If you love coffee cake, you’ll love these cinnamon streusel muffins! Soft vanilla muffins topped with brown sugar crumbles. Perfect for a weekend brunch or breakfast on the go! We love these just as much as our blueberry muffins!
Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
These muffins take me back to my childhood. My three siblings and I were home schooled, which means our schedule was at our disposal. Some days we would have a huge brunch for no special reason. Call it home economics class.
I remember mornings with papas con huevos (potato and egg tacos), frothy orange creamsicle shakes, sizzling bacon and slices of toasted English muffin bread with homemade jam. Quite the mix! There were always baked goods in our house and coffee cake was a favorite. The only way to improve upon coffee cake is when it’s in a cute, individual portion like these cinnamon streusel muffins.
These muffins are soft and tender with a great vanilla flavor. But the highlight is the cinnamon and brown sugar crumble topping. It’s good enough to eat by itself! Sweet and buttery, this topping tastes just like the kind you get at bakeries and coffee shops.
Ingredients You Will Need:
For the topping:
- 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
For the muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Kitchen tools you may find helpful:
- Muffin pan
- Hand mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Pastry cutter
These cinnamon streusel muffins are much like a cupcake in that they start off with a creamed butter and sugar base. When adding the dry ingredients, do not over mix. This is will help ensure your muffins are tender. When making the streusel, I like to use my hands to incorporate the butter. The mixture will hold together in clump when squeezed if properly mixed.
One of my favorite things to do when baking muffins is to make extra and freeze them for later consumption. I individually wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in a freezer bag. Then on mornings when I’m in a rush, I can grab a muffin on the go and it’s thawed by time I get to work. Sometimes I warm it in the microwave for ten seconds and it tastes fresh baked. Alongside a hot cup of coffee, it is five minutes of peace before a busy day begins.
More streusel recipes you might like:
If you’re a fan of that delicious crumbly topping called streusel like I am, here are some more recipe ideas you will probably enjoy!
- Pumpkin Mini Cakes are moist and delicious and will help you ring in the fall season.
- These Cherry Berry Streusel dessert bars are one of my all time favorites and they are easy to make too!
- Packed with fresh berries, you’ll love these berry cookie bars, great for after school.
- Speaking of fall, one bite of this cranberry streusel coffee cake and you’ll be hooked.
Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Pin It Rate ItIngredients
For the topping:
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
For the muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour about 8.5 ounces
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Before You Begin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 12 muffin cups with liners or lightly spray with nonstick spray.
Make the topping
- In a medium bowl, whisk together topping ingredients: flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in the butter until completely incorporated. Mixture should be crumbly and hold together when squeezed between your fingers. Keep in refrigerator until ready to use.
Make the muffins
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Use a wooden spoon to stir in milk and vanilla.
- Add dry ingredients and using a wooden spoon stir just until combined. If you still see small streaks of flour that's okay.
- Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle generously with streusel topping, pressing down firmly on the tops to ensure that it sticks. Each cup should be full once the streusel is added.
- Bake muffins at 425 F for 5 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 F and bake another for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Hitting the muffins with a few minutes of high heat helps create a large muffin dome.
- Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Nutrition
Amanda Davis
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Sandi Vogt says
I made these and they were fantastic! I used your suggestions of using your fingers to cut in the butter, it worked great. My husband loved these. They will be getting mad a lot in our house. Thank You!
Michele says
I used this recipe because it is one that I found that did not include oil.
I use every recipe as starting point and improvise as I go. My experience with struesel topping is it seems to bake too crispy. I bake my muffins til the last 10 minutes, add topping, then return to the oven. the topping stays more moist.
This time, i used 3/4 cup whole milk to the mix. Instead of using Striesel as a topping, I folded it (gently) into the to the mix before baking.
Pastry Chef Brandon Crumble Pennsylvania NJ says
“This cinnamon streusel muffin was muffin but trouble. The “streusel” on top was more like a crumbly crime scene, and the cinnamon flavor? Missing in action! It was so dry I had to file a missing moisture report. Honestly, I’d have been better off eating a brick and calling it a ‘construe-sel muffin.’ I knead my money back!”
Rachel O says
I followed this recipe exactly, with 12 muffin cups, which were full of batter and topping, like it says. Instead of puffing up, they didn’t puff up, spilled over the edge of the muffin tin making a big mess, and ended up with indentations in the middle. But the muffins were still tasty. What did I probably do wrong? I’d really appreciate any baking advice! Thanks!
Amanda Davis says
It’s possible you overmixed the batter. It’s essential to use a light hand when making muffins so you don’t cause the gluten to develop.
Sandi says
Always check to make sure your baking soda and baking powder aren’t outdated also.
Darlene Daugherty says
Love the amount of cinnamon. However, these muffins are completely raw in the middle at the max time. Hoping extra time won’t dry them out.
