Cinnamon Muffins are an easy yet elegant muffin recipe! Topped with a simple streusel topping, these muffins are perfect for entertaining and make your home smell amazing as they bake!
These muffins immediately make me want to reach for a snuggly blanket, a good book, and a cup of hot coffee or a warm mug of hot chocolate. They just feel so warm and comforting that you want to soak up everything about them – not to mention that they make your house smell absolutely fabulous and like a home where you’d imagine someone is up baking them well before the sun rises.
Which isn’t me. I’ve never particularly been a morning person. My creative juices begin flowing late in the afternoon and continue on late into the evening. There was a time that I tried to force myself to go to bed early so that I would naturally wake up earlier and somehow train my brain to switch into gear much earlier by default. For months I’d start winding down around 9 pm so that hopefully I’d be asleep by 10 pm.
For months it didn’t happen.
I’d toss and turn and twist and throw back covers, only to pull them right back up again. I’d punch my pillows, rearrange them over and over again thinking that if I could find the magical position of my pillow, I’d immediately be off to sweet dreams.
That position eluded me. It still eludes me.
But, when I bake these muffins in the mornings, I could care less that my mind doesn’t switch off until at least 2 am and that my best sleep is about 6 am when I technically should be bounding out of the bed excited for another day. Instead, I’m dragging the covers back up trying to catch just five more minutes.
Since they take about 30 minutes to bake, I like to pop them into the oven and then head off to get ready while they are baking. Otherwise, I’d totally be searching out a blanket and book and curling up for a lazy morning.
These muffins are so easy to make ahead and store for future morning breakfasts.
Freeze instructions: You can make these muffins ahead and store them in an airtight container for a couple of days or freeze them to keep them longer up to 3 months. Just cool the muffins completely, wrap them in 2 layers of freezer wrap so they are airtight and place them in the freezer. You can also freeze them after you add the topping.
To Reheat: You can either let them thaw at room temperature or heat them frozen, unwrapped in the microwave, or wrapped in foil in the oven. If you want, you can wait and add the topping after you reheat them.
The cinnamon muffins are based off of my favorite cinnamon apple muffins recipe that we absolutely adore. I traded the coating of cinnamon sugar on the outside of the muffins for a simple streusel topping that is so simple to make.
Here’s my Cinnamon Muffins Recipe. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Cinnamon Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk, or buttermilk substitute
For the Streusel Topping
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons ) butter, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º F. Spray muffin tins with bakers spray or coat well with shortening or butter and flour, making sure to discard any excess flour from the tins after coating.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add an egg, one at a time, taking care to fully incorporate before adding the other. Mix in vanilla.
- Gently fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk. Stir until just combined. Scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
- For the topping, mix together brown sugar, flour, oats and butter until about pea-sized crumbles form. Top the muffin batter with the streusel topping.
- Bake the muffins until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Once muffins have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the muffin tin. Then, remove each muffin to a serving plate or stand.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Ok just made these again with two cups chopped apples and only cooked 20 minutes. They were much better.
Guess it depends on the size of your muffin pan but for me 20 minutes made all the difference.
Ok left a comment but don’t see it. They were dry and tasteless. I wonder if 30 minutes is too long to bake. I should have checked after 20 minutes. Any one else find this? Next time if there is one I will add the chopped apples and only cook 20 minutes. Please don’t delete my negative comment as it is meant as constructive criticism to help others.
I have never been much of a baker but this sounds like a recipe I could conquer. Pinning to try!
what an amazingly delicious and easy recipe! I was so lazy I made it in a rectangle pan, took about 40 mins. I also added cinnamon to the streusel because I cannot get enough cinnamon in my life. Awesome as usual Robyn
I did the same exact thing! Yumbo!
Just made these as mini muffins and they are delicious! Super easy to make as well. Big hit, thanks! Happy New Year!
These look so good!
These look so good. Right now I only have regular oats. Can I use them instead of the quick cooking oats or not? Thanks!
Hi – I had only regular oats as well and read on line that the only different is that they quick oats are cut smaller so to cut them but not to much as they will be mushy like instant. I put mine in a grinder and gave one quick pulse and it worked great! It was a great tip! Good luck
Great tip. Will try cutting my regular oats into smaller pcs and according to other posts I need to decrease cooking time to 20 min. Also adding cinnamon to streusel topping. Will post results. I’m also making my dairy free and using Smart Balance DF “butter”. I’m making my own buttermilk using almond milk (original and unsweetened) — 1 cup almond milk to 1 Tablespoon lemon juice. Happy Baking everyone. 🙂
These muffins look like such a delicious breakfast treat! The streusel topping adds such a lovely texture.
I am so in love with these muffins right now! They look simply delicious!
These look classic, and positively delicious. I just love a good crumble topping.