Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins – Donut muffins are a super soft, homemade muffins that are easy to make! These buttery treats taste just like an old fashioned donut rolled in cinnamon and sugar!
Yep. I’m that person that will take a donut that’s all soft, and buttery, and rolled in cinnamon sugar over a glazed donut any day of the week!
I mean, is there anything more satisfying than licking off all that cinnamon sugary goodness that gets stuck to your lips? Not really, guys. Not really!
Anyway, I’ve been making these donut muffins for years.
I do believe I first learned to make them during French class in high school….which was like, a bajillion years ago.
Of course I’d remember the muffin recipe, but not a single word of French!
It doesn’t matter how long it’s been though, these muffins reign supreme as my kid’s favorite breakfast treat.
And mine, too.
Typically treats like this are reserved for weekend breakfasts – BUT, school is out for summer.
I think that’s a good enough excuse to make these on a Tuesday.
Basically, I’ll come up with any excuse, these are that good.
The actual muffin is a super simple batter.
But, don’t be fooled by the simplicity – they have this amazingly light flavor of vanilla and spices.
Then, when they come out of the oven I generally give them just long enough that I can handle them without burning my finger tips straight off before I dunk them in butter and roll them in cinnamon sugar.
These absolutely store really well, but they’re definitely on another level of delicious when eaten still warm.
Also, you probably won’t have any left to save.
Better just make a double batch to be on the safe side.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins - Donut muffins are a super soft, homemade muffins that are easy to make! These buttery treats taste just like an old fashioned donut rolled in cinnamon and sugar!
- FOR THE MUFFINS:
- 1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/8 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Egg
- 1/2 Cup Milk
- 1/3 Cup Butter, Melted and Cooled
- FOR THE TOPPING:
- 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
- 5 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners. Set aside.
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In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
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In a small bowl beat the egg. Add the milk, vanilla extract, and melted butter and mix well to combine.
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Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened, being careful not to over mix.
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Spoon batter into muffin cups about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way full. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.
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For the topping: In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and sugar. In another small bowl melt the 5 Tablespoons of butter.
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Dip the muffins into the butter, then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.
I shared this muffin recipe over at The Weekend Potluck!
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins: An easy recipe for cinnamon sugar muffins that taste like an old fashioned donut! These simple muffins bake up in no time and are perfect for breakfast.
These muffins look perfect! I love that they have so much sugar on the outsides!
So when you take them out of the oven and let them cool, do you take the muffin liners off so you can roll the whole muffin in the sugar and cinnamon or do you do just the tops?
Hi, Barbara! If I use muffin liners, I take them off to roll the muffins in the butter then cinnamon/sugar. Sometimes I don’t even bother with liners for these and just give the pan a good spray with non-stick spray. You can always just dip the tops as well if you’d like. 🙂
Have you ever made these without liners in mini muffin trays? If so cooking time?
Hi, you don’t put them in a muffin paper, just spray your pans very well before you bake them
Not want, NEED. These look absolutely divine. The perfect poppable breakfast or sweet little snack!
Have just made these for the 2nd time and doubled the batch because they’ll go quickly amongst my friends. They are SO good. Winner recipe!
Awesome! Thanks, Mali! 🙂
How many muffins does 1 recipe make?
my question as well. PLEASE someone – anyone????
Jen and Jacki, this recipe makes 10-12 muffins just depending on how full you fill the muffin tins. I usually get 10. 🙂
These are so good. Made a double batch from the get go. Doubt they’ll last long between my boyfriend and I!
How can i make them eggless?
Hi Smriti! I haven’t made these particular muffins eggless. However, as a general rule of thumb you can use 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce in place of one egg. Hope that helps!
Try using Ener-G egg replacer. I am allergic to eggs and use this in my muffins, cookies, and cakes.
I used chia eggs instead… Flax would probably work as well.
I made them vegan and they were absolutely amazing. I substituted the egg with a flax egg (1tbsp ground flax seed + 2 1/2 tbsp water. Let sit 10 mins to combine. Stir and use.) I also subbed the cows milk with cashew milk. These were fantastic.
Can these be made a day or two ahead of time?
Yes, absolutely! 🙂
I have been making these for years and they’re even better when you add a grated apple! They’re called apple doughnuts and my family usually uses the mini muffin tins.
Sounds yummy! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
How muh grated apple do you use?
Have you tried freezing these? I want to make them ahead of time for a camping trip!
