Cinnamon Swirl Muffins

This recipe was originally published in November 2020. It has since been updated with a new recipe and new images.

Growing up, my mom would make these little cinnamon buttermilk muffins around Christmas time, serving them warm. This is basically a bigger, bakery style version of those muffins!

I did so much testing to get the base of these cinnamon roll muffins right! I wanted them to be made without a mixer and have giant muffin tops - because let's be honest, that's the best part of a muffin!

These muffins have a sweet cinnamon swirl running in them and are topped with a brown sugar cinnamon streusel and more cinnamon sugar. Finally, they're drizzled in a cream cheese glaze to really give you the cinnamon roll vibes. They're like a coffee cake muffin and a cinnamon roll combined! If you want a simple classic muffin, try my vanilla muffins, or try these bakery style chocolate chip muffins!

If you want a banana version of these muffins, try my banana coffee cake muffins.

Why you'll love this recipe!

• No Mixer: I love a recipe where I don't have to drag out my stand mixer or use a handheld mixer! These muffins are made just in a bowl with a whisk and a rubber spatula.
• Simple Ingredients: nothing too fancy here, you probably have everything you already need in your pantry!
• Cinnamon Flavors: From the filling to the topping, there is cinnamon sprinkled everywhere!
• Super Soft: I tested this recipe with an all butter base and half-butter half-oil, but I found that using all oil meant that the muffins were super soft and fluffy. Plus, it means you don't need to cream any butter.
• Bakery Style Muffins: I've got some great tips to help you get super tall bakery-style muffins!

Ingredients Needed

• Buttermilk: this is going to make your muffins super moist.
• Oil: use a neutral oil like sunflower oil, canola oil or vegetable oil.
• Flour: I've only tested this recipe with all purpose flour.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda: we're going to use both to help rise these muffins. Make sure they haven't expired!
• Spices: I'm using both cinnamon and cardamom. Feel free to swap out the cardamom for ginger or nutmeg if you prefer.
• Butter: we'll use a bit of unsalted butter for the streusel topping.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the buttermilk, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract.

Step 3: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to mix until just combined. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for an hour. This is going to help the leaveners start working!

Step 4: In a small bowl, whisk the light brown sugar with the cinnamon. This is your filling.

Step 5: Mix all of your streusel ingredients together in a jug or medium bowl. Place in the fridge. Preheat your oven to 425ºFahrenheit (convection, not fan) and line a muffin pan with six liners or grease them with baking spray. You're going to fill up every other muffin cavity with batter, this is going to give you taller muffins.

Step 6: Remove the plastic wrap from the muffin batter. Using a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop out 1.5 tablespoons of muffin batter (gently!) and place in the prepared muffin liners or greased pan. Sprinkle over ½ teaspoon of cinnamon sugar.

Step 7: Scoop out another 1.5 tablespoons of muffin batter and place on top. At this point the muffin cavity should be full to the top. Sprinkle streusel on top each muffin and more cinnamon sugar.

Step 8: Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then without opening the oven door, lower the temperature to 350ºFahrenheit. Bake for another 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven when golden brown. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before tranferring to a wire cooling rack. You will have to bake these in batches as we're only baking them 6 at a time!

Expert Tips & Tricks

• Kitchen Scale: I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients. It's really easy to add too much flour, giving you dry and dense muffins.
• Resting Muffin Batter: letting the muffin batter rest at room temperature will kick start the baking soda and baking powder, giving you taller muffins.
• Don't Overmix the Muffin Batter: as soon as the dry and wet ingredients are combined, stop mixing. Mixing too much will activate the gluten proteins, giving you dense and tough muffins.
• Gently Scoop: once you scoop out the muffin batter, be gentle! After resting the muffin batter, it should be very soft and you don't want to deflate it.
• Bake 6 at a Time: by baking the muffins six at a time, they won't be crowded in the muffin pan. This gives the tops more room to grow.
• Streusel: if you don't want cinnamon streusel muffins, you can leave out the streusel completely! They would be nice with just some sparkling sugar on top.
• Fill to the Top: a lot of muffin recipes will say to fill just three quarters of the way, but if you want those super high muffins tops you need to fill each muffin liner to the top!

Frequently Asked Questions

Storage

I recommend keeping the cooled cinnamon swirl muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

To freeze, place in a freezer safe ziploc bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw at room temperature before enjoying.

Try these breakfast recipes next!