At its most basic, streusel is a mixture of butter, sugar and flour. It puffs slightly when it bakes and adds a crispy-crunchy layer of texture. Bake raw streusel on top of pie filling. Make an apple crisp. Bake streusel by itself, cool and grind to make a very crunchy sand. Use baked streusel in place of nuts on a sundae. Add ground nuts. Add oat meal. Add spices. Bake them like cookies. Use your imagination.
Streusel
At its most basic, streusel is a mixture of butter, sugar and flour. It puffs slightly when it bakes and adds a crispy-crunchy layer of texture.
Ingredients
- 4 oz . butter
- 2.5 oz . sugar
- 2 oz . brown sugar
- healthy pinch of salt
Optional Ingredients
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon spice, (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, etc)
- 8 oz . all purpose flour
- (substitute 6 oz. flour and 2 oz. oatmeal if you'd like)
- (2 oz. finely chopped nuts are optional but lovely) If you're using nuts, please toast them lightly first. You'll be glad you did.
Instructions
- In a large bowl and with clean hands, rub all the ingredients together until the butter is thoroughly blended in and the mixture is crumbly.
- Squeeze together handfuls and then pull apart in small pieces (this ensures that the texture when baked will be pebbly and crunchy, not sandy. Plus, it's fun).
- Yes, you can use your mixer or food processor if you want to.
- Bake off as is at 375F until deep golden brown or top muffins or pies with it. You can even bake these as cookies. Wonderfully crunchy, crumbly cookies.
Stephen Damon says
Does anyone remember the old Apple strudel that little Debbie used to make and sell in the 7-11s. I would like to find that recipe. If anyone can find that please post.