Bakery Style Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins
Soft, buttery, and topped with a sweet cinnamon crumble, these Coffee Cake Muffins bring all the cozy bakery flavors you love into perfectly portable, tender muffins!
Coffee cake muffins are one of those things I started making on weekend mornings when I wanted something that felt like a real effort without actually being one. No mixer. One bowl for the batter. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool enough to eat, which in this house never happens.
The name throws people every time — no, there’s no coffee in the muffins. “Coffee cake” is a baking style, not an ingredient list. It’s a soft, lightly sweet cake with a thick streusel topping, traditionally served alongside coffee. These are that, in muffin form. Portable, individual, and the streusel-to-muffin ratio is aggressive in the best way possible.
What makes these specifically good is the streusel. It goes on thick — thick enough that you’ll second-guess yourself — and it bakes into something between a crunchy crust and a soft crumble depending on where you bite. The edges get crispy. The center stays soft. The cinnamon runs through both the muffin and the topping so the flavor is consistent all the way through rather than just sitting on top.
Make these on a Saturday morning and they’ll be gone before anyone has finished their first cup of coffee. Which is, I think, the whole point.
Coffee Cake Muffins Ingredients:
for the muffins:
1.5 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
for the crumb topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted, cooled slightly
1.5 cup all-purpose flour
Step By Step Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Line muffin tin with paper cups or spray with a baking spray. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour. Add melted butter and stir in until it all comes together. Fluff with a fork to make a mixture that resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside. (THIS IS YOUR CRUMBLE TOPPING)
In another mixing bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir it all together with a wooden spoon, just until combined. Batter should be lumpy. Do not overmix!
Scoop the batter into the muffin tin. It should fill each cup about 3/4 full.
Sprinkle the topping you set aside earlier on top of the batter of each muffin. It may seem like it’s a lot of topping but try your best to use it all up.
Bake the muffins for 15 to 18 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into each muffin comes out clean. It may take even 20 minutes (each oven is different and you should always check the doneness of each muffin with a toothpick, or a wooden skewer. )
Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Coffee Cake Muffins FAQs
No — and this is the question I get more than any other about this recipe. “Coffee cake” is a baking style, not an ingredient. It refers to a soft, sweet cake with a streusel or crumb topping that’s traditionally served alongside coffee. There is zero coffee in the muffins themselves. The name just means these pair perfectly with your morning cup.
Overmixing is almost always the cause. When you mix flour with liquid, gluten develops — the more you stir, the more gluten forms, and the tougher and denser the muffin gets. Stir just until no dry flour remains, lumps and all, then stop completely. The batter should look rough and imperfect. That’s correct.
Two likely causes: overbaking or too much flour. Check doneness at 15 minutes with a toothpick rather than relying on the time. For flour, spoon it into the measuring cup and level off the top — don’t scoop directly from the bag, which packs in significantly more flour than the recipe accounts for.
Yes, but the texture will be different. Oil produces a moister, more tender muffin that stays soft longer. Melted butter produces a slightly richer flavor but a firmer crumb that dries out faster. If you prefer butter flavor, use melted and slightly cooled butter as a 1:1 swap — the muffins will still be good, just a different texture.
Absolutely. Add ¼ cup of finely chopped pecans or walnuts to the streusel mixture before adding the butter. They toast during baking and add a great crunch and depth to the topping.
Yes. Cool completely, wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap, and store in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Reheat from frozen at 325°F for 8–10 minutes in the oven, or microwave for 30–45 seconds on medium power. The oven method better restores the streusel texture.
Refrigerate it for 10 minutes. A warm kitchen or slightly too-warm butter can make the streusel soft and dense instead of crumbly. A brief chill firms it back up. This is a quick fix and it works every time.
Muffin batter doesn’t hold well — the leavening agents (baking powder and baking soda) start working the moment they hit liquid, so batter that sits loses rise. Make the batter fresh and bake immediately. The streusel, however, can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated.
Two Things That Make These Work
Oil, not butter in the batter. Most muffin recipes call for oil rather than melted butter, and this one is no exception. Butter produces a richer flavor but a firmer crumb. Oil produces a moister, more tender muffin that stays soft longer — which is exactly what you want for a coffee cake muffin that might sit on the counter through Sunday. If you swap in melted butter, the muffins will taste slightly richer but the texture will be different and they’ll start to dry out faster. Oil is the right call here.
Make the streusel first. The instructions start with the streusel topping before you touch the muffin batter — this is intentional. Two reasons. First, it gives the streusel time to firm up slightly while you make the batter, which makes it easier to sprinkle in distinct crumbs rather than clumps. Second, if your streusel feels too wet or clumpy after mixing (this depends on how warm your kitchen is and how warm the butter was), you can pop it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes while you make the batter and it will firm right up.
Do not overmix the batter. This warning is on every muffin recipe for a reason. When flour mixes with liquid, gluten develops. The more you mix, the more gluten develops, and the tougher and denser the final muffin. You want to stir just until no dry streaks of flour remain — lumps in the batter are completely fine and will bake out. The moment you can’t see dry flour, stop. Put down the spoon. Your muffins will be tender because of what you didn’t do.
