Cranberry Walnut Crumb Cakes

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These sunny, seductive little cakes are perfect mouthfuls of coffeecake ? from the golden crumb to the zingy cranberry bits to the browned, chunky topping that crumbles apart in your mouth. A basket of these is equally good for breakfast, teatime, or as an autumnal dessert for Thanksgiving. Cranberries are indigenous to America and are harvested in the fall by flooding their fields with water. Each berry contains a bubble of air which causes it to float, float right off the branches of their bush. The only step left is to skim all the glissening garnet colored berries off the surface of the water--and they've already had their bath! All the old baking books in my collection include page after page of coffeecake recipes. Back then, the midmorning coffee break "a stimulating cup and a bite of something sweet" was a given. Don't we still deserve a little treat to get us through the rest of the day? Everything about the recipe can be done in advance, right down to filling the cups with batter. Just don't sprinkle on the topping (which you can make literally months in advance and keep in the freezer) until just before you bake.

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Ingredients

  • Cake:
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature, plus more for the pans
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries, cherries, or raisins
  • .....................................
  • Topping:
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation

Step 1

Make the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the muffin tins with paper liners.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth. While the mixer is running, slowly add the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, waiting for each to be incorporated before adding the next, and mix until light and fluffy.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Working in batches, add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, alternating with dollops of sour cream. Mix in the cranberries. Pour or spoon the batter into the prepared tins, filling them no more than 3/4 full.

Make the Topping:
Combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the butter pieces and, using your fingertips, pinch the ingredients together into a sandy, crumbly mixture. Add the walnuts and mix. Sprinkle the mixture over the cakes.

Bake until risen and browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes in the pan.
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REVIEWS -
These were fabulous! No need for liners if you have a silicone muffin pan -- they popped out with no effort. I used light sour cream. These are definitely a keeper!

Easy to make and the cake on the inside was moist and delicious. The topping was a little crunchy and crumbly... i was expecting it to be more buttery.. I brushed most of it off before eating it so I wasn't getting a mouthful of hard brown sugar. I also added 1.5 times the cranberries and I still don't think it was enough. Will make this recipe again with less sugar in the topping and more cranberries in the cake.

I took these muffins to Thanksgivng dinner with my family and they ate them up!

All of my co-workers and my husband's co-workers thought these were fabulous. I personally rated them only "good" because they were not as moist as other muffins I have made and I typically do the same general substitutions in all of my baked goods. I assume that the use of butter instead of oil makes for a different consistency...don't get me wrong, they were still delicious. I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for one cup of all purpose. I was out of brown sugar and used a very granular cane sugar in the topping and it worked just fine. I also substituted full-fat greek yogurt for the sour cream to up the protein content a bit. Oh, and I added a tablespoon of vanilla extract to the batter. One observation I had, as did one other person who enjoyed them, was that the cake had something of a cornmeal like taste and consistency. No idea why, but interesting.

I made this recipe after reading other people's comments and they turned out wonderfully moist, and delicious.

Instead of using sour cream, I used 1 cup of plain yogurt instead.
Also, I baked it for about 17-18 minutes only. I suggest not leaving them in there longer than that, or they may become dry. I used cupcake sheet (12 cups instead. The topping is a definite, because it adds more flavor to the cake. I bet this will go great with my cup of coffee tomorrow morning!

I had made these for my neighbor after her dog died and she said they were delicious. I thought that maybe there could have been more topping because when I made mine, there was a hollow spot for the topping in the muffins and I thought that was cool. I would definitely make these again.

These crumb muffins are absolutely delicious! I made them as a whole coffee cake, that was great as well!

I used cherries and cranberries, doubling the amount of fruit suggested, next time I will use at least 2 full cups. I only baked my for 18 minutes and they came out very moist. Perhaps the dry cakes were due to being over baked. Mine were delicious and a hit!

Like many other people who wrote reviews, mine turned out very crumbly and dry. You should definitely use more crandberries and don't skimp on the topping- the cake base itself is very plain and mostly flavorless. I will make this again but, will try different variations.

The recipe sounded great but the muffin part came out a little dry for me. I would use a cake that is more moist. Also, the recipe does not call for very many cranberries, I would suggest adding some more to the recipe. However, the crumb topping is fabulous. I would also like this reciper better if it was a large cake instead of little cupcakes.

I doubled the cranberries like so many suggested, but next time I will triple them and make this a coffee cake instead of muffins. Too crumbly for muffins.

Oh boy, I tried this recipe and this cakes are very very good. I gave some to my friends and they loved it, I will make this everyday for breakfasts.

I was all set to make these and noticed I didn't have the cranberries. I used dried apricots instead and they were wonderful.. I'm going to make them again but with the cranberries next time. Also, I put the walnuts in the batter rather than on top. This was a wonderful recipe. The sour cream makes the best cakes. Thank you so much.

Simply loved it. My daughter baked this with my supervision. This is the first time she is baking from scratch and was a real treat for us. I basically loved the varieties in the texture of the cake. easy to follow receipe. It looks exactly like the picture!! We all loved it.

I made this receipe for the first time for my company Thankgiving potluck. I loved it! However, I'd add more cranberries, one cup just isn't enough. Yummy!

I made this receipe for the first time for my company Thankgiving potluck. I loved it! However, I'd add more cranberries, one cup just isn't enough.
Yummy!

I made these for Christmas brunch and my family loved them. They had a good taste and texture without being too sweet.

I did make a change or two, though, from my first batch. I doubled the amount of cranberries by using the recommended amount of regular and the same amount of orange-flavored cranberries - they were delicious!

I made this receipe for the first time for my company Thankgiving potluck. I loved it! However, I'd add more cranberries, one cup just isn't enough.
Yummy!

I made these for Christmas brunch and my family loved them. They had a good taste and texture without being too sweet.

I did make a change or two, though, from my first batch. I doubled the amount of cranberries by using the recommended amount of regular and the same amount of orange-flavored cranberries - they were delicious!I made these for Halloween and took them to a BBQ and it was a great success. Everyone loved them and thought it was a perfect addition with all the candy.


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