Coffee cake muffins with crumble topping are easy and delicious. They’re topped with a crumbly, buttery streusel top overflowing as you pull them out of the oven. They’re explosions of flavor in your mouth. And the best part is you can eat them for breakfast. With coffee.
My two favorite things in the world involve baking and coffee so I think it’s safe to say this is one of my all time favorite recipes I’ve ever made. And I have to thank Damn Delicious for the inspo!
Another one of my favorite things is how food or a single recipe can take you back to a specific moment in time or remind you of a certain person in your life. A little bit like how songs do that, but much tastier. When you sink your teeth into the baked good you can literally envision yourself back at a moment or with the person.
These muffins are in honor of my grandmother (my dad’s mom) who made the most out of this world delicious coffee cake and these coffee cake muffins remind me so much of her. She only made coffee cake at Christmas time. I know it’s not Christmas time but these muffs are good all year round. Plus I love having little reminders of her whenever I can!
Even the smell of these muffins pouring into my kitchen as they baked reminded me of her. The cinnamon and butter baking together in the oven makes for one great smelling kitchen. Bath and Body Works should make a 3-wick candle of this scent.
The actual coffee cake muffin batter is as simple as can be. No mixer required. Just a bowl and a spoon. The crumb topping is easy as can be too. I suggest making that first because it needs to be spread out on a baking pan to dry out slightly before you top the muffins. It actually works out perfect because it can sit out while you make the muffin batter then when it’s time to spoon the batter into the muffin tins your crumble will be ready to top!
Pop them in the oven and let them rise! My trick to a bakery style high muffin is baking them for a little on high heat so they puff up then turn it down so they cook through in the middle. My only slight downfall (if you can call it that) is I put a little too much batter in the tins. I know, too much coffee cake muffin isn’t a thing. But if you want them to look super pretty it’s best if you fill 2/3 way full with batter then pile high with crumble.
The more crumble the better!
When you take them out the crumbles may fall a bit, that’s okay. I just scooped them up and stuck them right back on the top. No way was I wasting it! It’s like pure cinnamon gold. The last step is the sweet drizzle of icing right on top. Cover them or do a light drizzle, this step is at your discretion!
How to Make Coffee Cake Muffins
- coffee cake muffins:
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- crumb topping:
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- icing:
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp milk
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Preheat oven to 375. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
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To make the crumb topping, combine sugars, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in melted butter and add flour. Stir using a rubber spatula just until moist. The mixture will not look very crumbly yet. Spread out mixture on parchment paper to dry until crumbly ready to use.
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To make the muffins, in a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, canola oil, vanilla and egg. Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula until just incorporate, being careful not to overmix.
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Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray about 2/3 of the way full. Top with 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. That's what you want!
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Bake muffins in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake another 5-10 minutes
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While the muffins are baking, make the glaze. 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.
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When the muffins are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze on each muffin using a small spoon.
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Allow glaze to set before serving.
Recipe doesn’t call for vanilla in instructions, but does in the ingredient list. Added it to the wet ingredients in #4.