In baking and pastry making, streusel () is a crumbly topping of flour, butter, and sugar that is baked on top of muffins, breads, pies, and cakes. Some modern recipes add spices and chopped nuts. The mixture can also be layered or ribboned in the middle of a cake.
Some baked dishes which have a streusel topping are streuselkuchen, coffee cake, babka, and apple crisp.
The term is also sometimes used for rich pastries topped with, or mixed with, streusel.
From German ("something scattered or sprinkled"), from the verb (cognate with the English verb strew).
In Polish streusel is called kruszonka () which comes from the word "kruszyÃÂ" ().