Coffee cake muffins are moist and fluffy with a delicious buttery vanilla flavor. They have a layer of cinnamon sugar in the middle and crunchy cinnamon streusel on top that adds a delicious crunch.
This recipe turns classic cinnamon coffee cake into big, buttery muffins. They’re delicious warm from the oven and you’ll love the combination of moist muffin in the center and crunchy streusel on top. There’s a ribbon of cinnamon sugar in the middle of each muffin just like my favorite coffee cake recipe. The muffins are incredibly moist thanks to using sour cream and milk in the batter. Then the delicious flavor comes from using real butter, a good dose of vanilla and of course, the brown sugar and cinnamon in the stuesel and cinnamon layer.
Making Coffee Cake Muffins
The muffin batter for this recipe is adapted from the base recipe that I use for both my chocolate chip muffins and blueberry muffins. The muffin batter has a delicious buttery, vanilla flavor that comes from, you guessed it, real butter and vanilla as opposed to using oil. Then 2 eggs, sour cream and milk makes them extremely tender and moist.
The cinnamon sugar layer in the middle is made from simply mixing together granulated sugar and cinnamon. Then the streusel topping is made with flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. When you mix together the ingredients for the streusel it should feel like damp sand and form crumbles.
Then its time to assemble your muffins:
- You’ll first spoon about 1 ½ tablespoons of batter into the bottom of your lined muffin pan. They should be about â…“ full.
- Then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top. Evenly divide the cinnamon sugar between the 12 muffins. It will look like a lot, but it won’t be too much.
- Then spoon the rest of the batter on top of the cinnamon sugar. It will be about another 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of batter per muffin.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each muffin. You want an even layer on top of each muffin with small crumbles. If you have very large crumbles, they can make it harder for the muffins to rise evenly. I typically end up using almost all of the streusel. It will look like a lot, but as the muffins bake and expand, it actually won’t seem like too much.
The muffins will bake for about 25 minutes at 375F. As the muffins are baking, you can always sprinkle a little more streusel on top if you see big areas without any crumb topping.
Baking Tips
- Make sure the butter, eggs, sour cream and milk are all at room temperature before getting started. This ensures that you can mix everything together easily without over mixing.
- Measure the flour carefully. Too much flour and the muffins will be dry. Whisk it first, then spoon into a dry measuring up and level off the top. Or use a scale. 2 cups of all-purpose flour weighs 250 grams or 8 ½ ounces.
- Do not overmix the batter. Over mixing leads to tough muffins with air tunnels in the batter. Stop mixing as soon as the dry ingredients are combined.
- When spooning the muffin batter into the muffin papers, I recommend using a cookie scoop. The one I used is a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop – I believe its labeled “medium”. This makes it very easy to scoop the batter without messy fingers.
Love coffee cake? Then be sure to try:
- Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
- Banana Coffee Cake
- Raspberry Coffee Cake
- Blueberry Coffee Cake
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Coffee Cake Muffins
Equipment
- 12-cavity muffin pan
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- â…“ cup granulated sugar (66 grams)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (62.5 grams)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams) or ¼ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (56 grams) melted
Muffin Batter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams) measured properly
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (112 grams) softened, but not melted
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (50 grams) I used light
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream (120 ml)
- â…“ cup milk (80 ml) I recommend 2%
Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar (55 grams)
- 1 -2 tablespoons milk or cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F (190C) degrees. Line a 12-cavity muffin pan with muffin papers.
Cinnamon Sugar
- Stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
Streusel Topping
- Stir together the flour, sugar and cinnamon until there are no lumps.
- Stir in the melted butter. It should form crumbles and feel like damp sand.
Muffin Batter
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized bowl.
- In a separate large bowl, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy.
- Add in the vanilla extract and beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure there are no lumps of butter.
- With the mixer on a low speed, mix in about ½ of the flour mixture, followed by the sour cream.
- Beat in the rest of the flour mixture, followed by the milk. Stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are combined. Be very careful not to over mix the batter.
Assembling and Baking the Muffins
- Spoon about 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of batter into the bottom of each lined muffin cavity. They should be about ¼ to ⅓ full.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of each muffin cavity. Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 muffins.
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of muffin batter on top of each muffin. After covering the cinnamon sugar layer of all 12 muffins, add a little extra muffin batter on top of each if you have batter left. The muffins papers should be about ⅔ to ¾ full.
- Sprinkle the crumble on top of each muffin. You want the top of each muffin to be evenly covered with small crumbles.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 23-27 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and continue cooling on a wire rack.
Glaze
- Whisk ½ cup powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon milk until smooth. Whisk in a little extra milk or powdered sugar as needed. It should be thin enough to drizzle, but still white in color.
- Drizzle the glaze onto the cooled muffins.
Notes
- Room Temperature Ingredients: The butter, eggs, sour cream and milk should all be room temperature before getting started.
- Streusel Topping: You may not use quite all of the streusel.Â
- Storage: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Muffins are best if enjoyed the day you bake them.Â
- Nutrition Information: Details provided are an estimate only and based on 1 muffin, assuming the recipe yields 12 equal-sized muffins and all of the streusel and glaze is used.Â
Nutrition
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