Hi, I haven’t tried freezing these particular muffins, but you definitely can! The best way is to freeze them on a sheet pan for an hour or two after they have cooled. After that, you can place them all into a large freezer safe bag. Hope that helps.
So yummy! Could you use the same recipe to bake them on a doughnut sheet pan instead?
I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for certain how it would turn out. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes! 🙂
Yes I just did they worked wonderfully
Can you make these using a “small” muffin pan? If so, what time adjustment do you think is needed? Sorry, not much of a cook, but these sounds absolutely delicious. Thanks.
What is a donut sheet pan?
It’s basically a donut pan. Amazon and most kitchen stores sell them. I just bought one yesterday! Sooo nice to keep the donut shape.
Can you make me hear using gluten free baking flour?
I just made these delicious muffins using Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour. I usually have to alter recipes when baking but this time I decided to just followed the directions only substituting the flour. They are delicious. I am a professional baker and am extremely picky. I would only suggest you double the topping recipe. I used regular sized muffin pans and this made 16 muffins, filled approximately half way. The batter will be rather thick. You will be delighted with the end result!! I am!
Why do you use more gluten free flour than regular flour? I need to make these gluten free
No, I don’t use more gluten free flour than regular flour. I followed the directions exactly but substituted Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour for the all purpose flour in the recipe. If you do that you will be very happy with these muffins.
I was going to make my husband blueberry muffins for a work trip but he was craving something with cinnamon instead. I found these muffins and he was one happy man! I only got 7 out of this recipe but I didn’t realize how high they would rise compared to other muffin recipes. I’m going to make these as mini muffins next time for sure…mostly because I would just like to have one! 😊
Going to make these for our teachers lounge when we all report back to school next week!
Great way to start the school year! If anyone deserves a treat, it’s definitely teachers! 🙂
I just made these over the weekend for a party, and wow, what a hit! They were so delicious. Simple and easy to make, and I already had 99% of the ingredients at home. Great recipe– keeping to remake MANY times in the future! Thank you! 🙂
Thank you, Jessica! That’s what I love so much about these, I always have the stuff to make them! Glad you liked it!
I have never used one of the mini muffin pans, but I just ordered one of the silicone pans. Do you know approximately how much less the baking time would be? Thanks for your help.
Hi Cheryl, I’ve never made this recipe in a mini muffin pan, so without further recipe testing it’s hard for me to answer with complete certainty. I would say, start with maybe 10-15 minutes, then check them from there on out to make sure they don’t get over done.
I made these in a silicone muffin pan and baked them for 20 min.
Ooohh these look delicious and I will be making these for our back to school breakfast. I’m a little intimidated by the dipping part. Do you dip the entire muffin in the butter? Any tips on that part would be helpful. Thank you!
Hi, Erica! Nothing to be intimidated by at all! I like to dip the whole muffin in the melted butter, then roll the whole thing in the cinnamon/sugar. You could always just dip the muffin tops if you want. Just dip them in the butter fairly quickly so that they don’t get soggy.
I tried to make these and they came out so dense! not light and fluffy as I imagined! any advise or is this the type of muffin it is?
Sorry to hear they were too dense for you! Did you make sure to whisk the dry ingredients together well before adding the liquids? Usually if a muffin is too dense, it’s a product of over mixing the batter once the dry and wet ingredients are combined. Hope that helps!
These are ADDICTIVE!! I actually decided to make mini-muffins instead the larger size and they are the perfect bite-sized snack (almost like a donut hole). I decreased the baking time to 15 minutes and they came out perfectly! Thanks for a great recipe
Even though I decreased bankthe sugar in the recipe for fear it would be too sweet due to the cinnamon sugar glaze, my coworkers seemed to like them a lot. Thank you for such a good recipe that I’ll feel confident making again and again.
I am eating these as I write this comment. They are absolutely delicious! My 5 year old and 2 year old are loving these. I didn’t have any flour and ended up using Bisquick heart smart mix instead of the flour and baking powder. I checked them after 15 minutes and they were perfect!
I love donuts so much. This is such a wonderful recipe – thank you so much!
Just made these today and they are delicious. Will definitely be making these again.
Thanks, Shirlee! So glad you liked them 🙂
hi! I just made these and i’m excited! I saw in the recipe ingredients that you call for 1 egg. In the directions, it says to beat the eggs. Did you mean to list more than one egg, or did you mean to say to beat the egg (not eggs) in the directions? Looking forward to eating these. It’s like a snickerdoodle muffin!
