Vegan Streusel Muffins
5 from 2 votes

These vegan streusel muffins smell so good as they come out of the oven! Warm and cinnamon-scented, they’ll remind you of your favorite coffee shop treat.

A vegan muffin is being held in a white paper liner. It rests on a white dessert plate.

In my recent giveaway, I asked what kind of posts you’d like to see more of in my next 365 days of blogging. I loved the answers: more thoughts on veganism and body image, more tips on how to handle social challenges as a vegan, more recipes, more ED musings. I also got a few requests for more baked good recipes. It took me over a year and a half to post my first one; now that I have, I think it’s a habit I’ll have to cultivate! Let’s begin here, with vegan streusel muffins.

A freshly baked batch of vegan streusel muffins is lined up against a white surface. The muffins are encased in white, paper liners.

Oh yes I did. Normally my muffin ventures are simple: banana walnut, carrot raisin – that kind of thing. The goal when I made these was to keep it simple, but add a finishing touch (streusel topping) that would make them look impressive.

A half dozen of muffins, which are wrapped in white paper wrappers. They're resting against a white surface.

Success! After I finished baking these, I stood back and thought, “I could not possibly have baked those. They actually look…accomplished.” And believe me, they demanded no more effort than your standard batch of vegan muffins – just a pulse or two of the Cuisinart (which could easily be a crumble in your hands, or use of a pastry cutter). Any novice baker can make them too, and hopefully savor them as much as I did!

A vegan muffin is being held in a white paper liner. It rests on a white dessert plate.
5 from 2 votes

Vegan Streusel Muffins

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients

For the streusel topping

  • 3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour (90 g)
  • 2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar (130g)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons melted vegan butter (60g)

For the muffins

Optional: glaze

  • 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (60g)
  • 1 tablespoon unsweetened oat, soy, almond or cashew milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Lightly oil or line a muffin pan with liners.

Prepare the streusel topping

  • In a medium large mixing bowl, prepare the streusel topping. Stir together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the melted butter. Use two forks to gently mix the butter into the flour mixture, forming pea sized crumbs and some smaller crumbs. Your aim is for there to be no remaining dry flour and for the mixture to be mostly pea-sized crumbs, mixed with some smaller and a few larger crumbs. Pop the crumble topping into the fridge while you prepare the cake batter.

Prepare the muffin batter

  • Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
  • Add the sour cream or yogurt, vegan buttermilk, avocado oil, and cane sugar to a medium sized bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together until they're mixed.
  • Make a well in the flour mixture. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Use a spatula or spoon to mix these ingredients well, until no dry streaks of flour remain. A few small lumps are OK.

Bake

  • Fill the prepared muffin pan with the batter; each muffin well should be about 2/3-3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle the topping evenly over muffins.
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the muffins are domed and the streusel is turning golden brown. Allow the muffins to cool for 15 minutes, then transfer them from the muffin tin to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool for at least another 20 minutes before enjoying.

Glaze

  • If you'd like to glaze the muffins, allow the muffins to cool entirely. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar, non-dairy milk, and vanilla. If the mixture is too thick, add an additional teaspoon of non-dairy milk. Use a spoon to drizzle this glaze in a zigzag pattern over the muffins. Allow the glaze to set before enjoying.

And they tasted incredible. Warm, sweet, a little cinnamon-y, and just indulgent enough. They didn’t need Earth Balance at all, but a tiny pat turns them into a super-special treat.

A close up photograph of a freshly baked treat, which is covered in a crumbly streusel topping. It rests on a small white dessert plate.

If you’re looking for an easy and fun muffin recipe to bake for family around the holidays, this might be it! I already plan on making another batch for M, and a batch for my Mom. Possibly for coworkers, too. And, oh yeah – for me.

What’s on your holiday baking agenda? And circling back to the top, what’s the last essay you read, and loved?

xo

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Categories: Recipes, Breakfast, Muffins & Scones, Snacks
Dietary Preferences: Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan

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Recipe Rating




    38 Comments
  1. 5 stars
    These were so delicious! I made these as a sweet something to have along with a bagel brunch. I prepared wet and dry ingredients separately the night before as well as the streusel topping (streusel and wet stored in fridge overnight). Very quick to make the morning of the brunch. I overfilled the muffin tins so my batch only made 9 muffins. Still came out perfect at 22 minutes. Thanks, Gena!

  2. Oh this recipe is so close to something I can eat. Earth balance is made with pea protein and I have food allergies that include, nuts, tree nuts and legumes to contend with. DRAT!

