Classic Streusel Topping
Streusel is a crumbly mixture of flour, butter, and sugar. Streusel topping is most commonly used on fruit pies, a crisp, or a crumble, and should be added right before the pie goes into the oven. It can also be used to top muffins, batter breads, and cakes.
Overview
- Skill Level: Beginner
This basic streusel topping can be used to top numerous baked goods such as pies, cakes, muffins, and sweet breads. A streusel creates a sweet and crumbly texture that elevates simple recipes.
The recipe, in it’s most simple form, contains very few ingredients: flour, sugar, and butter. However, spices and chopped nuts can be added if desired.
Ingredient Functions
- Brown Sugar adds sweetness and a rich flavor to the streusel topping due to the molasses present in it. The brown sugar also helps to add moisture to the topping. If you want more crunch and texture to your streusel topping, you can use all granulated sugar instead of the combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Granulated Sugar adds more sweetness and helps the streusel topping crisp up slightly once it is baked. This adds a nice texture to the top of your baked good.
- All-Purpose Flour is used in a small amount to help bind the mixture together and give it a crumbly texture. A gluten free baking blend will work well as a replacement if you need to make a gluten free streusel.
- Cinnamon is an optional ingredient but works well for most streusel uses. Cinnamon’s only function is flavor and can be left out completely or substituted with other spices if desired.
- Salt rounds out and balances the sweet flavor.
- Butter coats the mixture in fat to help create the crumbly texture by adding moisture. Without the fat, the streusel mixture would be extremely dry and unpalatable after baked. Vegan butter substitutes can be used in place of real butter.
Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
There are very few basic steps to creating a streusel topping. All of the ingredients, except the butter, are stirred together.
Melted butter is then added to the mixture and coated over the dry ingredients.
The streusel topping can be made up to three days ahead of time and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready for use. Use streusel to spruce up a simple recipe, such as a topping for blueberry muffins, coffee cake, or even on a basic banana bread.
How to bake streusel topping
If you’re adding streusel on top of an unbaked batter like you would for muffins or banana bread, then you don’t need to bake the streusel topping separately. It will bake in the oven while the bread bakes.
If you plan to use the streusel as a layer in a cake trifle or as a topping over yogurt or ice cream, then you need to bake the streusel topping separately.
How to bake
After mixing up the topping, spread it out in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake on 350°F/175°C for about 8-12 minutes until browned. After cooling, break it up with your hands to make crumbles. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Recipes Using Streusel Topping
Classic Streusel Topping
This classic streusel topping can be used to top pies, muffins, cakes, and sweet breads. Streusel topping is an easy way to elevate many simple baked goods!
Ingredients
- 100 grams (½ cup) brown sugar, light or dark
- 100 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 75 grams (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 56 grams (4 tablespoons, ½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar (100 grams/ ½ cup), granulated sugar (100 grams/ ½ cup), flour (75 grams/ ½ cup + 2 tablespoons), cinnamon (1 ½ teaspoons), and salt (one pinch) together.
- Stir in the melted butter (56 grams/ 4 tablespoons) and mix with your hands until crumbly.
- Use to top muffins, coffee cakes, batter breads, or in place of a top crust on a pie. This streusel topping can be made in advance and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 days prior to using as a topping.
Notes
*This recipe makes enough for a 9-inch (23 cm) pie or cake, 1 batch of muffins, or a loaf of quick bread. Double the recipe for a 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) pan.
Oat Streusel: Add 50 grams (½ cup) rolled or quick oats to the mixture.
Nut Streusel: Add 50 grams (½ cup) chopped nuts to the mixture.
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42 Comments on “Classic Streusel Topping”
Goes great on sweet potato pie/casserole. Yummy!
That sounds delicious!
“See note for gluten free option”….. uh, what note?
Hi Amanda! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. My site went through some updates recently and unfortunately some of my recipe notes did not transfer into my new recipe plugin. I have been trying to find as many of them as I can but I appreciate you pointing this out. It has been updated to include the note again. This is what it says “A gluten free baking blend, such as Bob’s Red Mill’s GF Baking Blend or Cup 4 Cup, can be used in place of the all-purpose flour to make a gluten free streusel topping.”
Can u use regular butter and no salt?
Hi Samantha! Yes, you can use salted butter and leave out the additional salt!
How can I make this as a no-bake recipe? Thanks
Hi April I would suggest swapping out the flour with oat flour so it is safe to eat raw and you should be good to go!
