Lilac Streusel Muffins

Mildly sweet Lilac Streusel Muffins are made with real lilac flowers, sweetened with homemade lilac sugar, and tinted with floral, fragrant homemade lilac syrup. If that wasn’t enough, the streusel crumb topping is super easy to make and adds a nice flaky crunch to the top of the deliciously soft and moist muffin!

Lilacs have such a beautiful scent! And, those delicate little petals are edible! Did you know that? Even though there’s not a whole lot of flavour in the petals themselves, they do have a very mild lemony flavour. That’s all good and fine, but it’s the scent that gets me every time when I bake those petals into scones, cakes, or Lilac Streusel Muffins!

A few years ago, we bought a house in a very small town – actually, I think it qualifies more as a hamlet! We put in an offer on Mother’s Day and were quite surprised with the offer was accepted the next day. Over the next few weeks, we drove three and a half hours to get to the house for things like a home inspection, a well inspection, a septic inspection, and even a wood-burning stove inspection. It was exhausting!

The saving grace was watching the trees, bushes, and flower beds come to life. We had no idea what the then barren trees would be! One of my favourite surprises was the row of lilac trees right in the back corner of our garden! At the time, I thought they were just pretty. Little did I know that the following spring, I would be making all kinds of goodies with those lilacs. At the risk of sounding super corny, I swear Dear Reader, little pleasures can be found everywhere if you look hard enough!

GROWING FOOD AT YOUR HOME

I’m not a fan of summer – the heat and the humidity just make me a very miserable person – but, I love what summer brings in terms of food.  My favourite thing about summer is watching our backyard turn from a white winter wonderland into a lush, green oasis with a few trees and shrubs that yield berries, fruits, and even edible flowers!

We are lucky enough to have more than enough red currant bushes. We also have two apple trees, a few blackberry shrubs, and some rhubarb too. Although the first year, I did harvest the rhubarb twice, I didn’t get to do it again. You see, we hired a grasscutter who for the past two years has run right over the sprouting rhubarb – even though it was fenced in! They never grew after that. This year, I’m hoping to move them into a raised garden bed to prevent them from such a horrible demise.

For the past two years, I put the lilacs to good use. As much as I love them, they are certainly fickle, because they have such a short season. You’re lucky if you get two weeks out of those blooms. So, when it comes to harvesting them to bake with, you have to work quickly. Also, it rains often in spring, so I have that the contend with too. Good thing I’m persistent and love what I do!

DECORATING SKILLS ARE NOT NEEDED

My Lilac Streusel Muffins are ideal because my decorating skills are terrible! Usually, a dusting of confectioner’s sugar is my lazy attempt at decorating baked goods. I’ve tried many times to decorate a cake using frosting and fondant, but I can’t seem to master the art at all.  I’ve purchased the frosting bags and tips in all shapes and sizes, but even they don’t help.

I think the main reason for my lack of decorating skills is that I consider myself to be a comfort food, self-taught, home cook.  When I was growing up, food wasn’t about pretty, it was about family, friends, and filling your belly! This, of course, was long before the invention of Instagram and the term foodie was born.  

I love pretty things, just like everyone else, but I also pride myself on catering to the home cook, just like me, who doesn’t rely on a fancy cooking apparatus, who doesn’t have any formal chef training, and who has one goal: get a great tasting dish on the table.  It’s that simple.

With that said, however, I do think that these muffins are the answer to all of us who suffer from that damn decorating disease.  (Yes, I just wrote that!)  Muffins such as these are not only super delicious and moist, but I think they’re pretty as well.  And, anyone – yes, anyone! – can make muffins look just as pretty as these do with the help of a crumbly streusel topping! If you hurry, you can just catch the end of lilac season. A few lilac petals are all you need to gussy up your platter of Lilac Streusel Muffins!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

You will need Lilac Infused Sugar to make these muffins. You can make them with regular sugar, but the end result won’t be quite right. They will still taste delicious, but they won’t have the strong, aromatic lilac scent and flavour I mentioned in the introduction. The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

FOR THE MUFFINS:

• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Lilac Infused Sugar – Making your own lilac sugar is easy to do. I have the instructions right here. It does take five days to make lilac sugar, so you can use regular granulated sugar if you must, but will not be as flavourful nor as scented as it should be. 
• Salt – This is a common ingredient in baking and cooking.  In baking it helps to enhance and balance sweetness. 
• Baking Powder – This is used to increase the volume of the batter and to add texture as well.
• Vegetable Oil – Used instead of butter, the oil keeps the muffins light and super moist.
• Egg – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your egg is at room temperature.
• Milk – When a baking recipe requires milk, I always use whole milk, unless otherwise stated. 
• Lilac Petals – Read the next section on how to collect and clean lilac petals.

FOR THE STREUSEL TOPPING:

• Lilac Infused Sugar – Again, you can use regular granulated sugar here too.
• Flour
• Butter – When making a streusel topping, cold butter is best. It doesn’t have to ice cold, but should not be in a softened state like when you start out to make cookies or cakes.

HOW TO MAKE LILAC STREUSEL MUFFINS

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line a muffin tin with paper liners. Set that aside. Next, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, lilac sugar, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, oil and milk. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Stir to combine.

Add the lilac petals and fold them into the muffin batter. Divide the batter evenly among the twelve muffin liners. Set aside. Next, use a fork to smash together the streusel topping ingredients. It should look lumpy and coarse. Evenly top the muffins with the streusel topping.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow the baked muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin. Remove and transfer to a wire baking rack to cool completely. When cooled, store in air-tight container or in a covered cake stand for up to 3 days.

HOW TO GATHER LILACS

Use pruning sheers to snip clumps of lilacs from your tree. Fill your kitchen sink with cold water and dunk the lilac branches, one at a time. Gently shake the branch under the water and then lift it straight out. Do this several times. Transfer the branch and/or clump to a salad spinner and spin out the excess water. The lilacs may still be a bit damp, but they won’t be impossible to work with. Don’t be tempted to overwash and over spin in the salad spinner. Lilacs are delicate, so treat them as such.

Here are the suggestions that I have followed. These are suggestions that I have read over the past few years from others who have prepared lilacs to eat. First, only use lilac petals from a tree that you know 100% has not been sprayed or treated with chemicals. Secondly, pick petals from trees that are not close to busy streets or highways. Those petals will be dirty with gas and diesel residue.

Please use pruning shears. Don’t break the branches with your hands or saw at them with a knife. This will damage the tree and you will want the tree to stay healthy for years to come. Oh, it’s also best to harvest the lilacs in the morning before it gets too hot. The petals have more moisture content in the morning.

SEPARATING THE PETALS FROM THE STEMS

So, I know that lilacs look gorgeous spilling out of large vases. And, every year, I have at least two large vases filled with them. But, they are great for baking too! Once you have cut and washed your lilacs, now comes to the tedious part. Removing the petals from the stems is certainly not hard work, but it’s tedious! This is how I do it.

With all of my washed lilac bunches in a large bowl, and a smaller bowl for collecting petals close by, I find a nice shady spot on our back deck. Next, I fetch a cold drink and get ready to harvest. Working with one bunch of lilacs at at time, hold the top of the petal and pull. The purplish-pink petal should release from the stem. The idea is to leave behind all traces of green. If you get a few bits of green, it won’t do any harm. But, too much will throw off the taste of your recipe.

This process is long and labourious. To make this recipe, you will need two cups of lilac petals. That doesn’t seem like much, but it takes some time. You should learn from my mistakes too, because the first time I did this, I did not sit in the shade. I ended up getting a sunburn! When all is said and done, the Lilac Streusel Muffins are beautifully fragrant and gently sweet.

STORING YOUR MUFFINS

You can store them for 3-5 days on your countertop on a cake stand with a lid. Even though the muffins are safe to eat after being left on the counter for a few days, they tend to lose some of their moistness after the third day. But, never fear! If your muffins become a little stale, pop one in the microwave for 10 seconds. It will soften it up quite nicely!