  3. i can’t wait to make these— have been hankering for some healthy vegan baked goods. perf for taking into work for the unhealthy coworkers!
    i also notice you use a lot of agave nectar. i’m so skeptical about it now what with all this controversy about it containing sucrose, HFCS, etc. what kind do you use? thoughts?
    thanks much.
    x

  4. Just catching up on all of your posts! These muffins really look incredible. I can tell the texture is perfect from the photos. I can’t believe how much they rose too! 🙂

  5. no baking happening at my house but in the unbaking category there will be raw gingerbread cookies and raw pumpkin pie 🙂 Those muffins do look divine though, I made vegan muffins before I went high raw and they always came out too crumbly 🙁

  6. These look awesome! I’ve eyed several streusel muffins over the years, but these look less complicated and more healthy than any I’ve seen.

    I would love to be entered into the CR counseling giveaway… the hardest part is deciding what I would like to hear more about from your blog! Personally, I really enjoy the balance you have now– plenty of delicious recipes along with some vegan rants, nutritional fad clarifications, restaurant reviews and general musings.

    I do enjoy reading your posts on the vegan lifestyle and socializing aspects, since that’s something I still struggle with. It sounds like your friends and family are quite vegan-friendly for the most part, but I am the only vegetarian/ aspiring vegan among my friends and, although my older brother is a longtime vegetarian, I don’t think he’s tempted to give up dairy or eggs. My mother-in-law is the stereotypical “Oh you’re vegetarian? But you eat chicken, right?” person and explaining to her that not only will I not eat her sausage gravy or pot roast, but I also don’t want her omelettes or cream/cheese-laden meals is a bit dreadful. Funny, when I didn’t eat eggs or dairy because I was doing a “cleanse” (her word, not mine), she was intrigued… but when I tell her that dairy really upsets my stomach and I’m trying to avoid it (“forever”), I just get blank stares. Aye aye aye well there’s my own vegan rant. Sorry for the novel!

  7. Sounds great! Unfortunately we don’t have an oven 🙁 Kudos to you though for being so in tune with your diet and relaxed with your “rawness”. Happy Holidays!

  8. Ah yes, Coleson Whitehead! Very cool. We read him in my now defunct book club.

    These muffins look especially great because the ratio of effort involved to impressive taste and presentation factor is delightfully skewed. 🙂

  9. YUM! Those certainly do look incredible!
    I haven’t thought much about my holiday baking yet since I will be traveling and likely just do it all at my parents house closer to the “big day”! I am definitely going to be giving away a lot of my homemade jams and preserves from this summer though!

  10. Ohhh those look so good. The insides look totally fluffy but moist and muffin-y too, which I’ve found is hard to achieve with vegan baked goods. Clearly you’re onto something with the baked goods 🙂

  11. I am super intimidated by baking, but I’m trying to work through it… god knows the blogosphere has plenty of recipes I’d like to try, this being one of them!

  12. These muffins look divine. I’m just starting to experiment with baking in my kitchen and hope to have some winning recipes for gifts this holiday season. I’m thinking cookies and bread but I still need to tackle a pie at some point. 🙂

  13. Thanks so much for posting Colson’s words! It’s been a while since I’ve read his work. I think I will pick up Colossus of New York tonight.

  14. I made some muffins with a streusel topping too today. Very good stuff. Will post soon. The streusally cinnamonny nutty topping makes them oh so good.

  15. I didn’t know vegan streusel is possible!! I think the crumbly, buttery topping is seriously the best part. I wish it was 70% streusel, and 30% cake, hee hee.

  16. YUMMMM!!!
    And what is your give-away that you mentioned?? Sounds like something I would LOVE to win…how do I enter?
    For the holidays I really hope to find a healthy vegan pumpkin pie to make that doesnt use soy!! Its a challenge, but Im up for it!

    🙂

  17. Wow, these are definitely bookmarked for the next time I am craving muffins…yum!

    I can’t believe I missed the Candle tribute…I adore that place…going back to read it now!

  18. OMG these look amazing!!!
    The weather this week has been pretty gross – super windy and rainy. I always come home from work in search of something hot, usually grabbing a cup of tea, or digging into my mom’s amazing chili.
    Baking these beauties seems like the perfect way to warm up and to spend a grey autumn afternoon.
    I know what I’m going to be doing this weekend! (:

  19. These look awesome! I have a vegan streusel recipe too that I’ve been making. Anything with oats, brown sugar, cinnamon…yep, that’s my speed, for sure 🙂

    I am so impressed that you’ve been baking more lately! I know that you don’t necessarily consider yourself a “baker” or a desserts-type baker, but you’re onto something lately!

    My holiday baking agenda…hmmm, nothing special planned b/c I am going to be gone/traveling the whole month of Dec. but of course that doesnt stop me from making things day to day. No holiday excuse needed..haha!

    🙂