Check out the rest of this amazing list of incredible muffins to try! The Best Muffin Recipes For Anytime
Tips Section
If your streusel is clumping instead of crumbling: Refrigerate it for 10 minutes. Warm butter or a warm kitchen can make the streusel too soft to distribute well. A brief chill firms it back up into the coarse, spreadable crumbs you want.
Fill the cups generously. Three-quarters full is the guideline but lean toward the fuller side. These muffins don’t dome dramatically — the streusel weight keeps the top relatively flat — so filling cups less than ¾ produces a small, underwhelming muffin.
Use room temperature eggs and milk. Cold eggs and milk can cause the oil to seize slightly in the batter, which affects texture. If you forgot to take them out ahead of time, set the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes and microwave the milk for 20 seconds.
Don’t skip the 10-minute pan rest. The muffins are still setting internally when they come out of the oven. Moving them too soon can cause the base to pull away from the liner or break. Ten minutes in the pan, then the rack.
These are actually better on day 2. Fresh out of the oven the streusel is at peak crunch. By the next morning, it has softened slightly and melded with the muffin top in a way that’s genuinely better — more integrated, less sharp. Make them the night before if you need them for a morning event and they’ll be perfect.
For extra cinnamon flavor: Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to the wet ingredients as well as the dry. It doubles the cinnamon presence throughout the batter without changing the texture or bake time at all.
Storage and Make-Ahead
These muffins keep well at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The streusel softens slightly over time — by day 2 it’s less crunchy and more integrated with the muffin top, which is actually the version a lot of people prefer.
To freeze: let the muffins cool completely, then wrap each one individually in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, place on a baking sheet at 325°F for 8–10 minutes, or microwave individual muffins for 30–45 seconds on medium power. The oven method restores more of the streusel texture; the microwave is faster but the topping will be soft throughout.
Make-ahead option: the streusel can be made up to 3 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Pull it out while the oven preheats and it’ll be perfectly crumbly and ready to use.
If you make these I want to hear about it — especially if you did the cinnamon swirl in the middle or threw some pecans in the streusel. Drop a comment below or tag me on Instagram. And if you’re on a muffin kick, the Double Chocolate Buttermilk Muffins and Apple Cinnamon Muffins are the next logical stops.
Here are some amazing muffin recipes
Bakery Style Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins
This easy cinnamon filled coffee cake muffins are perfect for an amazing breakfast treat.
Ingredients
- for the muffins:
- 1.5 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- for the crumb topping:
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted, cooled slightly
- 1.5 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Line muffin tin with paper cups or spray with a baking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour. Add melted butter and stir in until it all comes together. Fluff with a fork to make a mixture that resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside. (THIS IS YOUR CRUMBLE TOPPING)
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir it all together with a wooden spoon, just until combined. Batter should be lumpy. Do not overmix!
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tin. It should fill each cup about 3/4 full.
- Sprinkle the topping you set aside earlier on top of the batter of each muffin. It may seem like it's a lot of topping but try your best to use it all up.
- Bake the muffins for 15 to 18 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into each muffin comes out clean. It may take even 20 minutes (each oven is different and you should always check the doneness of each muffin with a toothpick, or a wooden skewer. )
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 287Total Fat 10gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 53mgSodium 231mgCarbohydrates 44gFiber 1gSugar 18gProtein 5g
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Hi! I’m Nellie. I am an entrepreneur, a busy mama of 3 and a wife to my high school sweetheart. I have been sharing content for over 12 years about how to cook easy recipes, workout tips and free printables that make life a little bit easier. I have been featured in places like Yahoo, Buzzfeed, What To Expect, Mediavine, Niche Pursuits, HuffPost, BabyCenter, Mom 2.0, Mommy Nearest, Parade, Care.com, and more!
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There is no granulated sugar inn the ingredients, but there is in the instructions. How much granulated sugar should it have?
There is only granulated sugar for the streusel. That is included in the ingredients.
Just made them for the first time – easy and love the texture. They are, however, not as sweet as I would have liked. I’m going to try them with butter, jam or apple butter. Other than that I really like them!
There is no me to of how much coffee goes into these muffins. I would like to make them but don’t know how much coffee. Please advise. Thank you, June
no actual coffee goes inside the muffins, they are called coffee cake muffins, because the muffins pair well with your morning coffee. Hope this helps!
Your instructions are confusing.
what is confusing about them? I’d love to clarify for you.
@Nellie, The directions were a bit confusing but I think it’s because I’ve never made coffee cake before. It would help if ‘for the muffins’ and ‘for the crumb topping’ we’re in bold because for the longest time I was think it was an ingredient. Other than that it’s a great recipe!!!🙂
Got you! Will do!
I’m sorry I thought people were a little blunt with there comments. But I’m in the middle of the recipe and it didnt say to start on making the crumble first, and I used the I ingredient measurements for the batter that was supposed to be for the crumble. I am new to baking so it’s alot for me. I have never blogged or put a recipe out for people to try and critique. Its very bold. I’m sure these muffins are really good. But in the nicest way it was a little confusing. But don’t let that discourage please.
Oh it’s alright. I think I’ve made it a bit clearer. Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment!
Found this recipie last night. Made them today. I absolutely love them. Great job Nellie. On to the Apple muffins next week. Thank you.
Yay! So glad you loved them!