
Red Velvet Muffins
Do I Have to Add Red Food Coloring to Red Velvet Muffins
To get the bright red that is associated with red velvet, you will need to add food coloring. If you do not care about how bright the red is, you can leave the food coloring out and let the natural cocoa color the batter like in many of the older traditional red velvet muffins.
What Kind of Cocoa is Best For These Muffins
When you are making these muffins you want to use natural cocoa that is not dutch process cocoa. The natural cocoa has a lighter color and reacts with the baking soda and creates the burnished color.
Ingredients in Red Velvet Muffins with Streusel
- Flour
- Sugar
- Cocoa
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Egg
- Heavy cream
- Cooking oil
- Red food coloring gel
- Powdered sugar
- Butter
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
How to Make Streusel
In a bowl combine the flour, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt.
How to Make Red Velvet Muffins
- Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers and set it aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they become a light yellow color. Add the cream, oil and food coloring.
- Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix them together.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.
- Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Once the muffins are cool enough to touch, dip the muffins into the topping and press lightly.
- Drizzle with the muffins with the cream cheese frosting.
- Enjoy
Red velvets Muffins with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 Tablespoon of cocoa
- 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1/3 cup of cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon of Red food coloring gel - more if a darker red color is desired
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- 1 cup of flour
- 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
- 3/4 stick of butter - softened not melted
- pinch of salt
- 1 can of already prepared Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
- Set the oven to 400 degrees.
First, make the Streusel topping:
- In a bowl, combine the flour, powdered sugar, and pinch of salt.
- Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, like you would do with pie crust.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and pour the topping out onto the parchment paper, and smooth out the mixture evenly on the parchment paper.
- Bake in the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring or turning the mixture about every 3 to 4 minutes until it's a light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven, and slide the parchment paper off of the hot cookie sheet, and onto the counter to cool.
- Once the mixture is cool, break up any large chunks into smaller pieces, to resemble Streusel topping, and place it in a bowl.
Make the Muffins
- Line a 12 count muffin tin with paper liners, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, and mix well to blend all ingredients.
- In another bowl, beat the egg until it's light lemon yellow color, and then add the cream, oil, and food coloring gel, and blend until the egg mixture is all the same color of dark red.
- Add the egg/cream mixture to the large bowl with the dry ingredients, and mix with a whisk, or large spoon, until all the flour mixture is mixed with the wet ingredients, and the red color is mixed completely.
- If you think you'd like the color a little darker, add a few more drops of food coloring at this time, and mix well to blend. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until they are 2/3 full.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- When muffins are cool to the touch, dip the muffins into the bowl of Streusel topping, and press lightly to make sure it sticks to the tops of the muffins. Drizzle with cream cheese frosting. Serve, and Enjoy!