I Love These Muffins! They are better than my Mom’s homemade cake donuts, and so remind me of gentler times when I’d help Mom in the kitchen making them. I serve them at my bed and breakfast, and they are the perfect late night snack. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe- I end up eating more of them than my guests!
I baby sit my 2 year old grand daughter every other weekend and we bake something together. This weekend we made these muffins…I found a cute sylicone muffin pan shaped like owls at hobby lobby and they turned out amazing. So cute and she loves cinnomon…next time I’m going to add apples .
Made these this morning with my 2 year old grand daughter. She loved them. I have owl shaped muffin tins that made them super cute.
I loved these! They’re so good. I was wondering if the butter in the dipping part can be replaced by something healthier… silly question but, would water work? 😂 Does it HAVE to be butter?
LOL! I have to say I think I’d stick with the butter, water wouldn’t be quite the same! So glad you loved these muffins!
Coconut oil, instead of butter
I made these gluten free, they aren’t as fluffy and round but they’re still delicious!
I had leftover buttermilk, so I used that. I’m sure it’s a bit denser, than normal, but still very good
Going to make these tomorrow 🙂 does it have to be salted or unsalted butter please?
Hi, Donna! I typically use salted butter, but either one is fine 🙂
Hi there these sound so yummy. Just one question do you cover the whole thing in butter or just the tops? Thank you.
I cover the whole thing in butter, then the cinnamon/sugar mixture! 🙂
Thank you so much just in the process of mixing just now. X
One of my favorite go-to recipes for years! Another tip: If you want to make them in the morning, but want to cut down on time, you can make the batter the night before and refrigerate, then give a slight whisk in the morning and bake! (This makes baking for school a bit easier and you can deliver warm donut muffins!)
I made these last night and. OMG I absolutely love anything dipped in cinnamon sugar. I even christened my new muffin pan with these. I did use paper liners but took them out so I could dip them in butter and roll them. My roommate loved them too. I got a dozen out of this recipe. Thanks again and happy new year.
This sounds delicious! Would love to make these but we don’t have nutmeg on hand right now. Is there anything I can substitute for nutmeg? Have you tried them without nutmeg? Thanks.
You can simply leave the nutmeg out 🙂
My mother use to make these when I was young and I make them with my grandchildren. We dip them in butter and shake them in a bag full if cinnamon and sugar. This really takes me back to MY childhood.
I made these this afternoon and they are great. I frosted mine with powdered sugar frosting. Yummy!
I have made these. Very good! I use mini muffin pan. Pop right in your mouth.
These were sooo good! I didn’t even roll them in the sugar mixture and they were still good. I cooked mine for 21 minutes. Perfect texture.
These are absolutely incredible! Thank you so much for the awesome recipe! I made these vegan by replacing the egg with a flax egg and the milk with non dairy milk. The whole family gobbled them right up!!! Thanks again ill be making these often!
Thank you for the recipe! I’ll be baking them tonight! I too, will be substituting the egg for 1 tablespoon ground flax seed in 3 tablespoons water (I heat it on the stove until it’s “gloopy”), and I’ll also be substituting the cow’s milk with oat milk (America’s Test Kitchen recommends oat milk because it has a higher starch content which they think bakes better). To the woman who didn’t want to dip the muffins in butter, I would suggest trying to sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon mix on the tops of the muffins before baking, then it may stick?
I just found this recipe and I have to say that they were very good! However, they came out more like a coffee cake than a doughnut in flavor and texture. They were scrumptious either way, but not exactly doughnut like.
Turned out fantastic
Love the results & especially the recipe.
Thank you so much for Sharing
I have made these so many times, i crave them all the time. They are so easy to make and delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe. Now off i got to make them for the 100th time lol.
Made these yesterday. What a hit! I did double the recipe. I also made mini muffins. I baked them 15, then backed Of to 12 minutes for softer texture. I used an offset frosting spatula to poke through the bottom to submerge in lukewarm butter, then dipped and swirled in the cinnamon sugar. I let them cook on parchment. Doubling the recipe for mini muffins made approximately 65 mini muffins. Perfect siE, just a bit more work with coating. Perfect. After cooling, I put them in a large Tupperware sealed tight.
Very good. Simple side thing for Brunch.
The batter wasn’t the right consistency for a muffin and it turned out like dough. It wasn’t too sweet, which I liked. How can I get it to be lighter and fluffier like a doughnut and muffin?
Hi, Anne! Did you spoon and level your flour when measuring? If you simply scoop the flour out of the bag, you may have had too much flour which could have made the batter more like a “dough” consistency. Hope that helps!