This quick and easy cinnamon crumb topping is perfect for muffins, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls, pies, and more. Nut-free and made with only 5 ingredients!
A sprinkle of cozy cinnamon crumble topping (also called a streusel topping) can take even the best warm apple muffins or fresh pumpkin bread to the next level. This sweet, slightly crispy topping adds texture and depth to baked goods. It's worth the extra bit of effort to add it to your favorite recipes!
While the recipe itself is simple - all you have to do is mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and all purpose flour with a pinch of salt and a bit of room temperature butter - the key to a successful streusel is in the technique. In our testing, taking the time to work the dry ingredients thoroughly into the room-temperature butter makes all the difference (more on that later!)
Jump to:
- Crumble vs. Streusel
- Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- Instructions
- How to Freeze Homemade Streusel
- Two Tips for Excellent Crumble Topping
- When to Add Crumb Topping to a Recipe
- How Butter Temperature Affects Your Crumb Topping
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recipes that Use Crumble Topping
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments & Reviews
Crumble vs. Streusel
What makes this a cinnamon crumble topping recipe as opposed to a cinnamon streusel recipe? Honestly: They're pretty interchangeable.
In the kitchens we've worked in, a streusel almost always featured add-ins (like oats or nuts) that yield a looser, sandier texture (versus a crumble, which has no nuts or oats and holds its shape fairly well). Because this recipe doesn't use oats or nuts - and because it holds its shape quite well after baking - our recipe testers agreed it feels more like a "crumble" to us.
Of course, people love to disagree: Martha Stewart says a streusel contains more flour than sugar, though most recipes we consulted in our fact-check process disprove that theory (like the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook crumble, America's Test Kitchen streusel, and the How to Cook Everything streusel). King Arthur's go-to streusel is flour-heavy, and includes oats (although other streusel toppings in their catalog use a 1:1 ratio of flour to sugar, and no oats).
A streusel can also trace its name back to German origins (its root, streuen, means to "scatter" or "sprinkle"); a crumble may well have evolved as an Americanized name for the same recipe. Some sources argue a crumble is actually a TYPE of streusel (at this point, the term "crisp" enters the conversation, and things get even more complicated).
Basically: Call it whatever you want. It's really not that serious.
Ingredients
Scroll to the recipe card below for a full ingredients list with exact quantities.
This basic crumble recipe is pretty straightforward, but we want to highlight a few things before you jump in:
- Brown sugar lends sweetness to this cinnamon crumble; its molasses-y flavor also gives this recipe a bit of depth.
- All purpose flour gives this topping its structure, which results in beautiful crumbs with lots of texture. (For softer, less structured crumble pieces, you can use cake flour instead of all purpose!)
- Cinnamon is responsible for the warm-and-cozy vibes here. Use a fresh, high-quality cinnamon for maximum flavor (we love this cinnamon from Frontier or this one from Diaspora Co). Feel free to adjust the amount of cinnamon to suit your tastes!
- Room Temperature Butter. We use unsalted butter in all our baking, but salted butter will also work here. What’s most important is that it’s fairly soft and easy to smoosh around!
- A small pinch of salt helps these flavors pop. Don't skip it!
Variations and Substitutions
This cinnamon crumble recipe is fairly forgiving and easy to customize. A few of our favorite riffs:
- Mix up the spices. Skip the cinnamon or swap it for your favorite pumpkin pie spice. You can also add a pinch of ground cloves or nutmeg!
- Use white sugar instead of brown sugar. One note: white granulated sugar tends to spread a bit more as it bakes, so a white sugar cinnamon crumb topping may flatten out in the oven a bit more.
- Add whole rolled oats for extra texture! (ooh, there we go getting into streusel territory! iykyk. and YOU KNOW, because you're reading this entire post, yes? *wink*).
- Add nuts. We’ve intentionally written this cinnamon crumble to be nut-free, but if you love ‘em, add toasted, chopped walnuts or chopped pecans for extra crunch.
Instructions
Don't forget: Bring the butter to room temperature before you begin! An hour or two on the countertop is usually enough time to soften it up.
Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl (Image 1, above) and use a fork to begin mashing everything together (Image 2). Take your time, and mash slowly to work the dry ingredients into the butter.
