These cinnamon roll muffins have a sweet cinnamon ribbon running through the fluffy, soft muffin. Drizzled with glaze, they are incredible!

All the flavors of a delectable cinnamon roll are combined into an easy-to-make muffin that is easily one of the tastiest muffins ever!

Unwrapped cinnamon roll muffin on parchment paper with glaze drizzled on top.

Easy Muffin Batter

The vanilla-flavored muffin batter is exceptionally simple. A very classic wet ingredients meets dry ingredients type of muffin situation.

Wet ingredients:

  • granulated sugar
  • melted butter (can use a neutral-flavored oil)
  • eggs
  • sour cream + milk (can sub in buttermilk)
  • vanilla

Dry ingredients:

  • flour
  • baking powder + baking soda + salt

I am lazy and never whisk the dry ingredients separately before adding. But you can! The only really strict rule with these muffins (and all muffins throughout the history of time) is to mix just until combined. Don’t over mix!

Glass bowl with butter, sour cream, and eggs.
Glass bowl with flour, salt and baking soda on top of wet batter.
Glass bowl with vanilla muffin batter.

Buttery Cinnamon Streusel

This buttery crumbly cinnamon streusel mixture is the heart and soul of these muffins. It adds flavor, brings the cinnamon roll vibe strongly to the table, and makes an otherwise basic muffin very special.

  • brown sugar
  • all-purpose flour (equal parts flour and brown sugar)
  • ground cinnamon, and lots of it
  • melted butter

The mixture is more dry than it is wet. This is important! The consistency helps the sweet cinnamon ribbon stay solidly in the center of the muffin and not sink to the bottom.

Glass bowl with brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.
Glass bowl with cinnamon butter streusel.

Assembling Cinnamon Roll Muffins

This recipe makes about 15 to 16 muffins, which will be highly annoying to some of you. I get it. Muffin recipes that fit neatly into a 12-cup muffin tin are desireable.

But I promise, baking a smaller second batch of 3 to 4 muffins is worth it for this recipe. Several recipe testing sessions failed to yield a stellar light and fluffy muffin with adaptations for a 12-muffin batch. So. This is the recipe we’ve been dealt, and we are going with it.

  1. For assembly, line the muffin tin with paper liners (see note in the recipe with my deep thoughts on muffin tins).
  2. Scoop 2 tablespoons batter into each muffin tin. A #40 cookie scoop works brilliantly here.
  3. Sprinkle about 2 to 3 teaspoons streusel on top of the batter.
  4. Scoop another 2 tablespoons batter (a heaping 2 tablespoons if using USA brand muffin tins) on top of the streusel.
  5. Sprinkle with a light smattering of streusel.
Muffin batter filling half of 12 muffin cups with liners.
Twelve muffins topped with cinnamon crumble in muffin tin.
Muffin tin filled with muffin batter, crumble and more muffin batter.
Twelve unbaked muffins topped with batter and cinnamon streusel.

The cups are about 3/4 full of batter and streusel for these muffins.

They dome beautifully, and shouldn’t overflow, however, just so you don’t hate me, my disclaimer is that varying brands of muffin tins might behave differently (as well as factors like if you live at high elevation). I use the USA brand of muffin tins – can’t recommend them highly enough.

You can bake a test muffin to see if you need to make modifications for how much batter to use in each muffin cup for the remaining muffins.

Close up of muffin filled with batter, cinnamon crumble and streusel.
Baked cinnamon roll muffin in muffin tin.

Drizzle with Glaze

Once the muffins have cooled, whisk together the simple cream cheese glaze and drizzle across the top.

I think you could easily skip the drizzle and dip the top of the muffins in the glaze for a different application and effect. I’m kind of partial to the pretty stripes of the drizzle, but you do you. 😉

Lightly sweet vanilla muffin + cinnamon streusel + sweet cream cheese glaze. This is muffin perfection right here.

Twelve glazed cinnamon roll muffins on cooling rack.
Glazed cinnamon roll muffin on cooling rack.

As the muffins bake, the cinnamon streusel layer forms a decadent path of buttery sweet cinnamon goodness trailing through the middle of the soft and fluffy muffin.

These muffins are incredible. Not overly sweet, they are wonderful for breakfast…or brunch…or after school snack. Or really anytime.

How to Store the Muffins: the glaze stays soft and doesn’t set up, so it’s best to store the muffins in a container with a lid that leaves a lot of clearance. They get a bit messy if shoved into a ziploc bag (ahem, ask me how I know)…but still taste delicious. The muffins can be stored covered at room temperature for a couple of days. The leftover muffins are fabulous warmed up for about 8 1/2 seconds in the microwave before eating.

Cinnamon roll muffin in pieces on parchment paper.

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Glazed cinnamon roll muffin on cooling rack.

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Yield: 15 muffins
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 17 minutes
5 stars (41 ratings)
Print Recipe Rate Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Muffins:

  • 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup (113 g) butter, melted
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup (113 g) sour cream (see note)
  • ½ cup (121 g) milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 ¼ cups (320 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Streusel:

  • ⅓ cup (47 g) all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup (71 g) lightly packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 tablespoons (43 g) butter, melted

Glaze:

  • 3 tablespoons (43 g) cream cheese, softened
  • 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter, softened
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. (See note for different types of muffin tins.) Place muffin liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. This recipe makes 15-16 muffins, so use a second muffin tin for the remaining muffins or bake in two batches.
  • For the muffins, in a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla until evenly combined.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk until just combined and no dry streaks remain. Don't over mix. Set aside.
  • For the cinnamon streusel, in a small bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and mix until combined and the streusel clumps into small pieces.
  • Scoop about 2 tablespoons muffin batter into each muffin liner (a #40 cookie scoop works great). Crumble the cinnamon streusel to break into small pieces. Sprinkle 2 to 3 teaspoons streusel over the batter in each muffin cup.
  • Scoop another 2 tablespoons (see note) batter on top of the cinnamon streusel. Sprinkle with a bit more streusel.
  • Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until the top of the muffins spring back lightly to the touch.
  • Remove the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  • For the glaze, in a small bowl, add the softened cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until fully combined, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Add the milk and mix until well combined. The consistency should be thick but pourable. Add additional milk (or powdered sugar) to adjust the consistency, if needed.
  • Drizzle the glaze evenly over the cooled muffins.

Notes

Muffin Tin: I highly recommend using a muffin tin that is light metal vs a dark-coated muffin tin. If you only have a dark-coated muffin tin, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. 
Batter Amount: the muffin cups for this recipe are filled about 3/4 full. If you live at high altitude or are using a muffin tin with more shallow muffin cups, use a bit less batter per cup than stated in the recipe. I use the USA brand of muffin tins for reference. 
Sour Cream: 1 cup buttermilk can be subbed for the sour cream and milk in the recipe. 
Author: Mel
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Method: Bake

Recommended Products

Nonstick Muffin Tin {USA Brand}
Mixing Bowl
Wire Whisk

Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

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