Coffee cake muffins are soft, fluffy and buttery vanilla muffins filled with a cinnamon swirl, topped with a crunchy cinnamon crumble and a creamy vanilla glaze. This coffee cake muffin recipe is easy to make and tastes just like the classic coffee cake you know and love in muffin form.
Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore a delicious muffin recipe. Especially moist and fluffy muffins filled with cozy spices. My Cinnamon Muffins, Sweet Potato Muffins, Gingerbread Muffins, Banana Nut Muffins and Apple Cider Donut Muffins are just a few of my favorites from the blog. There’s so much to love about this cozy coffee cake 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 and creamy vanilla glaze, these muffin coffee cake will delight your senses.
- Easy to make, bake and eat. These homemade 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 cold morning. These buttery, coffee cake muffins will warm you up from the inside out.
Ingredients
These cozy crumb cake muffins require only a handful of simple ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your pantry and fridge.
- Crumble Topping: Gather all purpose flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, salt and melted butter.
- Cinnamon Sugar Filling: Gather brown sugar, sugar, ground cinnamon and salt.
Coffee Cake Muffins: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, light brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk.
Substitutions
These cinnamon coffee cake muffins are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these cozy muffins if you need them.
- All purpose flour: Make these fluffy muffins gluten free, by using a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Measure based on weight (240 g) rather than volume in cups.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder: Both of these are required for this muffin recipe to work as intended. Make sure both are fresh and in date.
- Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is a classic spice for coffee cake. Feel free to omit or use another ground spice or blend of spices you like.
- Unsalted Butter: Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter.
- Brown Sugar and Sugar: This recipe calls for light brown sugar, but dark brown will also work well. Maple sugar would also work well to make these muffins refined sugar free.
- Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs.
- Sour Cream: This ingredient is standard in the classic sour cream coffee cake. However, a thick and creamy greek yogurt or buttermilk works well in this recipe too.
How To Make
Learn how to make coffee cake muffins in a few easy steps.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) for 20 - 30 minutes before baking the muffins. Line 1 -2 (12) count muffins pans with cupcake liners, alternating cups. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, sugar and ground cinnamon for the crumble topping. Work in the melted butter a tablespoon at a time until a sand like texture develops with some bigger and smaller crumbs. Place the bowl in the fridge until the muffins are ready for topping. In a small bowl whisk the brown sugar, sugar, ground cinnamon and salt together until well combined.
- In a medium bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined. Set aside for now.
- In a larger mixing bowl whisk the melted butter, light brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk together until smooth and well combined. Stir in the the dry ingredients until just combined.
4. Assemble the muffins. Scoop the vanilla muffin batter into each of the cupcake liners. Fill the cupcake liners ab0ut half way. Top the muffin batter with the cinnamon swirl. Top the cinnamon swirl with more muffin batter, followed by the crumble topping.
5. Bake the muffins for 20 -22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the muffins in the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan to a cooling rack. Top the coffee cake muffins with powdered sugar or with the vanilla glaze. To make the glaze whisk the powdered sugar with vanilla extract and milk until smooth and well combined.
Make Ahead, Store, Freeze and Thaw
- Make Ahead: Prepare the crumble topping up to 2 - 3 days before using to top the muffins.
- Store: Place the muffins in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: 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.
- Thaw: 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
- Store the crumble in the fridge. Make the crumble first and allow it to chill in the fridge while making the muffins. This will allow the crumble to solidify into bigger and smaller pieces, giving these muffins a true coffee cake appearance.
- 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 to get perfectly measured dry ingredients every time. Using too much flour can cause these coffee cake 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.
- 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. This step can be omitted if you prefer a buttery vanilla muffin with a cinnamon crumble topping.
- 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.
FAQs
Yes, you can simply divide any coffee cake recipe into muffin wells and bake at 375 F (190 C) for about 20 minutes. You can also follow this recipe for coffee cake muffins.
Keep the muffins cooling in the pan until the muffins come out easily. Sometimes this is as quick as 5 minutes out of the oven. Do not let the muffins stay in the muffin pan for more than 10 - 15 minutes.The longer the muffins sit in a hot pan, the greater chance there is for soggy muffin bottoms.
Other Coffee Cake Recipes to Try
If you try this Coffee Cake Muffins recipe please 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 on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking!
Coffee Cake Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- 1 whisk
- 1 - 2 12 count muffin pan(s)
- 12 cupcake liners
Ingredients
Cinnamon Crumble
- ½ cup (60 g) all purpose flour
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 - 4 tablespoons (57 g) melted butter
Cinnamon Swirl
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Vanilla Muffins
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120 g) sour cream, room temperature
- ½ cup (120 ml) milk
Vanilla Glaze
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 - 3 tablespoons (30 - 45ml) milk or heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) for 20 - 30 minutes before baking the muffins. Line 1 -2 (12) count muffins pans with cupcake liners, alternating cups.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, sugar and ground cinnamon for the crumble topping. Work in the melted butter a tablespoon at a time until a sand like texture develops with some bigger and smaller crumbs. Place the bowl in the fridge until the muffins are ready for topping.½ cup (60 g) all purpose flour , ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon , 3 - 4 tablespoons (57 g) melted butter
- In a small bowl whisk the brown sugar, sugar, ground cinnamon and salt together until well combined. Set aside the cinnamon swirl mixture for now.¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) sugar, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon , ¼ teaspoon salt
- In a medium bowl whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined. Set aside for now.2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour , 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda , ½ teaspoon salt
- In a larger mixing bowl whisk the melted butter, light brown sugar, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk together until smooth and well combined. Stir in the the dry ingredients until just combined.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted , ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar , ¼ cup (50 g) sugar, 2 large eggs, room temperature, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract , ½ cup (120 g) sour cream, room temperature, ½ cup (120 ml) milk
- Assemble the muffins. Scoop the vanilla muffin batter into each of the cupcake liners. Fill the cupcake liners about half way. Top the muffin batter with the cinnamon swirl. Top the cinnamon swirl with more muffin batter, followed by the crumble topping.
- Bake the muffins for 20 -22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the muffins in the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan to a cooling rack.
- Top the coffee cake muffins with powdered sugar or with the vanilla glaze. To make the glaze whisk the powdered sugar with vanilla extract and milk until smooth and well combined.1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract , 2 - 3 tablespoons (30 - 45ml) milk or heavy cream
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