These are hands down the best Cinnamon Streusel Muffins filled with a delightful cinnamon swirl and then topped with a buttery crispy crumb. Similar to coffee cakes, they make a wonderful quick breakfast or an afernoon sweet treat with a dollop of whipped cream. It's a simple, but refined recipe that your whole family will love, and perfect for Christmas morning!
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💡What is streusel
The word streusel comes from the German word streuen, which means to sprinkle. Yet, streusel topping itself is a crisp sweet and buttery crumb. It's usually sprinkled on top of baked goods before they go into the oven just like it is in this cinnamon streusel muffins recipe. However, streusel can also be baked alone and then added to desserts.
And what is cinnamon streusel made of? It's literally just a mixture of flour, butter, and sugar that when perfectly combined bakes into a yummy topping. For more information and flavor variations check my streusel topping recipe.
🌟 Why this is the best recipe
- Super delicious – With a delicious crunchy topping and a layer of yummy cinnamon swirl running through the middle, these are the best cinnamon streusel muffins, I guarantee!
- Very easy - This simple recipe is going to show you how to make cinnamon streusel muffins with just a handful of ingredients and no special equipment. Always from scratch, yet super easy.
- Quick to make - You can whip these cinnamon muffins together in about an hour. Once the easy batter and cinnamon streusel is made, you just assemble and pop the muffins in to bake.
- Customizable recipe - You can stir different ingredients into the muffin batter or add them to the streusel topping to create different variations of this cinnamon muffin recipe.
📝 Ingredient notes
For the muffins
- Vegetable oil: Flavorless vegetable oil such as canola is used to make super moist muffins. This is a butter free cinnamon crumble muffins recipe.
- Sugars: Equal parts of both white granulated sugar and light brown sugar are used to sweeten the muffins. Check out my sugar guide to learn how to use different types of sugar in baking.
- Egg: The egg needs to be at room temperature for the batter to properly emulsify.
- Flour: Simple all-purpose flour works perfectly for muffin recipes. To learn more about different types of flour take a look at my flour guide. For more information on the different flour storage solutions and equipment, read my how to store flour guide.
- Baking Powder: Used as a leavening agent to give the cinnamon streusel muffins rise.
- Salt: A dash of salt balances the sweetness.
- Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is used to make the swirl. Feel free to add other warm spices like nutmeg or ginger too if you like.
- White Vinegar: Adds a bit of acid and reacts with the baking soda to give the cinnamon swirl muffins rise.
- Baking Soda: Used as a leavening agent along with the baking powder.
🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post
For the streusel topping
- Flour: I used basic all-purpose flour to make the topping.
- Sugars: Both white granulated sugar and light brown sugar are used to make the cinnamon crumb topping for the muffins.
- Butter: Always use unsalted butter in baking to control how much salt is added. I also prefer using butter with an 82% fat content. For these muffins with streusel topping the butter needs to be at room temperature.
- Salt: A pinch of salt helps to bring together the flavors of the muffins with cinnamon crumb.
- Cinnamon: A bit of ground cinnamon is used to add another layer of spice.
🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post
👩🍳 How to make this recipe
1. How to make streusel muffin topping
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
- Add the room temperature butter to the flour mixture and mix everything together just until the dry ingredients are coated in butter.
- By pressing the mixture together with your fingers you can make larger crumbs or sand-like crumbs.
- Put the cinnamon streusel topping in the fridge to set while you prepare the muffin batter.
💡 Top Tip: Take the butter out of the fridge and cut it into small chunks at least an hour before making the recipe.
2. How to make muffins
- Preheat your oven to 175 C / 347 F (no fan) and grease the muffin pan well with butter or oil or use muffin cups.
- Whip the oil, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer until pale and fluffy. Then whip the egg into the mixture until combined, being careful not to overbeat the batter.
- Sift the all purpose flour, salt, and baking powder together. Then gently fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula until everything is fully combined but not overmixed. Do not use a mixer for this step or the remainder of the recipe.
- Combine the white vinegar and baking soda together in a small bowl. The mixture should be very bubbly. Then immediately fold it into the muffin batter.
💡 Top Tip: Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl to ensure that the baking powder gets evenly distributed throughout the batter.
3. How to bake
The recipe makes 6 large bakery-style muffins so use a cupcake pan that has large cavities or muffin cases that are more on the large side.
- Evenly distribute half of the batter into the cavities of the greased cupcake pan.
- Mix together the ground cinnamon and granulated sugar in a small bowl to make the cinnamon swirl. Then spoon the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the muffin batter, adding the same amount to each cavity.
- Spoon or pipe the remaining muffin batter on top of the cinnamon swirl while once again making sure to evenly distribute the batter.
- To finish, top each muffin with a thick layer of cinnamon streusel topping.
- Transfer the muffins to the preheated oven and bake them for 25 minutes at 175 C / 347 F (no fan) or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to sit in the pan for 5 minutes and then put them on a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Serve the cinnamon streusel muffins right away or store them at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Visit my baking guide for information on how to store muffins to keep them fresh.
💡 Top Tip: Use a piping bag or cookie scoop to distribute the batter evenly among the cavities of the cupcake tin.
✨ Flavor variations and substitutions
You must keep the ratios of the ingredients the same for the best results, but these cinnamon crumb muffins are super versatile!
- Spices - Add a pinch of spice such as pumpkin pie spice, ginger, or cardamon to the flour mixture of the muffin batter or streusel topping.
- Chopped Nuts - Like cinnamon coffee cake muffins, finely chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans can be added to the topping or layered in the middle of the muffins.
