Juicy roasted gooseberries in a soft muffin with a crumble topping. These Gooseberry Crumble Muffins are perfect for breakfast or a not too naughty treat any time of the day.
Gooseberries to my mind are a much underrated fruit, which seems to have fallen out of favour with so many. This is such a shame as the fruit is just bursting with flavour. They can be a bit tart especially if under-ripe but a little sharpness can really bring sweet dishes to life.
They certainly do that in these Gooseberry Crumble Muffins. I've roasted the fruit first with just a little sugar. Then mixed these into a light muffin batter and spooned them into muffin cases. To finish off the muffins are then sprinkled with a crumble mixture before baking.
The end result is a light muffin that is not too sweet and full of flavour, delicious served with coffee at breakfast. I love these muffins served while still slightly warm from the oven. You can also reheat them easily by popping into the microwave for 20-30 seconds to get the same effect.
If you want to prepare ahead you could roast the gooseberries ahead of time although to be honest they roast in about the time to takes to make the crumble topping and weigh out all the other ingredients so it's not really necessary.
I've used red gooseberries, as these were the first to ripen this year on my mini allotment. But you can use the more common green gooseberries as well.
If you cannot get fresh gooseberries you can use frozen ones, just roast directly from frozen, or skip the roasting and let them defrost beforehand, then stir in the sugar and continue as before.
Step by Step Gooseberry Crumble Muffins
Spread the gooseberries on a tray and sprinkle with sugar. Roast for 10 minutes, set aside. Place the butter and flour in a bowl. Rub in the butter. Stir in the demerara sugar. Stir together the flour sugar and baking powder. Beat together the yogurt, egg and oil. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients. Add the roasted gooseberries. Mix until just combined. Spoon into muffin cases. Top with the crumble mixture. Bake.
Gooseberry Crumble Muffins
Ingredients
Roasted gooseberries
- 250 g (9oz) gooseberries
- 1 – 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
Crumble Topping
- 75 g (3oz)plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 40 g (1½oz) butter cut into cubes
- 2 tbsp demerara sugar
Muffin Batter
- 350 g (12oz) plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 125 g (4oz) golden caster sugar
- 300 g (10oz) Greek style natural yogurt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large egg
Special Equipment
- muffin tin
Instructions
First roast the gooseberries.
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan)/400°F/gas mark 6. Spread 250g (9oz) gooseberries on a baking tray and sprinkle with 1 – 2 tbsp caster sugar. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Meanwhile, Prepare the crumble topping.
- Sift 75g (3oz) flour into a bowl and add 40g (1½oz) butter and rub in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in 2 tbsp demerara sugar and set aside.
To complete
- Next mix 350g (12oz)flour, 2tsp baking powder and125g (4oz) caster sugar together in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
- An a separate bowl beat together 300g (10oz) yogurt, 3 tbsp oil and 1 egg with a work until combined. Pour into the centre of the dry ingredients.
- Add the roast gooseberries and any juices. Beat together until the ingredients are just combined.
- Line a muffin tray with paper cases (or grease well) and divide the muffin mixture equally between the cases filling about three-quarters full.
- Sprinkle a little crumble mixture on the top of each muffin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
Store
Best eaten within 1-2 days. store in an airtight container in a cool dry place.Cook's Notes
Use red or green gooseberries. If you like your cakes on the sweeter side you may want to add a little extra sugar to the gooseberries before roasting. Do not overbeat the muffin mixture as this will make the muffins tough and rubbery. Just mix sufficiently to combine all the ingredients evenly. Do not worry about any lumps at this stage.Nutrition
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I'm linking this post to #CookBlogShare hosted at Recipes Made Easy
Karen
I plan to try these and have no doubt they will be 5 star, but have never even seen a gooseberry, dead or alive, where I live. I was curious, so ordered canned gooseberries online. They look quite nice, green and plump. I'm wondering if I should skip the first step due to the sugar in their juice, and simply drain them, or should I go ahead and roast them a bit anyway to dry them out - perhaps with a sprinkle of sugar for crispness? I appreciate your advice.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
I would drain them and use just as they are as the canning processes will have cooked them. I really hope you like them Im a big fan of these much underrated berries which even when in season arre not always available in the shops so I have 3 gooseberry bushes in my mini allotment to grow my own.
Michelle Rolfe
Confession time! I've never had gooseberries! My gooseberry bush has never produced in the last couple of years but Lesley has just gifted me one from her garden as it needed space. Typically with her green fingers and thumbs it has already started producing berries. If I get enough this is what I am making with them! Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Michelle x
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Michelle I am so surprised. I get the feeling that you will like them - the kids may be a different story I hated them as a child.
Cat | Curly's Cooking
These sound so tasty and your photos are beautiful.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thank you Cat and yes they are rather scrummy at least I think so.
Chloe Edges | Feast Glorious Feast
Looks fab, I haven't actually had goodeberries in years!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
I didnt like them when I was younger but love them now. Can't wait for mine to ripen won't be long now!
Helen - Cooking with my kids
I've not had gooseberries in years. I think I remember being too tart, but you're right that paring them with something sweet should go really well. I also love the look of the crumble topping on these muffins. Yum!
Veronica
These sound delicious - I love making muffins, but I haven't tried them with gooseberries yet.
Sylvie
These muffins look absolutely delightful! I haven't had gooseberries in years but there used to be a gooseberry plant in my parents backyard so this brings back so many memories. Cant wait to try it when the fruits are in season here in Australia!
Joanna
These look delicious - I love gooseberries and the idea of adding a crumble topping to the muffins is brilliant!
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Thanks Joanna, I do rather like the additional texture the crumble brings to these muffins.
Nic
Thanks for sharing, these look very yummy 🙂 I have the normal green gooseberries in my freezer at the moment so maybe another recipe idea to use them 🙂
Nic
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Oh yes do give them a go and let me know what you think.
Corina Blum
These look delicious! I normally pick gooseberries at our local pick your own farm at about this time of year but haven't been able to this year - such a shame as these look right up my street with that crumble topping.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
My gooseberries are not ripe yet so just maybe you we will be able to go to pick your own by the imte they are ready.
Margaret Armstrong
I have an abundance of gooseberries this year in Montana USA. I’d love to try these and would very much appreciate it if the amounts of the ingredients were in “cups” instead of ounces. I’d hate to convert wrong. Thank you in advance!!!!
I can figure out the oven temp which would be about 375 F
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Hello Margaret. I do give cup measurements on my other recipe blog http://www.recipesmadeeasy.co.uk However I am afraid that I took the decision to not include cup measurements on this blog as this is predominantly a bakings blog. I have found they cup measurements can vary a lot and be inconsistent. For baking, this can mean the difference between success and failure so as I want my recipes to be a success every time I decided to just give the imperial conversion only. In an ideal world, I would only use grams. Im sorry for the inconvenience but I really feel weighing ingredients when baking is best. I am told on good authority that Walmart sells cheap scales.
Ken How
What is the baking temperature?
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
Hi Ken, The muffins are baked at the same temperature as the gooseberries are roasted so 200℃ (180℃ fan)/400°F/gas mark 6 as stated in step 1. sorry if that is not clear. Jacqui
Christine
How delicious, this brings back fond memories of my Mums gooseberry crumble while I was growing up in the UK. Have lived in NY for many years & have never seen gooseberries in the local supermarket, mores the pity! They don't know what they're missing.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine
No they dont know what they are missing. These tart fruits are so versatile