These easy Brown Sugar Cinnamon Muffins are a simple make-ahead breakfast or a sweet afternoon treat to enjoy with a hot cup of coffee. The mile-high soft and fluffy muffins are moist, warmly spiced, and finished with a buttery cinnamon-sugar topping.
While there are endless flavors of muffins to enjoy, often the most basic is also the tastiest. These homemade cinnamon muffins come together with just a handful of pantry staples, so you can whip up a batch whenever the craving strikes. They keep well in the freezer, too!
How to make Cinnamon Muffins from scratch:
There’s a special technique used to make these muffins light and airy, and I’m going to show you how they come together in just 10 minutes!
Ingredients:
- All-purpose flour
- Brown sugar and white sugar (for the topping)
- Baking soda
- Cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
- Salt
- Cold salted butter
- Milk
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
First, combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients — just like you would do if you were making biscuits.
Next, whisk together the wet ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. The tiny pea-sized pieces of butter will be distributed throughout the batter, so it will still be lumpy — that’s fine! Don’t over-mix the batter.
Since butter is about 18 percent water, steam is released from the cold butter in those pockets during baking, which helps create a high rise and light (not dense) texture in your muffins.
How do I bake muffins?
Spoon the batter into a muffin tin and bake the muffins at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Finally, when the muffins are cool enough to handle, brush the tops with melted butter and then dip in a cinnamon-sugar mixture.
What to serve with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Muffins:
Pair these muffins with a warm cup of coffee or tea for a light breakfast or snack. For a more filling breakfast spread, the muffins will go well with any of the following options:
Cook’s Tips and Recipe Variations:
- What to add to Cinnamon Muffins: If you prefer a muffin with mix-in’s for extra flavor and texture, you have a lot of great options here. You can add chopped pecans, raisins, Craisins (or other cranberries), finely chopped fresh apple, chopped dates, cinnamon chips or white chocolate chips.
- How to cut butter into dry ingredients: I use a pastry cutter, as shown above, to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients. Just keep cutting until the butter is the size of tiny peas and is coated in the flour. You can also use two forks, a handheld box grater, or a food processor to accomplish this task.
- What does buttermilk do for muffins? This recipe just calls for regular milk (I prefer a milk with at least 2% fat, but any will work). If you have it on hand, buttermilk will also be a fine substitute for the regular milk. Buttermilk is used in baking to create a slightly acidic, tangy batter that keeps muffins moist and tender by breaking down long, tough strands of gluten. The buttermilk isn’t necessary here, though, because the muffins stay moist and tender on their own.
- Why did my muffins sink? These muffins rise a mile high, so you shouldn’t need to worry about anything sinking! That said, it’s important to use very cold butter and to keep the batter cold right before baking. Other reasons muffins sink include over-mixing the batter, using an old leavening agent or flour, or an oven that’s not hot enough.
- How to store cinnamon muffins: Place the muffins in an airtight container or Ziploc bag and store at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Can I freeze cinnamon muffins? Yes! To extend the life of your muffins, wrap tightly and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More cinnamon muffins that you might enjoy:
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
FOR THE MUFFINS:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ cup cold salted butter
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE TOPPING:
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper cups. Set aside.
- Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice in a large bowl. Use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut cold butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is in tiny pea-sized lumps.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, egg and vanilla extract. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients, just until moistened. Batter will still be slightly lumpy, but that’s fine.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping. When the muffins are cool enough to handle, brush the tops of the muffins with melted butter, and then sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Notes
- What to add to Cinnamon Muffins: If you prefer a muffin with mix-in’s for extra flavor and texture, you have a lot of great options here. You can add chopped pecans, raisins, Craisins (or other cranberries), finely chopped fresh apple, chopped dates, cinnamon chips or white chocolate chips.
- How to cut butter into dry ingredients: I use a pastry cutter, as shown above, to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients. Just keep cutting until the butter is the size of tiny peas and is coated in the flour. You can also use two forks, a handheld box grater, or a food processor to accomplish this task.
- What does buttermilk do for muffins? This recipe just calls for regular milk (I prefer a milk with at least 2% fat, but any will work). If you have it on hand, buttermilk will also be a fine substitute for the regular milk. Buttermilk is used in baking to create a slightly acidic, tangy batter that keeps muffins moist and tender by breaking down long, tough strands of gluten. The buttermilk isn’t necessary here, though, because the muffins stay moist and tender on their own.
- Why did my muffins sink? These muffins rise a mile high, so you shouldn’t need to worry about anything sinking! That said, it’s important to use very cold butter and to keep the batter cold right before baking. Other reasons muffins sink include over-mixing the batter, using an old leavening agent or flour, or an oven that’s not hot enough.
- How to store cinnamon muffins: Place the muffins in an airtight container or Ziploc bag and store at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Can I freeze cinnamon muffins? Yes! To extend the life of your muffins, wrap tightly and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
If I use melted butter will the muffins still rise and come out okay?
Hi, Katherine! The recipe should still work, but the muffins will not have quite the same texture. When you cut cold butter into the batter, the butter creates steam as it melts in the hot oven, the steam from the melting butter expands, creating pockets of air that yield a lighter, flakier, higher rise. It’s similar to the effect that you get when you cut butter into biscuit dough. Hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you and how long should I bake them for mini muffins, I don’t have a regular muffin tin. I know it’ll make 36 mini ones.
Hi, Katherine! The mini muffins will cook really quickly, so I would start checking them after 10 minutes. You might want to reduce the oven temp, too. I typically bake mini muffins at 350 or 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
For anyone who is curious, I made these with unsweetened almond milk instead of cows milk, and they turned out wonderfully!
Great to know! Thanks, Maria!
I have made this before and they are excellent! Super moist and delicious! I have a question though, I’m wondering if it’d be ok to substitute buttermilk for the milk? I really enjoy the buttermilk flavor, thank you in advance!
I’m so sorry Blaire I just saw where you talked about substituting buttermilk in your comments please disregard previous message! Thank you for a great recipe and hope you have a blessed day!
Hi Tiffany!
No worries at all. We’re so glad you enjoy the muffins!
Wish I could give 4½ stars, the muffins taste great and the recipe is easy to follow I just found the texture to be a bit spongey and greasy on the outside I’m not ruling out that this could be due to personal error though.
We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe, Grace! Sorry to hear the texture was off. We hope you give them another try and are happy to help anyswer any questions if needed.
Amazing recipe, make them almost every week, so fluffy and delicious!
Thank you! We’re so glad you enjoy it!
I just tried to make these and added diced pear to the batter. Within minutes of setting them in the over I could smell something burning I checked them and they were scorched black on the tops- still liquid in the inside. I am so confused- is it something I did?
Hi Kate! We’re sorry to hear this. 400F is usually too high of an oven temperature for muffins with pears. We would recommend baking at 375F or using apples instead. Hope this helps! We’d love to know how it goes if you try this recipe out again.