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 with Cinnamon Swirl + Crumb Topping
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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
- Let the batter rest. This simple trick helps the muffins rise tall and dome beautifully.
- Start at high heat. That burst of heat activates the baking powder quickly for bakery-style muffins.
- Don’t overmix. Stir just until the dry ingredients are incorporated to avoid tough muffins.
- Use room temperature eggs. This helps everything combine smoothly for a soft, uniform crumb.
- Fill muffin cups generously. These are meant to be indulgent – don’t hold back on batter or crumb topping!
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
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Delicious! My family couldn’t tell they were GF and DF. I haven’t told them!
I would definitely use less batter in the first addition to the cupcake liners. I didn’t have enough batter for the second addition. I would also cut the topping recipe in half. I have enough left over for a second batch of cupcakes. Maybe I’ll try making this recipe in a small cake pan or bundt cake pan with the left over topping.
where’s the coffee? Has it been missed off the recipe?
Hi Caroline! Traditional coffee cake does not actually have coffee as an ingredient. It’s called coffee cake because it’s great paired alongside a cup of coffee.
I’m just truly baffled by this! There is so much sugar and cinnamon in these, plus the butter. =
I just updated the recipe to include metrics! I didn’t start doing this, but I am slowly adding this to all my recipes, because that’s the way I prefer to bake as well. Thanks!
Delicious! My family couldn’t tell they were GF and DF. I haven’t told them!
I would definitely use less batter in the first addition to the cupcake liners. I didn’t have enough batter for the second addition. I would also cut the topping recipe in half. I have enough left over for a second batch of cupcakes. Maybe I’ll try making this recipe in a small cake pan or bundt cake pan with the left over topping.
Hey there! Bummed to hear you say this. I’ve made these many many times without those results. It could just be that this recipe is not for you, and that’s okay! I’m going to test this recipe with a cinnamon sugar swirl in the middle. I think you might love that option, too!
Hi Kait! I’d love to learn more about how you measured your ingredients. I’ve made these many times and they’re always almost very sweet for me. The amount of cinnamon is definitely a personal preference, but I’ve heard a few people say this. I’m going to test these with a cinnamon-sugar swirl in the middle soon! That may solve both of your problems:) Stay tuned!
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!