Carrot Cake Crumble Muffin

Couple weeks back, Mr. V and I finally visited the Griffith Observatory.  I say finally because we’ve been in L.A. for over a year but have never stepped foot….. well, I take that back. We drove there exactly a year ago on a weekend but it was packed with people. Yes, the weekend. During summer. In L.A. We were newbies ok? Geez.

Cars were parked on adjacent roads as far as a 15-20 minute uphill hike to the observatory. No way was I going to exert that much energy. We took some pictures of the dirt road.. I mean dirt on the road, called it a day and vowed to come back again when the summer crowd has subsided.

We didn’t.

One year later, we still ended up visiting during the summer. However this time, we thought we had outsmarted everyone. We went at noon on a Tuesday.

People eat at noon, right? It’s way too hot and sunny to go up, right?

Nope.

It was still packed with people and we still had to do the uphill hike. So of course once we were there, we headed straight to the food court to grab a bite. All that walking made me hungry.

I was eating my lunch when Mr. V walked towards me holding what looked like bread or cake.

“This is lunch?” I asked.

“Yup.” He replied and smiled satisfactorily. He had bought himself carrot bread.

Figures.

Carrots and I, we go back a long way. They’re a regular in my stir fries and soup but not so in my bread. However, seeing Mr. V take bite after bite of it, I suppose the carrot bread stars started to align and destiny called. I couldn’t resist the urge of wanting to take a bite too.

So, I did.

It was surprisingly good. Moist, carroty and buttery. However, I still didn’t think I’d ever choose this over chocolate cake. Perhaps that would explain why I had quickly forgotten about the carrot bread after leaving the observatory.

Then, a recent conversation with my sister on carrot muffins unexplainably triggered my desire for sweet carroty things again. I never thought that desire even existed in me. But it did.

To make the muffins on par with a good chocolate cake, I had to up the game of this carroty business. So I went ahead and added an awesome crumb toppings on ’em. The end result? Super moist, soft and fluffy carrot muffins topped with delicious sweet buttery crumble.

Perhaps I should add the crumble to bitter gourd. I just may love it. I’ll leave this to the bitter gourd stars and wait for it align.

If you like muffins, you’re going to love this Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin. Ultra moist, full of lemony flavor with burst of little poppy seeds & juicy sweet blueberries.

Also, if you haven’t already, check out my last post Fried Rice Pin Noodles (Lo Shu Fun). Malaysian’s favorite street noodles on the table in less than 15 minutes. Easy, smoky & delicious.

 

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Carrot Cake Crumble Muffin                 Makes 12 muffins

what you need:

Crumble Topping
3.2 oz (3/4 cup) all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar (see note 2)
1/2 tsp baking powder (this is to make crumble lighter and slightly ‘biscuity’)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Muffin
4.25 oz all purpose flour (1 cup scoop & sweep)
4 oz whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour (1 cup scoop & sweep)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar (see note 2)
2 large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups (4.5oz) grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
3/4 cup + 1 tbs plain yogurt
6 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, rolled oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

3. Pour the melted butter and vanilla in. Use a fork and toss to combine until it resembles coarse crumbs. Make sure the crumbs aren’t bigger than the size of a corn kernel. Too big and it may be difficult for it to stay put on the muffins when baking.

4. In a bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

5. In another bowl, crack the eggs and add the sugar. Whisk until combine. Add the grated carrots, yogurt, butter and vanilla. Whisk to combine well.

6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Using a spatula, fold until just combined. The batter is going to be thick.

7. Scoop the batter into a greased 12 cup standard muffin pan. It’s going to fill almost to the brim of each muffin cups. Top each with the crumble topping. Gently press it so that it sticks to the batter or it may fall off when baking or when taking out.

8. Place the baking pan in the oven with a baking sheet placed on a rack below it. Bake for 5 minutes.

9. Turn the temperature down to 400 F and bake for another 9 – 12 minutes or when toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.

10. Place the muffins (still in the pan) on a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely on the wire rack. Some crumbs will fall off but don’t sweat it. Pick them up and pop them in your mouth.

Notes:

1. I like my spice super mild. If you like yours with more oomph, feel free to add more.

2. I don’t like the muffins or topping too sweet. If you like yours super sweet, feel free to increase the sugar.