Raspberry Muffin Loaf with Coconut Pistachio Crunch

This is a variation of strawberry crunch muffins which was posted a while ago. Similar to the strawberry post, these raspberries were an impulse purchase. A lady turned up to my office selling two large punnets of raspberries for $20 which normally would cost me almost double the price. Raspberries are quite expensive in Australia…and to me these were a bargain. With that being said, I still consider this to be a splurge when it comes to buying fruits.

Since we are heading towards the end of financial (fiscal) year, I wanted to celebrate this occasion with my workmates. And baking a delicious raspberry loaf for work seems to be appropriate. Did I tell you that I am an accountant by day? I can’t speak for all accountants in Australia but for me, a new financial year is like any new year….definitely worthy of a celebration with a sweet treat no?

Raspberry Muffin Loaf with Coconut Pistachio Crunch

(tweaked from Holly’s raspberry crunch muffins recipe)

This recipe fills up a 15cm x 9cm (6″ x 3.5″ /1 lb) loaf pan + 3 muffin cups or 16 medium sized muffins

What you’ll need:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3.5 tsps baking powder
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g butter, melted
• 1 cup yoghurt
• 2 -3 tbsps milk (moist enough to stir in the raspberries)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g fresh raspberries

Coconut Pistachio Crunch Topping:

• 25g / 0.88 ounces cold butter
• 1/8 cup (half of a quarter) all-purpose flour
• 1/8 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
• 2 tbsps demerera sugar (coarse sugar) *which I have omitted simple to cut down my sugar intake
• 40g / 1.4 ounces pistachios, de-shelled

(1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (374 degrees F). (2) Line the loaf pan with a baking paper. Grease the surface which is not covered by the baking paper with some of the melted butter. (3) In a medium sized bowl, place eggs, butter, yoghurt and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. (4) Sift in flour and brown sugar into the batter and stir until just combined. (5) Gently stir in raspberries. (6) Add mixture into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle topping (method below) over the mixture before baking. (7) Bake muffin loaf for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Let the muffin loaf stands in pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.

To make the toppings: Use a small processor, process all the ingredients until resembles rubbles.

PS: The baking time may vary depending on the size of loaf pan you use. The larger the loaf pan, the lesser baking time. I like the towering effect of a loaf so I used a smaller loaf pan (in order to fill the batter towards the brim of the pan). As a result it took me a considerable time to cook all the way through. If you use a muffin pan, it takes about 20 to 25 minutes of baking time.