As the butter breaks apart, you'll start to develop a loose, sandy mixture (3). Continue mashing, pausing to scrape any large pieces of butter off the fork as needed (4). The mixture will darken in color as you go!
Pro Tip: If your butter isn't quite soft enough, it might be harder to begin working the butter into the dry ingredients with just a fork. Try switching to a pastry cutter: it will break the butter up quickly so it softens faster; you can switch back to a fork when the butter is more pliable.
As the dry ingredients are worked into the butter, the mixing will start to feel easier, and you'll notice bigger, softer clumps start to form (Image 5, above). Continue mashing until you have a dark brown mixture and have worked nearly all of the sandy, sugary, dusty bits (<-- technical term) into the butter (6).
You'll know the crumble is ready when you can pinch a bit of it together between your fingers, and it holds its shape:
When your crumble is fully mixed, it's time to add it to your favorite recipes! Use the crumble topping right away, or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer and grab a handful as needed. This crumble will last at least a week in the fridge, and several months in the freezer.
How to Freeze Homemade Streusel
One of our favorite tricks for delicious crumble topping with minimal effort: Freeze a big batch in advance! We keep this crumble in the freezer and dip into it for spur-of-the-moment recipes (like our small batch banana muffins).
To freeze, line a large baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat or a piece of parchment paper. Spread the crumble over the baking sheet in an even layer, taking care to break any large pieces up as you go. Freeze, uncovered, for an hour, then transfer to an airtight container so it's easy to grab handfuls when you need them.
Two Tips for Excellent Crumble Topping
This cinnamon crumble is quick and easy to make, but 2 key factors make all the difference:
- Use room-temperature butter. A soft, room-temp butter makes it easier to work the dry ingredients into your crumble mixture. It also helps your crumble hold its shape after baking: If your butter is too cold, it will melt in the oven and run down the sides of your baked goods, making things more greasy than crumbly.
- Mash well! When you think you’re done mashing, mash some more. You need to work the flour, sugar, and cinnamon all the way through the butter for a cohesive crumb topping. What we don’t want is for the dry ingredients to simply stick to clumps of plain butter!
When to Add Crumb Topping to a Recipe
Simply sprinkle your mixed crumble topping on top of your muffin or bread batter before baking. The amount of crumble is totally up to you – but we say don’t hold back!
As written, this recipe makes enough streusel to cover an 8x8" coffee cake (try our apple butter coffee cake!) or about a dozen muffins. You can also add it to brown sugar cookies, small batch cinnamon rolls, or use it as a quick topping for a berry crumble or apple pie!
How Butter Temperature Affects Your Crumb Topping
As usual, we tested a few different versions of this cinnamon crumble recipe. We used our pumpkin bread recipe (baked in muffin form) in these photos to see what yielded the best results. Some publications call for cold butter in their streusel or crumb toppings, so we gave that a try alongside our preferred room-temperature butter. (We used a food processor to blend the cold butter crumble).
We also tested two different mixing methods with room temperature butter: One quickly mixed topping, which still had several pockets of unmixed butter and dry ingredients, and a thoroughly mixed version in which all ingredients were fully incorporated (these crumbles were mixed by hand, with a fork).
The room-temperature butter crumbles held their shapes fairly well: The quickly mixed topping had some larger, textured pieces alongside a few loose, sandy pockets; the thoroughly mixed crumble kept its big, beautiful crumble pieces and appeared taller and more "full".
The cinnamon crumble made with cold butter was almost completely flat and very greasy: The cold butter pieces melted in the oven and ran down the sides of the muffin, pooling at the bottom as it baked.
One important note: All of these muffins still tasted good! If one style looks better to you than another, we hope this test helps you adjust your crumb topping process as needed to suit your own tastes!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Mash the cinnamon crumble topping recipe together as directed, then mix in the oats at the very end. Whole rolled oats will give you the best texture (and will turn this into more of a cinnamon streusel topping, which will be a little bit looser than a crumble!)
While we haven't specifically tested a dairy-free version of this easy crumble topping recipe, we expect it would work with a non-dairy butter or solid, room-temperature coconut oil in place of the unsalted butter. Keep in mind that different brands or styles of dairy free butter will mix and melt differently - it may take a few tries to find the right ratios and brands if you want to make a non-dairy version of this recipe!
