Allspice Crumb Muffins

Allspice Crumb Muffins feature a moist, fall flavored muffin with a streusel crumb topping. These are great for breakfast or brunch!

This post was originally published on October 1, 2010. It has been updated with new photos and additional commentary in September 2020.

Happy Fall! It seems like the weather in my area has changed from summer to fall since my last post! Can you believe it’s already October???  

I’ve been MIA lately but for good reason – we closed on our new house and moved in! We are still working on getting settled, but my first priority was establishing a functional kitchen. I’m really looking forward to getting back into a routine that involves more cooking, baking, and blogging!  

I’ve had my eye on these Allspice Crumb Muffins for quite some time, and I decided that they would be the perfect breakfast for my wonderful family members who graciously gave up their Saturday morning to help us on moving day. These muffins were great, incorporating the delicious spices of fall.  

UPDATE: I recently made these muffins for Bob and the girls. They LOVED them! The muffins are moist and flavorful. They consist of a basic muffin batter flavored with allspice and an allspice streusel topping. I’ll take you through the basic steps of how to make them.

Recipe Details

What is allspice?

Unlike the name suggests, allspice is actually a singular “spice,” or more specifically a dried, unripe berry that has the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. If you don’t have allspice, you can prepare a mixture of 2 parts ground cinnamon, 1 part ground nutmeg, and 1 part ground clove. I have these details listed in the recipe card notes below.

Making the Streusel Topping

To make the streusel crumb topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, and allspice in a bowl, sifting it together with your fingers. Then, add the cold pieces of butter and toss to coat. You can break the butter up a bit into smaller pieces to get a mixture that looks like the photo below.

Making the Muffin Batter

As with many batters, for this muffin batter you’ll be mixing the dry ingredients separate from the wet ingredients. To prepare the dry ingredients, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, allspice, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

To prepare the wet ingredients, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract in a glass measuring cup or bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients.

Gently fold the batter together with a spatula. If using the lemon zest, add it now. The zest does not make the muffins taste lemony, but rather gives a nice flavor balance to the allspice.

Assembling and Baking the Muffins

(1) Prepare the muffin pan. If you are using a metal muffin pan, I recommend using muffin/cupcake liners. If you are using a silicone muffin pan, I recommend spraying the muffin cups with a floured nonstick baking spray like Pam for Baking. Alternatively, you can use regular nonstick spray.

I like to line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the silicone muffin pan on top. This gives stability to the silicone and makes it easier to move it in and out of the oven. The foil lined baking sheet catches crumb topping that would otherwise burn onto the baking sheet.

(2) Add the muffin batter to each well of the muffin pan. The easiest way to do this is to use an ice cream scoop or a large batter scoop.

(3) Sprinkle the streusel over the top of each muffin. Press the crumbs into the batter to help them adhere.

(4) Bake the muffins. The are done when a knife or toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Gluten Free Allspice Muffins

I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but I have good luck using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour in place of all purpose flour in many baked goods recipes, including these Blueberry Muffins!

Looking for More Muffins?

Check out my other Muffin recipes:
Best Blueberry Muffins
Monkey Bread Muffins
Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread Muffins

Quick Bread recipes that can be made into Muffins:
Pumpkin Bread
Pineapple Carrot Bread
Poppy Seed Bread
Ultimate Banana Bread
Zucchini Bread {Chocolate Zucchini Bread option included}
Double Chocolate Banana Bread