Cinnamon Sugar Muffins Recipe

These cinnamon sugar muffins are soft vanilla muffins with a crunchy cinnamon sugar crust baked right onto the tops. They take 28 minutes, 10 to mix and 18 to 20 in the oven, and make 12 standard muffins. The trick is a little melted butter on each raw muffin before the sugar goes on. It glues the topping down, and in a 375°F oven it bakes into a crisp, sparkly shell.

Inside, the crumb is plain and buttery, a lot like a cake donut. All the cinnamon sits on top, so every bite gets a hit of it.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffin Basics: Pan, Ratio, and Timing

• Makes: 12 standard muffins in a 12 cup tin, each cup about three quarters full
• Time: 10 minutes prep, 18 to 20 minutes at 375°F, 28 minutes total
• Batter: 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ cup sugar, ½ cup melted butter, 1 cup whole milk, 2 eggs, vanilla
• Topping: 2 tablespoons melted butter, ¼ cup sugar, 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
• Topping ratio: 8 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon by volume, about a heaping teaspoon per muffin
• Keeps: 2 days at room temperature in a sealed container

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Baked On or Dipped After? Two Ways to Coat Donut Muffins

There are two ways to give a muffin that donut finish, and they make different muffins.

This recipe brushes the raw batter with butter and sprinkles the cinnamon sugar on before baking. The sugar melts a little and sets into a thin, crunchy crust. It uses only 2 tablespoons of butter for the whole batch, and the topping stays put when you pack them in a lunch box.

The other way is to bake plain muffins, then dip the warm tops in melted butter and roll them in cinnamon sugar. That gives a soft, sandy coat that tastes more like a fried cake donut. It also takes roughly twice the butter and sugar, and the coating rubs off on your fingers. If you prefer that style, bake these without the topping and coat them while they are still warm.

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Why Melted Butter Makes This Batter

The batter is short on ingredients, so each one shows. A full tablespoon of baking powder lifts 2 cups of flour into a tall dome. Whole milk and two eggs give body. Melted butter, rather than oil, gives the crumb its rich, almost cookie-like flavor and helps the edges brown. Oil keeps muffins soft a day longer, but the taste is flatter, and I stay with butter here.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together first. Baking powder starts working the moment it gets wet, so it needs to be spread evenly through the flour before any liquid arrives. Pockets of it leave bitter spots and lopsided tops.

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Folding a Thick Batter for Domed Tops

Let the melted butter cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and have the milk and eggs at room temperature. Cold milk can firm warm butter into little flecks, and very hot butter can start to cook the eggs. Whisk the wet ingredients in a large measuring cup so they pour easily.

Pour the wet into the dry and fold with a spatula, about 12 to 15 strokes, just until you cannot see dry flour. Small lumps are fine. Keep stirring past that point and the muffins turn tough, with long holes inside.

The batter should be thick and fall slowly from the spatula. Divide it among the lined cups so each one is about three quarters full. That level, with a thick batter, is what gives a rounded top without spilling over the liners.

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Getting the Cinnamon Sugar to Stick and Crunch

Stir the ¼ cup sugar and 1½ teaspoons cinnamon together in a small bowl. Keep it dry. Butter goes on the muffins, not into the sugar.

Raw batter is soft, so a hard brush drags it around. Dab about ½ teaspoon of melted butter onto each muffin with the brush, or drizzle it from a spoon. Then spoon a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon sugar over each top until it is covered. Use all of it. A thick layer is what bakes into a crust; a light dusting just disappears into the muffin.

For a cinnamon swirl, mix a second small batch of cinnamon sugar, fill each cup halfway, sprinkle some of the extra mix, and cover with the rest of the batter. My cinnamon coffee cake muffins take that idea further with a streusel top.

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Baking at 375°F Until the Sugar Crackles

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes and start checking at 17. They are done when the tops are golden and dry, the sugar looks crackled, and a toothpick in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. The edges may look a shade darker where the sugar caramelized. That is fine.

Cool them in the pan for 5 minutes so they firm up enough to lift, then move them to a wire rack. If they sit in the hot pan much longer, steam softens the bottoms.

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Pale Tops, Bald Spots, and Tough Muffins

• Topping slid off or looks patchy: the butter was brushed too hard or too little was used. Dab it on and cover each top completely with sugar.
• Topping melted into a wet layer: butter was mixed into the sugar, or the sugar went on too thin. Keep the cinnamon sugar dry and use the full amount.
• Flat tops: the cups were filled less than three quarters, or the baking powder is old. Test it in hot water: it should fizz right away.
• Tough, chewy crumb with holes: the batter was overmixed. Stop folding as soon as the flour disappears.
• Dry muffins: baked past 20 minutes. Check at 17 next time and pull them when the toothpick shows a few crumbs.

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Cinnamon in the Batter, or Brown Sugar on Top

As written, the cinnamon is all in the topping. For cinnamon through the crumb, which is what most people mean by a cinnamon muffin recipe, whisk 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon into the dry ingredients. Nothing else changes.

For brown sugar cinnamon muffins, swap the white sugar in the topping for light brown sugar. Brown sugar is moister, so the top bakes softer and more caramel-like rather than crunchy. A mix of half white and half brown keeps some crunch. To go further with fall flavor, spread the warm muffins with cinnamon butter.

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Keeping the Crust Crisp for Two Days

These are best the day they are baked. Keep leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Skip the fridge, which dries the crumb and makes the sugar crust damp.

To freeze, cool the muffins completely, wrap them, and seal them in a freezer bag; they keep about 2 months. Thaw at room temperature. Then warm them in a 350°F oven for about 5 minutes, which brings the crunch back. A microwave warms one in about 10 seconds, but the sugar crust turns soft and sticky.

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More Fall Muffins to Bake Next

If cinnamon sugar is your thing, try my cinnamon sugar French toast muffins or snickerdoodle cupcakes. For fruit, apple cinnamon muffins and cranberry orange muffins are both good on a fall weekend. For something denser, bake sweet potato muffins, and serve any of them with a bowl of cinnamon apples.