
  • 2 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 ½ cup yogurt (I used vanilla-flavored)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups fresh blackberries*

Vanilla Icing:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon butter melted
  • 2 Tablespoons milk/heavy cream
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-2 Tablespoons water

Instructions
 

Make the Cinnamon-Sugar Swirl:

  • Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside.

Make the Streusel Topping:

  • Place the melted butter, flour, brown sugar, almonds, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and stir with a fork until it resembles clumps of sand. Set aside for later.

Make the Batter:

  • Preheat oven to 425ºF. Spray a jumbo muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray, or line with paper liners.
  • In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. As the butter melts, it’ll start to foam, then turn a clear golden color. Continue to stir the butter, scraping up any browned specks from the bottom of the pan as it starts to brown. It should have a nutty aroma.
  • Once browned and nutty, turn off the heat and pour the browned butter into a shallow bowl, allowing it to cool for at least 5 minutes.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together until combined; set aside.
  • In another bowl, whisk both sugars and the eggs together until thickened and combined, about 45 seconds. Whisk in the browned butter and the oil. Add the yogurt and vanilla, and continue whisking until combined.
  • Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until almost combined. Pour in the blackberries, folding gently so you don't crush the berries. Batter should still be lumpy with a few spots of flour.
  • Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into each well of the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle a teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar on top. Spoon another heaping tablespoon of batter on top of the cinnamon-sugar, followed by another teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar. Spoon more batter on top, filling the muffin well almost all the way. (Note: If you're using a standard size muffin pan, the batter and cinnamon-sugar amounts will be less for each muffin well.)
  • Evenly distribute the streusel topping among each muffin by sprinkling it on top.
  • Bake at 425ºF for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375ºF and continue to bake for another 22-25 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.** Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Icing:

  • In a medium bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, melted butter, milk/cream, vanilla, and 1 Tablespoon of water together until smooth. Add more water, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle each muffin with the icing.
  • Serve muffins immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Muffins can be reheated in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to revive their freshness, if they've been sitting in the refrigerator.

Notes

*I HIGHLY recommend flash-freezing the blackberries first since it makes mixing SO much easier! All you have to do is pour your blackberries into one even layer on a baking sheet, and chill them in the freezer until they’re solid. This should take no more than an hour. 
**For standard size muffins, bake the muffins at 425ºF for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375ºF and bake for an additional 13-14 minutes.
***Yields: 8-9 jumbo muffins or 17-18 standard size muffins
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