- Fruit - Fold some fresh berries into the batter to make blueberry streusel muffins. You can also add diced apples to make apple streusel muffins.
- Oats - Use quick oats instead of flour to make the streusel topping.
- Brown Sugar - Use all brown sugar to create a cinnamon crumble topping with more caramel flavor.
- Caramel - Drizzle the moist cinnamon crumb muffins with a bit of Homemade Caramel to serve as a dessert.
- Flour Replacements - If you would like to use other types of flour or make gluten-free muffins, check out my flour guide for suggestions.
- Egg Replacements - You can easily make this streusel muffins recipe egg-free by using different suggestions you'll find in my guide on how to use egg substitutions.
- Butter Free - Make these easy cinnamon streusel muffins healthy and delicious without butter. Check out my butter substitution guide to learn how.
- Nut butters - Drizzle the muffins with this homemade walnut butter or homemade pecan butter
🎓 Expert tips
- For the best baking experience use a digital scale to accurately measure all your ingredients.
- Use high quality unsalted butter with an 82% fat content for the most delicious streusel topping.
- The egg needs to be at room temperature for the batter to properly emulsify when it's added.
- Do not overwork the muffin batter. Once the egg is combined with the oil and sugar, stop using the mixer. Only use a rubber spatula from that point on.
- Grease the pan well so that cinnamon streusel muffins don't stick and easily come right out of the cavities.
- Check the muffins after 23 minutes of baking. Ovens can vary in temperature and muffin tins can vary in size which can both impact the baking time.
❓Recipe FAQs
Cinnamon swirl is made simply by mixing ground cinnamon and sugar together and then layering it in the middle of a batter.
Yes, unbaked crumb topping can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months in an airtight container.
They can be kept at room temperature or in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days.
You can store them in an airtight container or tightly wrapped in plastic for up to 3 months in the freezer.
🧁 More muffins and cupcakes
Have you tried this recipe?
Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment as well! I would love to hear about how your dessert turned out and your feedback also helps other Readers!
Cinnamon Streusel Muffins (VIDEO)
Ingredients
For the brown sugar cinnamon muffins
- 110 g (½ cups) Oil no flavor vegetable oil
- 55 g (¼ cups) Butter gently melted but use at room temperature
- 100 g (½ cups) Granulated sugar
- 100 g (½ cups) Brown sugar
- 2 Egg room temperature
- 120 g (½ cups) Yogurt thick Greek or Turkish style at room temperature
- 250 g (2 cups) All purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ taspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon powder for the cinnamon swirl
- 35 g (⅓ cups) Granualated sugar for the cinnamon swirl
- ½ teaspoon White vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
For the streusel topping
- 150 g (1¼ cups) All purpose flour
- 100 g (½ cups) Granulated sugar
- 50 g (¼ cups) Brown sugar
- 110 g (½ cups) Unsalted butter room temperature
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
US customary cup measurement is an indicative figure only. Measure the ingredients with a digital scale by weight (gram). Baking is art but also science which requires precision and accuracy.
Instructions
For the cinnamon streusel
- Cut butter into small chunks and let it come to room temperature.
- Whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, then add the room temperature butter chunks to the mixture and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon just until the dry ingredients are coated with the butter.
- You can make sand-like crumbs or larger crumbs by simply pressing the mixture together using your fingers.
- Place the streusel into the fridge, while preparing the muffin batter.
For the brown sugar cinnamon muffins
- Heat oven to 175 C / 347°F (no fan).
- With an Electric hand mixer whip the oil, melted but room temperature butter and two kinds of sugar together until pale and fluffy, then whip the eggs and yogurt in. This is your wet ingredient.
- Mix vinegar and baking soda together in a small bowl, it will be super bubbly. Immediately fold the mixture into the muffin batter.
- Spoon or pipe half of the batter into 12 cavities of a Cupcake pan, then mix cinnamon and granulated sugar for the cinnamon swirl and spoon the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the muffin batter. Then, pipe or spoon the rest of the muffin batter on top.
- Finally, finish with a thick layer of cinnamon streusel on topping.
- Bake the muffins for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let them cool on a cooling rack.
- Serve them fresh or store them at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Notes
- Use a combination of white and (light or dark) brown sugar for the best texture and beautiful butterscotch flavor in your muffins.
- The eggs, yogurt, and butter should all be at room temperature for the muffins.
- Use good quality 82% unsalted butter for the cinnamon streusel at room temperature.
- Digital scale is required for a consistent, happy baking experience:)
- Always pre-heat your oven and consider using a digital oven thermometer for the best results.
- Each oven is different, so you might need to adjust the baking time slightly.
- Do not overbake your muffins, as that can result in a dry texture.
- For the crumb, some recipes recommend to use melted butter or cold butter. With cold butter, you would have to work the mixture a bit longer, as the butter slightly needs to be warmed up to coat the dry ingredients, but eventually, the same result can be achieved. With melted butter, you would have to chill the mixture for the butter to somewhat set and being able to form the crumbs. Therefore, I suggest working with room temperature butter that is just perfect to create the crumbs.
Linda Murphy
Do the salt and cinnamon go into the streusel topping also? They are listed in the ingredients, but not in the instructions.
On the second step for making the muffins, I can not get the oil and sugar to be fluffy, and are you supposed to be combining both the white and brown sugar with the oil? I just says sugar, not sugars but the brown sugar is otherwise mentioned.
Thanks for your help?
Katalin Nagy
I have clarified a few points in the recipe card, hope it will be clearer now. Good luck!