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These coffee cake muffins bring the nostalgic flavor of classic coffee cake into an easy, grab-and-go muffin form. They have everything you love about coffee cake—a soft, buttery crumb, a rich cinnamon swirl, and a crunchy streusel topping—all packed into a muffin tin.
My top tips are to let the batter rest and bake at high heat right away for tall bakery-style muffins.
Love coffee cake? Try gluten-free coffee cake, brown butter blueberry coffee cake and pumpkin streusel muffins next.
Ingredients You Need
- All-Purpose Flour: You can also swap for 1:1 gluten free flour like I do in gluten-free coffee cake.
- Cinnamon: You’ll find it in the muffin batter, cinnamon swirl, and crumb topping.
- Light brown sugar: for the batter, topping, and cinnamon swirl.
- Melted butter: Good quality butter, like Kerrygold, yields the best results. I also tried these with dairy-free butter and they worked well.
- Milk: either whole milk or a dairy free milk like almond milk! You could also use sour cream or greek yogurt if you have those—I tested this!
- Baking powder, baking soda: to activate the batter and help them rise.
- Eggs: room temperature eggs are best.
- Vanilla extract and salt: for flavor.
- Icing: a mixture of powdered sugar and milk for the sweet drizzle.
How to Make Coffee Cake Muffins
Step 1. Make the Crumb Topping. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl.
Step 2. Make Muffin Batter. Combine the wet ingredients then dry ingredients separately. Fold them together then let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
Step 3. Fill Muffins Tins. Fill the muffin tins halfway through then top with cinnamon sugar mixture and cover with more batter, until all the way full.
Step 4. Top and Bake. Press the crumb topping onto each muffin. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes then reduce the heat to 350 and finish baking for 16-18 minutes.
Tips for the Best Coffee Cake Muffins
- Don’t over mix the batter. Mix JUST until it’s incorporated for soft muffins.
- Let the muffin batter rest so the baking powder activates in advance. This gives you tall domed muffins.
- Fill the muffins all the way. That’s why we’re using so much crumb topping!
- Start the oven at a high temp to introduce hot air quickly and make them rise fast.
How to Store & Freeze
Store: Store coffee cake muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4. Place a paper towel on top of them before closing the lid to prevent them getting soggy.
Refrigerator: For longer storage, keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Freeze: place them on a baking sheet in the freezer for an hour. Transfer to a freezer bag or airtight container freeze for up to 2 months.
Reheat: Let them thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the microwave.
More Muffin Recipes You’ll Love
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Coffee Cake Muffins
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Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour gluten-free if needed
Coffee Cake Muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour gluten-free if needed
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 large eggs
Cinnamon Swirl
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Icing
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners then spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Crumb topping: combine the sugars, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in melted butter then stir in the flour using a rubber spatula. Set aside while you make the muffin batter.1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- Dry ingredients: in a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, vanilla and eggs.3/4 cup milk, 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 2 large eggs
- Finish the batter: Add the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just incorporated, being careful not to over-mix. Let the muffin batter rest for 10 minutes. This activates the baking powder and develops the gluten for tall muffin tops.
- Scoop and bake: In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon for the cinnamon swirl. Carefully scoop half the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon swirl in the middle of each then top with the remaining batter almost all the way to the top.1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Generously top each with the reserved crumb topping, using your fingers to gently press the crumbs into the batter to help it stay in place while baking. It will be a lot of crumb topping on each muffin. Bake muffins in preheated oven for 7 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F degrees and bake another 16-18 minutes, until set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs
- Icing: Combine powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, add more confectioners' sugar as needed.1/4 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 teaspoons milk
- When the muffins are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze on each muffin using a small spoon.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe by: Molly Thompson of What Molly Made | Photography by: Sierra Inn
My crumb topping disappeared into muffin batter while baking. What did I do wrong?
Hey! This can happen if you use too much butter or if you don’t use enough flour. I’d double check how you measure the ingredients! There’s so much crumb topping on these so even if some melts you should still have plenty. Hope this helps!
Best muffins ever. I find buttermilk is the secret to baking, so that’s what I used here. Oh, and the second time I added frozen wild blueberries. Simple and simply amazing!
Buttermilk is such a great ingredient for muffins! Thanks!
Don’t be afraid of the negative reviews, these are DELICIOUS. My husband absolutely loved them! They definitely aren’t bland or in need of more sugar. I followed the recipe exactly and they were great. If anything the topping makes them super sweet (like most coffee cake) but they are perfect with a cup of coffee. The only thing that happened to me was they looked a little deformed 10 minutes into baking. I ended up needing more like 15-17 minutes in my oven and then they rounded out and they looked prettier after I did the glaze 🙂 will make again, thank you!
Thank you so much!! I completely agree:) Thanks for sharing what you did—I’m sure it will be helpful for some!
It’s really good
Thanks, Kenzie!!
These muffins came out great! They are the perfect amount of moistness while still making you feel like you need a drink of coffee or milk with them. Also just the right amount of sweetness!! I will say that I only used about 3/4 of the crumb topping because I couldn’t fit it all on top of the muffins & I also took them out about 5 minutes earlier which I think made them more moist!
Thanks, Kayely! I totally agree with you!
These turned out so good! I doubled the recipe and made large muffins (made about 8 large). I didn’t need to double the streusel recipe though. The streusel tastes like shortbread which was delicious. I ended up adding an extra ten minutes to the cook time because of the increased size. Also, I subbed gluten free flour 1:1 and I never would have known it was GF. Fresh out of the oven with a cup of coffee is the perfect combo.
These turned out so good! I doubled the recipe and made large muffins (made about 8 large). I didn’t need to double the streusel recipe though. The streusel tastes like shortbread which was delicious. I ended up adding an extra ten minutes to the cook time because of the increased size. Fresh out of the oven with a cup of coffee is the perfect combo.
Ingredients say 2 eggs . Instruction say add egg. Which is it 1 egg or 2 eggs.
Hey Wendy! That’s a typo. The instructions should say eggS. Thanks!
Hello! can I freeze them?
Yes you can! Store them in a freezer bag or air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.