Cinnamon Streusel Muffins – Easy & Moist

If you love cinnamon and streusel topping, you will love these cinnamon streusel muffins. The muffins are made using a simple muffin batter and have a lovely cinnamon sugar swirl in them. And to add to this combination is an equally delicious crumble topping made using butter, flour, brown sugar, oats, and a slight hint of cinnamon.

These streusel muffins are easy to bake and have a wonderfully soft and moist texture. They remain moist for a good 2 to 3 days after baking, making them an excellent ‘make ahead’ breakfast choice.

You can customize these streusel muffins by adding raisins or nuts to the batter if you like, and you can also customize the topping to make it more crunchy by adding toasted chopped pecans or walnuts. 

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How to Make Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

These cinnamon streusel muffins are pretty easy and quick to make. They are a combination of cinnamon swirl muffins with a cinnamon sugar streusel topping. The ingredients used are pretty basic except for cinnamon powder which is used in a very small quantity in the recipe. All in all, you can prepare these muffins in under 30 minutes, and with a baking time of about 15 minutes, you can have a batch of freshly baked, aromatic cinnamon streusel muffins in under 45 minutes!

Ingredients

These are the ingredients you need to make these cinnamon streusel muffins:

Muffins batter

• Plain flour + salt + baking powder
• Brown Sugar
• Egg
• Milk
• Oil

Filling

• Cinnamon powder
• Brown Sugar

Streusel Topping

• Plain flour
• Oats
• Butter
• Brown sugar
• Cinnamon powder

Cinnamon sugar filling and streusel topping

1. For the filling, measure the sugar into a small bowl, add the cinnamon powder and mix well.
2. For the topping, measure the flour, oats, sugar, and cinnamon into a small bowl. Add melted butter to it and mix until all the ingredients are well moistened. The mixture might appear a bit lumpy immediately after mixing, just cut it through with a spoon to break it into smaller crumbs and set it aside. 

Muffins batter

1. In a medium-sized measuring jar, measure oil and milk. Add the egg and use a whisk to beat it briefly until it’s well incorporated into the liquids. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, measure the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Mix with a whisk or spatula to combine the ingredients.
3. Make a well in the center and pour in the liquid ingredients. 
4. Mix until all ingredients are well combined. 

1. Spoon the cinnamon muffin batter into prepared muffin cups until about half full.
2. Spoon ½ teaspoon of cinnamon filling on top of the batter.
3. Top it with more batter until each muffin cup is about ⅔ full. Use a long skewer or toothpick to swirl the cinnamon filling in the batter. If you are not sure how to do this, simply insert your skewer halfway into the muffin batter and move it as you draw the number “8” twice in the batter with your skewer. 
4. Remove the skewer and fill the top of the cinnamon swirl muffin batter with the prepared cinnamon crumb topping until the muffin cups are full.

Bake the muffins at 170 degrees Celsius for approximately 10 to 13 minutes. The muffin cups I used measure 3.5 cm in diameter at the bottom and 5 cm in diameter at the top. The height of the muffin cups is also 3.5cm. You would need to adjust the baking time if your muffins are baked in larger or smaller casings/tin.

Remove the cinnamon streusel muffins from the oven and let them cool slightly before serving. 

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Notes

Here are my notes for this recipe. Reading these will help you understand the recipe and help in making any adjustments if you wish so.

Brown Sugar

• This recipe calls for the use of brown sugar not only in the batter but also in the filling and the streusel topping. Brown sugar gives the muffins a lovely depth in flavor.
• The muffins are not overly sweet and make a good combination with the streusel topping.

Oil

• I made these muffins with oil. Oil helps to keep the muffins soft and moist for days. I used sunflower oil but any flavorless oil is fine.  You can also use melted butter in place of the oil, just be sure to use it in the same quantity.

Cinnamon

• There is no cinnamon in the muffins batter, instead, it is mixed with brown sugar and used as a filling (swirled into the batter) in the muffins. It is also added to the streusel topping.
• The amount of cinnamon I used in my recipe above is just nice to give these cinnamon swirl muffins a light hint of cinnamon. If you prefer a stronger cinnamon presence in your muffins, you can increase it to your liking. 

Streusel topping (crumble topping)

• The cinnamon sugar streusel topping for these muffins is made using melted butter, flour, whole rolled oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
• You can always add some chopped toasted nuts to the topping for a crunchier topping. Also, the whole rolled oats can be substituted with quick oats.
• If you are intending to replace the brown sugar with white sugar, you will need to reduce the quantity of the white sugar slightly as white sugar is sweeter.

Variations to the cinnamon streusel muffins

• You can customize these streusel muffins further by adding chopped apples, raisins, or even chopped nuts into the batter.
• A good measure will be about 80g of these to make sure the proportion of these ingredients are just nice in the muffins.  

Baking time and muffins size

• Baking time varies by muffin size. I baked my muffins in mini muffin cups. My recipe below yielded 12 mini cinnamon streusel muffins. If you are planning on using standard or normal-sized muffin cups, you would need to increase the baking time slightly. 
• When filling the batter into the muffin cups, fill it to about ⅔ full only. You will need to give some allowance for the cinnamon streusel topping as well as for the muffins to rise slightly during baking.

Storing the cinnamon muffins

• The streusel muffins are best served when they are warm, but if you do not intend to serve them while still warm, keep them stored in an airtight container. The muffins last at room temperature for a good 4 to 5 days. If you wish to keep them longer, refrigerate them.

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Here is the full printable version of my moist cinnamon streusel muffins recipe:

And that’s that. My super easy and super moist cinnamon streusel muffins recipe.

Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

• Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
• Cinnamon Raisin Rolls – Soft and Fluffy Homemade Treat
• Strawberry Oat Bars with Nutty Crumble Topping

Enjoy!