gooey cinnamon streusel muffins

These cinnamon muffins are next level! They’re filled with a sweet, gooey cinnamon filling and topped with a crunchy oat pecan streusel. The batter is made with sour cream and butter for a moist, flavorful and beautifully fluffy crumb.

The cinnamon streusel muffins taste like your favorite coffee cake, but they're served up in a cute and perfectly contained muffin liner! My kind of breakfast.

what makes these cinnamon muffins the best?

The batter: the batter is made with butter and sour cream for the perfect balance of flavor and delicate tang. It’s thicker than your typical muffin batter, but that’s a helpful and important quality: it keeps the gooey cinnamon filling from falling to the bottom! Do your best to smooth out the tops, then pack them with streusel.

Cinnamon filling: butter, brown sugar and a lot of cinnamon is all you need for this gooey, sweet, wonderful surprise in the center of each muffin. Use a teaspoon to create a small well in the batter for the filling, then top with extra muffin batter. Don’t stress if it seeps out the sides or looks messy, the cinnamon muffins will turn out great.

Pecan streusel: I use toasted pecans, thick rolled oats and-- surprise-- turbinado sugar for an extra crunchy streusel topping that is just so good. You can substitute walnuts if you’d like, or skip the nuts all together! It’s really flexible and really delicious.

Flavor: Every layer of these cinnamon streusel muffins is packed with flavor. Cinnamon, butter, sour cream, toasty oats and pecans. It’s a warm, cozy, flavor-packed breakfast muffin that everyone will love!

what you need for cinnamon streusel muffins:

• all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• butter
• cinnamon
• sugar
• brown sugar 
• eggs
• sour cream
• vanilla extract
• turbinado sugar
• old fashioned oats
• pecans

how to make cinnamon muffins

Making cinnamon muffins from scratch couldn’t be easier-- and trust me, they’re so much better than your average breakfast muffin.

1. Make the streusel topping: combine sugar, cinnamon, flour, oats and butter with your fingers. Mix in pecans.
2. Make the cinnamon filling: stir together melted butter, cinnamon and brown sugar.
3. Make the batter. Cream butter and sugar; mix in eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients.
4. Fill muffin liners halfway with batter. Dollop a teaspoon of cinnamon filling in the center; top with remaining batter. Divide streusel over top and bake! 

how to top cinnamon muffins

Divide the streusel topping evenly across all muffins. There is just enough for 12 muffins! Don’t pack it on, but do try to cover the entire surface of the muffin. As the cinnamon muffins bake and expand, the topping will spread out on the surface. That’s okay! You’ll get a crumbly, buttery, sweet, toasty topping in every bite.

how long to bake muffins:

The cinnamon muffins will be golden brown and springy on the top when they are finished. It takes between 22- 25 minutes at 350°F, but could be longer depending on your oven. Insert a toothpick into the center of the muffin to be sure it’s fully cooked; it should come out clean. Don’t over bake the muffins! 

what to eat with muffins for breakfast:

We love to enjoy these cinnamon swirl muffins for breakfast-- especially during the holidays or a long weekend! They are such a fun way to start the morning, the house smells fantastic and literally everyone loves cinnamon.

But you can’t just serve muffins for breakfast! I love to make a breakfast casserole with eggs and some kind of meat (ham, sausage) -- like this strata-- so everyone has a protein option. It can be assembled the night before and baked in the morning (make the cinnamon muffins first, then the strata).

Breakfast hash is also a great stove-top option. This chorizo hash is a total crowd pleaser, but you could also just use whatever meat and veggies are lingering in your fridge. That’s the beauty of hash, after all!

For a simpler option, bake up a tray of crispy bacon, breakfast sausage and/ or eggs to order! They all pair well with muffins for breakfast.

Don’t forget fresh fruit-- oranges, berries, melon, peaches-- whatever is in season is perfect.

Other unique muffin recipes and cinnamon baked goods to try!

raspberry jam oat muffins

strawberry muffins

sour cream coffee cake recipe with walnut streusel

cappuccino muffins with caramelized white chocolate

chai spiced cruffins

fried cinnamon sugar donuts

cinnamon swirl yeast bread

Try these dulce de leche churro muffins by Paula at Call Me PMc!

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