Cinnamon Streusel Muffins (Coffee Cake Recipe) - Olives + Thyme (2024)

These Cinnamon Streusel Muffins are just like the classic coffee cake you know and love, just made into muffins! They’re made from soft, moist and fluffy vanilla muffins filled with a rich cinnamon swirl, topped with a quick and easy cinnamon and brown sugar crumble. Grab one or two for a wonderfully delicious breakfast, snack or dessert.

Why Should You Make This Recipe

I absolutely adore a cozy coffee cake. My Blueberry Coffee Cake, Maple Pumpkin Coffee Cake and Banana Coffee Cake Muffins are just a few recipes I always reach for when the weather cools down. These cinnamon crumble muffins are the perfect addition to my growing coffee cake and muffin recipe collection. If you’re a fan of decadent muffins or just love a wonderfully delicious crumb cake paired with your coffee, this recipe is for you. There’s so much to love about this cozy cinnamon muffin recipe.

• Layers of flavors and textures: From the soft and fluffy vanilla muffin, to the sweet cinnamon spiced swirl and the crunchy spiced streusel, these muffin versions of coffee cake will delight your senses.
• Easy to make, bake and eat: These homemade cinnamon streusel muffins taste like you just bought them from the bakery, but are so simple to make. Since they bake in less than half the time of traditional coffee cake, you get to have your cake and eat it too (in under an hour).
• Perfectly cozy and made for colder days. There’s nothing more satisfying than enjoying streusel topped muffins on a cool, crisp morning. These buttery, cinnamon crumble muffins will warm you up from the inside out.

Ingredients

This easy cinnamon streusel muffins recipe requires only a handful of simple ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your pantry and fridge.

Streusel Muffin Topping: Gather all purpose flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and cold cubed unsalted butter.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling: Gather melted butter, brown sugar and ground cinnamon.

For the Muffins: Gather all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon, salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract.

Substitutions

These cinnamon muffins with crumb topping are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these muffins.

• All purpose flour: To make these cinnamon crunch muffins gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill.
• Brown Sugar: This recipe calls for light brown sugar, but dark brown will also work well. Granulated white sugar or raw sugars such as turbinado can work in this recipe, but expect the texture of the streusel muffin topping to be more crisp.
• Ground Cinnamon: Using this sweet warming spice gives these buttery cinnamon sugar muffins that classic coffee cake taste. If you don’t have ground cinnamon, you can also use pumpkin spice, chai spice or apple pie spice blends.
• Sour Cream: This ingredient is standard in the classic sour cream coffee cake. However, a thick and creamy greek yogurt works well in this recipe.

How To Make

This homemade cinnamon streusel muffins recipe takes a few easy steps from start to finish and is completed in half the time of coffee cake. Here’s how to make them:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar and ground cinnamon for the crumble topping. Work in the cold butter cubes until a sand like texture develops. There will be a few bigger crumbs, but most should be finer, smaller pieces. Place the bowl in the fridge until the muffins are ready for topping. In a small bowl whisk the brown sugar and ground cinnamon together until well combined.
2. In a medium bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This takes about 2-3 minutes.

4. Beat in the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract one at a time until well combined. Don't worry if the mixture looks grainy during this step.
5. Stir in the dry ingredients and milk, alternating in this order: dry, milk, dry milk, dry.

6. Allow the muffin batter to rest for 20 - 30 minutes at room temperature. This helps thicken the batter and creates a taller lift during baking. During this time, preheat the oven to 400 F.
7. Scoop a heaping tablespoon of muffin batter into each of the lined muffin wells.
8. Top with a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon filling. Followed by another tablespoon of muffin batter.

9. Top each of the muffins with a heaping tablespoon of the cinnamon crumble. Gently press the crumble into the muffins.
10. Bake the muffins for 10 minutes at 400 F. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 for the remaining time, abotut 5-10 minutes. Check the muffins after 5 minutes of baking at the reduced temperature using a toothpick inserted into the center.
11. Cool the muffins in the hot muffin pan for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins to cool completely on a cooling rack.
12. Take a big bite and enjoy your cozy coffee cake muffin!

How To Make Ahead, Freeze and Store

Make Ahead:

Parts of these streusel topped muffins can easily be made ahead of time. To do this simply prepare cinnamon streusel topping and the brown sugar cinnamon filling according to the recipe directions. Place each in an airtight storage container and refrigerate until you’re ready to make the muffins.

Store, Freeze and Thaw:

• To store leftover cinnamon crumble muffins: Place the muffins in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
• To freeze baked cinnamon streusel muffins: Make sure the muffins are completely cooled to room temperature. Individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap. Place each wrapped muffin in a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
• To thaw the muffins: The easiest and tastiest way to thaw your cinnamon muffins with a crumb topping is to let it sit out at room temperature for at least two hours. Enjoy at room temperature or microwave the muffin for 20 - 30 seconds for that “fresh from the oven” taste.

M's Expert Tips:

• Cube the cold butter into small even pieces before mixing into the streusel for muffins. Mix until the texture of the topping resembles wet sand with some larger pieces mixed in. Store the streusel topping in the fridge until it's time to top the muffins.
• Bring cold ingredients to room temperature: This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in soft, fluffy and moist muffins.
• Measure the flour properly: I highly recommend using a food scale for many reasons (like less dishes to clean), but the main reason is to get perfectly measured dry ingredients every time. Using too much flour can cause these buttery cinnamon sugar muffins to be dry and crumbly.
• Don’t overmix the muffin batter: Always use the lowest speed on your electric mixer or mix in the dry ingredients by hand. Make sure to mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
• Rest the batter for about 30 -60 minutes: This is a little trick to get those beautiful bakery style domes on muffins. Allowing some time for resting allows the batter to hydrate, thicken and rise, making these the best cinnamon streusel muffins.
• For the most cinnamon sugar flavor, make sure to use the cinnamon sugar filling. If you really love coffee cake, you know the cinnamon swirl in the middle is a must have. These cinnamon swirl muffins are no exception. This step can be omitted if you prefer a buttery vanilla muffin.
• For the best tasting muffins the next day: The easiest way to give your muffins that “fresh from the oven” taste the next day is to microwave them for about 20 - 30 seconds and enjoy immediately.

FAQ's

More Muffin Recipes To Try

• Sweet Potato Muffins
• Pistachio Muffins
• Mini Blueberry Muffins
• Carrot Cake Muffins
• Raspberry Almond Streusel Muffins
• Apple Cider Donut Muffins
• Pumpkin Muffins from Cake Mix

If you try thisCinnamon Streusel Muffins Recipeplease rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me onInstagramusing @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! -M

More Muffins