This is a recipe for deliciously simple mini cinnamon muffins that are made with staple ingredients. They’re rolled in butter and cinnamon sugar, and when they are served warm, they melt in your mouth!
These are perfect mini muffins for a fall or winter breakfast or brunch treat – we call them meltaway muffins because that’s exactly what they do.
Make them for Christmas morning breakfast, or make them any day of the week – they are that simple, and that delicious.
We love how these incredible cinnamon sugar donuts melt in your mouth. They’re reminiscent of a famous retailer’s cinnamon sugar muffin I made years ago from a package that I purchased at a home party.
These simple cinnamon muffins have the same incredible flavor, without the need of a doughnut pan. (But if you like donuts, you have to try my fried biscuit donuts! They’re a childhood favorite.)
These little mini muffins are the perfect blend of cinnamon sugar and melt in your mouth buttery flavor! We’ve dubbed them meltaway muffins because they literally just melt in your mouth with each bite.
Cinnamon Muffins
They’re quick and easy – in fact, the perfect breakfast for little hands to help with. Even better, these meltaway muffins require staple ingredients you already have in your pantry! One bite and you’ll be hooked!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions
See printable recipe card for complete ingredients and instructions.
- Flour – All purpose, no need to sift.
- Sugar – White granulated sugar.
- Baking Powder – Make sure it’s “fresh”.
- Salt – Salt enhances all the other flavors. If you substitute salted butter, omit the salt.
- Cinnamon – Fresh ground cinnamon for maximum flavor.
- Egg – Size large.
- Milk – Use any milk you have from skim to Vitamin D, even almond milk to make it dairy-free!
- Butter – Unsalted, softened, if you use salted omit the salt from the recipe. Learn how to soften butter quickly here!
- Vanilla – Pure extract is preferable over imitation, it makes all the difference!
Variations
- Add cardamom or nutmeg
- Sub the vanilla extract for almond extract for a different flavor
How to Make these Cinnamon Muffins
(Jump to recipe for full ingredients and instructions)
- Prep – Preheat oven and grease muffin tin.
- Make Batter – In a mixing bowl, whisk dry ingredients to combine. In a separate mixing bowl combine wet ingredients. Gradually incorporate dry mixture into wet mixture. Fill muffin tin.
- Bake – Bake, watching the time carefully. Muffins will be tender, but set. Allow to cool.
- Coat – In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. In another small bowl melt butter. Dip and roll muffins in butter, followed by sugar.
Tips
- Need help with baking conversions? Check out my Essential Measurement Conversion Chart or use the slider in the recipe card.
- If you don’t have a mini muffin pan, you can make larger muffins, just increase the bake time.
- Don’t overfill your muffin tins. Smaller muffins tend to bake better and offer the best sugar to muffin ratio. Fill with muffin batter to 2/3 to compensate for rise.
- Don’t over bake your mini muffins. This will keep them melt-in-your-mouth tender!
- When rolling in the cinnamon mixture, give them a heavy coating of cinnamon sugar, but don’t let he butter drip so that they don’t get that clumpy look.
- Serve warm right out of the oven, or warm them for a few seconds in the microwave to enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Room temperature ingredients! When the ingredients are room temperature, it helps form a smooth batter that will trap air when it’s mixed, creating a soft, airy and moist muffin.
With just 125 calories per muffin (and 14g carbohydrates) you could even indulge in 2 or 3 of these sweet little treats!
How to Store
Cinnamon Muffins are best served warm, right out of the oven after being dipped in cinnamon sugar. However, you can still enjoy them a couple days later.
- Room Temperature – Store the cinnamon sugar muffins in an airtight container for up to three days. To serve, warm the muffins and dip it butter followed by cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Refrigerator – You can refrigerate these meltaway muffins in an airtight container for up to four days. Don’t forget to warm them before serving, though!
- Freezer – These muffins freeze well. Simply wrap in an airtight container and store for up to three months. However, they are best served fresh from the oven!
Reheat
- To Reheat – Warm a muffin on a microwave safe plate for just 8-10 seconds for serving.
Get my guide to the BEST muffin recipes right here!
Meltaway Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup milk
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease mini muffin pan (easier than liners).
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon to combine. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat egg, milk, butter and vanilla until just combined.
- Gradually beat in dry mixture until the batter is combined.
- Fill each cavity of muffin tin just over ⅔ full. Bake 12 minutes and remove from oven. Allow to cool 5 minutes before removing. Use a butter knife to rim if needed to release.
Topping
- In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. In a separate shallow bowl, melt butter.
- Coat muffins in melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Best served warm but they can be served room temperature as well.
Tips
- To substitute salted butter, eliminate salt from the recipe.
- Do not overfill or over bake. This yields the best melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- While we haven’t tested it (we always make these muffins as minis for the best cinnamon sugar to muffin ratio) a reader noted that this batter recipe gave her 10 full sized muffins, and she increased the bake time to 19 minutes for larger muffins.
- Store uncoated muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To serve, warm the muffins and dip it butter followed by cinnamon sugar mixture.
Video
Estimated nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed.
Not going to lie…if I lived closer, I would stop by Julie’s home daily. She makes me feel like a kid going to the grocery store, running directly to the bakery, and ringing the bell for a free cookie treat. Every time I stop by to see Julie, there’s some delicious creation that I get to taste test. This particular one is so easy and amazing, I’m going to try it out this weekend for my family. It’s so addictive.
Thanks for fixing it. These really look so yummy. The blog gremlins just happened to you. :-).
Do these freeze well after being cooked?
Hello!
Yes, these muffins freeze well. Allow them to cool before wrapping and freezing them.
Enjoy,
Julie
I am SO sorry! I’m honestly not sure what happened. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. They have an addictive quality!
I wanted to pin these but the recipe is incomplete. Please fix it so we can all try them. Thanks in advance.
Hello, I have seen these on pinterest, but notice that the method is only partially written on your blog. Im sure its obvious what follows mixing the ingredients together, but I would love to read the rest of it and give these bad boys a try!! Many Thanks in advance 🙂