The best crumb cake you can imagine in a muffin form! Amazingly soft, moist, buttery gluten-free muffins + a generous amount of brown sugar cinnamon crumb topping. No one will guess they are gluten-free! Nut-Free. Dairy-free optional.
NOTE: To get the crumb to stay on top in a thick layer, it makes a huge difference if you use bakery style muffin liners. This contains the crumb and allows it to bake upward as opposed to spreading out over the muffin tin.
Tips for making the Gluten-Free Crumb Topping
I recommend making the crumb topping first because the batter comes together quickly and you want to top with the cinnamon sugar crumble and get in the oven.
Here is how we make it, plus some tips for making it perfect.
- In a medium bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon and salt.
- Add melted butter and combine. I generally do these two steps by hand.
- Add flour and using a fork, combine to create coarse crumbs. This step must be done with a fork, not a mixer or you won’t get the crumble effect.
- Top with plastic wrap while you make the muffins batter so that it stays moist.
Equipment
- 12 well muffin pan
- Bakery Style Muffin Liners highly recommended to help get that extra thick layer of crumb topping
- small strainer or mesh sieve. optional but used to get extra fine, even powdered sugar effect
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 10 tablespoons butter or dairy-free butter, melted
- 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour we use GF Jules
- 1-2 tablespoons powdered or confectioners sugar for topping after baking
Crumb Cake Muffins
- 1/2 cup butter or dairy-free butter, room temp
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups gluten-free all purpose flour we use GF Jules
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt
Instructions
Crumb Topping
- In a medium mixing bowl combine sugars, cinnamon and salt using a spoon or fork.
- Add melted butter and mix to combine using a spoon or fork. Mixture be smooth and thick.
- Add flour and using a fork, combine until creates coarse crumbs. Do not mix with a spoon or mixer and do not over mix or it will become pasty. Set aside, covered in plastic wrap while you prepare the muffin batter.
Crumb Cake Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line your muffin tins with bakery style muffin liners. The bakery style liners help keep the crumb from moving over the side of the muffin well when it bakes.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar (ie very well combined, about 1-2 minutes depending on how room temperature the butter is).
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing in each time.
- Add in vanilla and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a whisk, fork or pastry cutter.
- Alternately add and mix in flour mix and Greek yogurt. I do 1/2 flour, then 1/2 yogurt and then remaining 1/2 flour, then 1/2 yogurt. The batter will be thick and smooth.
- Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tins. I use a size 16 cookie scoop, or approximately 1/4 cup.
- Generously add crumb topping to the top of each muffin, pressing gently into the top of the muffin batter so it sticks to the muffins. It will seem like a lot of crumb!
- Bake 20-21 minutes, checking at 20 minutes and covering loosely with foil for the last minutes as needed. A toothpick should come out of the center clean.
- Let cool in the pan 15 minutes, then move to a baking rack to cool and sprinkle with confections (powdered) sugar. To get an super even topping of powdered sugar, sprinkle using a small strainer or mesh sieve. Enjoy!
- Store in a sealed container for 3-5 days. Freeze for up to 3 months.