Lyndsey says
Streusel Topping: Does not clump together and didn’t look like the photos. My brown sugar was a little dry which could’ve been a factor. I even looked on google for streusel topping recipes and this is pretty similar to ever other recipe I saw. I put the topping (exact recipe) on 6 of the muffins and then added an extra ½ T of butter to the remaining topping and it kinda clumped but not really. I added that topping to the other 6 muffins. End result of baking there was no difference, streusel came out fine for both variations. Has good flavor, little crumbly but thats how the topping normally is from bakery muffins I’ve had. I used a pastry cutter but I think a fork would’ve been better.
Muffin: They has flavor, can definitely taste the cinnamon and just a tiny bit of sweetness. I wouldn’t say they are dry but they definitely are not moist. I baked as directed and they were done after 12 min out of 12-15. Might’ve left them longer than 5 min in the pan to cool cause I got distracted.
My sister tried one when it was still a little warm and she said “these are so freaking good, they taste like something out of a coffee shop” :joy: Once they completely cooled they were not as moist and sweet. I only tried them cooled. My picky sister loves them warm and cold, said they would be great paired with coffee. My opinion they are good but I prefer more moist muffins. They are not bad by any means, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to make them again though but I think that’s just a personal preference for me.
I totally thought these were going to be terrible based on how everything looked. Topping was closer to powder than clumpy. Wet ingredients were super thin and once dry ingredients were added the batter was very pretty thick. I also might’ve over mixed a tad but it didn’t make the muffins bad.
I think the problem with this recipe is people get worried about the way it looks and change things then it doesn’t turn out. I really wanted to change things cause I got worried but it all worked out in the end. I also think personal preference is huge on this too. A fruit muffin will obviously be different than a cinnamon one and I prefer muffins with fruit in them.
Kelsey says
I never leave comments, but felt the need to this time. This is the first time I have picked a recipe with so many positive reviews only to find out the comments are mostly negative and the product turns out less than. Muffins were pretty bland, dry and dense and the struesel didn’t look anything like in the pictures, it was more of a powder….the ratios for ingredients must be off somewhere.
Amanda Davis says
I’m sorry you had trouble. Did you change anything?
Nicole S says
Driest muffins I’ve ever baked. I should have known when the recipe called for flour in the streusel topping. I thought that was odd but did it anyway and I regretted! Certainly wasn’t a 10 minute prep/bake by any means, so to put the work and ingredients in for them to come out so dry was disheartening. This recipe has 4.7 star review and I trusted! Wish I would have read the comments of allllll the people saying how terrible these muffins are, they were right! 2 muffins were eaten (with lots of butter and honey to add moisture) and the rest ended up in the garbage. Next!
Dani says
They taste amazing!!! But when i make the topping it is more of a powder consistency than chunky. Can someone explain this please? I am using room temp butter, does it need to he cold?
Amanda Davis says
Yes the butter should be cold :)
Chloe says
Something I did was I added about a tablespoon more of butter and 1/4-1 cup of oats to make it more chuncky and make sure your butter is cold.
Stephanie says
Baked for the max time and they were completely uncooked in the middle. Putting them back in the oven and hoping I can save them. Super disappointing.
Dani says
Some of mine were gooey too. But I think it’s because the batter seems to make more than 12. This means I have to over fill them, and they come out big however they are not gooey!
G says
Mediocre. More like a bread texture, and not sweet enough. Just boring.
Sierra wharton says
Something is severely
Wrong with this recipe! It is missing tons of liquid ingredients. I had to add about a cup of milk and a cup of water to hopefully save it!! I’m sorry but 1/2 cup of milk (the only liquid ingredient) to 2 cups of flour will make a thick paste! Not a batter!!! Horrible recipe!!! Hopefully I can save my ingredients by improvising the best I can!!!! I hate waisring my
Money on ingredients just to toss it in the garbage! Wish me luck on salvaging my ingredients and money!!!!
Amanda Davis says
I’ve tested this recipe twice myself and have had two other people test it and there’s been no problem. Did you add the eggs and the butter? Those are also liquids.
Jordyn says
Not a recipe I would make again. I was hoping it would be fluffy and sweet but instead it was dense and overwhelming cinnamon. The recipe did make plenty of the crumb topping though!
Sharon Schilawski says
I TOTALLY Agree!! I was like what the H#!!
Dry, waaayyyy too much cinnamon (these muffins were actually brown in color) and dense.
I thought it was just me.
Haley says
A bit dry for what you expect a streusel muffin to be (it was probably because I used a dough cutter and not a mixer) but it’s honestly perfect to pair with a hot cup of coffee! Dip it in and its just the perfect amount of sweet. Really great simple recipe for pantry staple items!