I followed this recipe exactly and used the streusel topping for my thanksgiving purple sweet potato casserole and it was beyond delicious. Thank you. I found that instead of the fork, my hands were the best mixing tools in the kitchen.
There is no mention of time and temperature? I don’t think this is eaten raw!
Hi there, it goes on top of whatever you are baking. You will add it before your muffins, pie, or quick bread bakes. Time and temperature is variable based on the recipe you are using to add this to.
Hi, can you bake the streusel and the muffins separately and then put them together?
You can however the streusel won’t stick to the baked muffins very well. It’ll slide off.
Alright, thank you!
I tried it and doubled it for 2 pies and it all melted on my pies, I’m hoping for a crust. Just looking at my pies through the oven window
When should the streusel be placed on top? Right on top of the wet batter?
Correct! It will bake up in the oven.
It bakes up, perfectly, esp on vanilla cake for coffee cake! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for your easy streusel recipe. We’re making peach cobbler and I always forget what the ingredients are and I’m German so that’s sad. Looks like you have some great recipes. I will have to try some. My daughter wants to be a pastry chef so I’m sure we will be looking you up a lot.
This will top a peach cobbler wonderfully!
Ughh. Why did I bother to use a recipe at all; why did I think that the first recipe that came up on my IPad search would be reliable; why didn’t I just trust my decades-long experience making streusel toppings by touch? No answers from me, except disappointment in myself for not realizing as I was mixing butter with the dry ingredients, that this was not going to be right. My freshly picked raspberries deserved better than a gooey melted topping.
There’s too much butter or conversely, not enough flour in the recipe. This would be fine on a sweet potato casserole, maybe really fine, but the ratios do NOT make a traditional “Streusel” in “Germanic” style imho. Can you revise?
btw This is my first ever comment/question to an online recipe. Our Mom was Austrian and knew a few things about baking!
I think you should leave out the “h” in “imho”.
Hi Helen, I’m so sorry you didn’t like it! I’ve always had great success with this recipe. You can always add a touch more flour if you like that consistency better.
I thought I’d give this a try as its got over 300 reviews however the recipe doesn’t actually work. The method is odd and there if far, far, far too much sugar. This recipe is basically just caramelised sugar. I added an extra handful of flour and tested before putting in on my dessert and it was so sweet and would totally ruin what ever it was put on. Chucked it all away! It was a waste of time and money. The only thing I can think of is if the ratio’s were incorrect when converted into grams.
this did not work out for me either.
way too much sugar, as jammyj had said.
turned out hard and crunchy, more like a “candied” topping
How long do you bake it for??
It depends what you are using it for. If you are topping it on a muffin, use the same baking instructions for your muffin recipe.
Hi! If I just wanted to bake it alone ( cause I’m crazy and I literally want to mix it into som cream cheese icing and eat it ) What temperature and for how long would you recommend?
That’s a great idea! Spread it out on a baking sheet and bake on 350F for about 10-12 minutes. You could also sprinkle over yogurt, ice cream, or even oatmeal.
I used this to top a batch of 12 muffins but it was WAY too much topping. I should’ve trusted my gut and not used the whole batch, because it seemed excessive. The topping basically overflowed and slid off most of the muffins while baking. Next time I’d use maybe even just half of this recipe for a standard-size 12 muffins.
thanks for letting me know! You can always use less topping.
Would this be able to be swirled in a cake batter and baked that way? Or is it only okay to top with?
I probably wouldn’t mix it into cake batter.
I ran a butter knife thru the cake batter after I topped it w/ the streusel, it cooked right into the cake in swirls like a coffee cake from the bakery. Beautiful!
Perfect!
Wish I had read the comments first, but I was in a rush. As others have said, the ratios are not quite right, and it has just melted on top of the cake. I doubled the recipe to make 2 9×12 cakes and have at least half left over. Not sure how you would use all of it, I guess some people like to make it an inch thick on top, whereas I’ve always had streusel just lightly covering the top of the cake with some cake peeking out.
I want to make this but the ingredients aren’t accurate where are the eggs??
Hi, there are no eggs in a streusel topping. Are you looking for a pastry strudel instead?
Excellent
I diced the butter and baked the pie but it did not come out as a streusel. It was very runny and not good at all.
Add: Place batter in pan and spoon streusel topping over batter before baking.
I made this streusel topping and put it in the middle of my Banana bread and then topped it with the rest, it came out amazing!! I’m keeping this recipe for future use, SO good!!