If your crumble loses its shape while baking and feels greasy or soggy, it's likely because the crumb topping was not mixed thoroughly enough. When small pieces of butter are still floating around the crumble without being fully incorporated into the dry ingredients, the butter melts in the oven and runs down the sides of your muffin or coffee cake, leaving a thin, crispy layer on top and a greasy feeling along the sides and bottom. To prevent this, make sure you spend plenty of time working the dry ingredients into the butter, until your mixture resembles a crumbly dough (rather than just pieces of butter suspended in a dry mixture!)
Recipes that Use Crumble Topping
This crumb topping is delicious on all kinds of baked goods, from banana bread to muffins to pies and beyond! Some of our favorite ways to use it:
Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment and star rating below to let us know how it turned out!
Print📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Crumble
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Makes 1.5 cups 1x
- Category: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This easy cinnamon crumb topping is perfect for coffee cake, muffins, quick breads, and more!
Ingredients
- 80 grams brown sugar (about ⅓ packed cup)
- 60 grams all purpose flour (about ½ cup)
- 14 grams ground cinnamon (about 2 Tablespoons)
- 70 grams unsalted butter (about 5 Tablespoons), softened to room temperature
- Pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Add brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, butter, and a pinch of salt to a small mixing bowl.
- Use a fork to slowly mash all ingredients together. The mixture will look sandy at first; as you continue working the dry ingredients into the butter, it will darken and form larger, stiffer clumps. The crumble is ready when you can pinch it together between your fingers and it holds its shape.
- Sprinkle crumble across your favorite coffee cake, muffins, or quick bread and bake as the recipe directs.
Notes
This recipe makes enough crumble for one 8x8" coffee cake (like our apple butter coffee cake) or about 12 muffins (try it on our banana chocolate chip muffins!)
Additions and Substitutions. Use more or less cinnamon to suit your tastes. Swap some or all of the cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg or ground cloves if you like. Stir toasted, chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans) or oats into the crumble once mixed for extra texture. For fluffier crumble pieces, use cake flour in place of all purpose flour.
Measure by weight with a kitchen scale for best results! Measuring by weight (using the gram measurements provided) is much more accurate and will result in more consistent baking. If you don't have a scale, measure your dry ingredients with the scoop and level method for best results.
This recipe is all about technique! Be patient as you mix everything together, and take care to thoroughly mash all of the dry ingredients into the butter. If the butter is not well incorporated, it can melt in the oven and run down the sides of your baked goods (creating a flatter, crisper crumb topping that feels a bit greasy). A great homemade crumble topping can take a bit of practice!
For easier mixing, cut the softened butter into small pieces before you begin mashing it into the dry ingredients.
Baking directions. Add this crumble to the top of your favorite coffee cake, muffin, and cookie batters before baking. We recommend baking this crumble between 350° and 425° Fahrenheit for at least 10 minutes, but no more than 1 hour. If baked at an especially hot temperature (or for an especially long time), this crumble topping can burn. It should be fine baked on top of most quick breads, cinnamon rolls, cookies, muffins, and more (if you have questions about whether this crumble will work with a particular recipe, just drop us a comment below - our team is happy to help!)
Make-Ahead Tips and Storage. Store prepared crumble in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week before baking, or freeze for up to 3 months. To freeze, spread crumble over a baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat: Freeze for 1 hour or until solid, then transfer to an airtight container. Add refrigerated or frozen crumble pieces directly to muffin or coffee cake batters, then bake normally. If you'd like to use cold or frozen crumble pieces on a smaller baked good (like cookies), we recommend defrosting it and bringing it to room temperature before baking since those bake times will be shorter.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons
- Calories: 84
- Sugar: 5.4 g
- Sodium: 105.7 mg
- Fat: 4.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.2 g
- Protein: 0.6 g
- Cholesterol: 12.5 mg
Several photos in this post were taken for us by the talented Casey at The Mindful Hapa!
Jessie
I put this crumble on EVERYTHING. Making a big double batch and keeping extra in the freezer is one of my favorite ways to fancy up some quick homemade muffins during the week!