Julie Clark
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Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins
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If you love the aroma of cinnamon in the morning, these cinnamon buttermilk muffins are for you! They are a moist muffin and perfect for cinnamon lovers.
These easy cinnamon buttermilk muffins are packed with cinnamon in every layer, with a sweet streusel baked inside and sprinkled on top for extra flavor. Thanks to the buttermilk, they bake up soft and tender every time, giving you that bakery-style texture right at home.
Try our cinnamon raisin bread and coffee cake muffins, too!
But this cinnamon buttermilk muffin recipe from my favorite vintage church cookbook? I knew it would quickly become a favorite. It’s like coffee cake in a muffin, the ultimate in comfort food.
If I could live off muffins, I would. Blueberry muffins, strawberry muffins, morning glory muffins, raisin bran muffins, chocolate peanut butter muffins or even a simple vanilla muffin? Yes please.
Buttermilk Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel to Start Your Morning
If I could live off muffins, I would. Blueberry muffins, strawberry muffins, morning glory muffins, raisin bran muffins, chocolate peanut butter muffins or even a simple vanilla muffin? Yes please.
But this cinnamon buttermilk muffin recipe from my favorite vintage church cookbook? I knew it would quickly become a favorite. It’s like coffee cake in a muffin, the ultimate in comfort food.
This base muffin recipe would be great for mix-ins like blueberries, chocolate chips, roasted nuts or apples for apple cinnamon muffins.
Enjoy! -Julie
Ingredients for Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins
- Baking powder. Many vintage recipes that I find in my old church cookbooks call for only baking powder and no baking soda. There are 4 teaspoons of baking powder in this recipe. Buy aluminum free baking powder so the muffins don’t end up with a metallic taste.
- Buttermilk. That thick, rich buttermilk from the grocery store is best for this muffin recipe.
- Oil. Canola, Vegetable, or even melted coconut oil all work well.
- Cinnamon. For the best cinnamon flavor, we like to buy korintji cinnamon. Have you ever tried it? It has delicious flavor.
✨ See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients. ✨
How do I prevent dry muffins?
The key to tender muffins is this: Don’t over mix the batter. Over mixing batter for muffins and quick breads can cause them to be dry, tough and more “chewy”. This is because you ruin any air bubbles and those air bubbles are what give you fluffy muffins.
Over mixing also develops gluten strands which can make for a chewier muffin. Chewy can be good in certain yeast breads or cookies, but no one wants a chewy muffin.
Also, weigh ingredients with a food scale. This will ensure you don’t get too much flour. There is a toggle for weight measurements in the recipe card below.
Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins
If you love the aroma of cinnamon in the morning, these cinnamon buttermilk muffins are for you! They are a moist muffin and perfect for cinnamon lovers.
Servings 16
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Total Time 26 minutes
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil*
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the streusel:
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons salted butter at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Spray 2 muffin pans with cooking spray or line with standard muffin cups. This will make 14-16 muffins.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to break any clumps. 2 cups all-purpose flour , 4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder , 1 ¼ teaspoons salt , 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- In a separate large bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. ⅓ cup vegetable oil* , 2 large eggs, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup buttermilk , 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and butter, cutting it together with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. ⅓ cup granulated sugar, 3 teaspoons cinnamon, 3 tablespoons salted butter
- Fill 14-16 muffin cups half full using half of the batter. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on over the muffin batter. Use the remaining batter to fill the muffin cups the rest of the way. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar butter mixture on top of the muffins. Coarse sugar also gives a pretty look!
- Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (without opening the oven) and bake for an additional 11-12 minutes, or until the center of the muffin bounces back when you touch it. If you do the toothpick test, there should be a few moist crumbs on the toothpick.
- Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and allow them to cool on a wire rack.
Video
Notes
- *Use vegetable oil, melted butter, melted coconut oil or melted shortening.
- Setting the oven temperature to a high temperature initially helps the muffin form a beautiful dome on top.
- Buttermilk Substitute We like to use store bought buttermilk because it is thick and rich. If you need to make your own buttermilk, put 1 teaspoon vinegar into a 1-cup measuring cup, then fill it the rest of the way with half and half cream. Allow it to sit for a few minutes to thicken. Stir, then add to the recipe. You can use regular milk to make buttermilk, but the higher the milk fat content, the better this recipe will taste.
- Storage: Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can store any leftover muffins in the freezer. Freeze for up to 8 weeks. Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.
- The calories shown are based on the recipe making 16 muffins, with 1 serving being 1 muffin. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. **
Nutrition
Calories: 203kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 303mg | Potassium: 50mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 126IU | Vitamin C: 0.02mg | Calcium: 104mg | Iron: 1mg
How to Make Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins
Mix the muffins. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to break any clumps. In another medium bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.
Mix the streusel topping. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon and butter, cutting it together with a fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Fill the muffin cups. Spray 2 muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper liners. Fill 14-16 muffin cups half full of batter. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon streusel on over the muffin batter. Use the remaining batter to fill the muffin cups the rest of the way. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top of the muffins.
Bake the muffins. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (without opening the oven) and bake for an additional 11-12 minutes, or until the center of the muffin bounces back when you touch it.
Recipe Variations
- Top the cinnamon buttermilk muffins with a cinnamon sugar mixture before baking. Or drizzle with powdered sugar glaze after.
- Use chai spice or pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon for a fun twist on the muffins.
- Add chopped pecans or walnuts to the batter.
- White chocolate chips are also a great addition.
Amazing!! So moist and soft! Paired it with a buttermilk frosting (trying to use up all the leftover buttermilk) and it was *chef’s kiss*
Absolutely delicious. I took the advice of others and used 3 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt. I used whole milk buttermilk. Maybe next time I’ll add roasted chopped walnuts.
Good recipe but soooo sweet for a muffin. I did a few tablespoons less of sugar and it was still too much.
These muffins are delicious. I needed to use up some buttermilk. I didn’t have quite enough so I made up the difference with plain yogurt. I took the advice of several commenters and used 1/2 tsp of salt and 3 tsp of baking powder. The muffin crumb was moist and flavorful. This recipe is a keeper.
These muffins are soooo yummy! Of course, I love cinnamon and I love butter…but these just came out so great! The only things I changed were to use a little less salt (1 Tsp instead of 1.25 Tsp), a little less sugar (about .75 cups instead of 1 cup), and since we didn’t have buttermilk OR milk at all, I used 1 cup water + 1 Tb melted butter to make a milk substitute, and then to that added 1.75 Tsp cream of tarter to make a buttermilk substitute. We don’t keep milk at home, and definitely don’t buy buttermilk,… Read more »
The amount of salt and baking powder is too much. Only use 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp baking powder
Can yogurt be used in place of buttermilk?
These Were delicious!
I only used 2/3 of the sugar & it was plenty sweet for us. (I find when cinnamon is in a recipe, one needs less sugar. Not exactly sure why.) I added 1/2 tsp of maple flavoring & therefore only 1.5 tsp of vanilla.
I also put chopped pecans in the streusel since my husband really likes pecans. Super good!
These muffins are really yummy. I used kodiac cakes powder instead of flour, replaced 1/2 of the sugar with monk fruit sweetener, and swapped out the oil with applesauce. I sprinkled the cinnamon sugar/monk fruit mixture on top (without butter). They’re 129 kcal and 6.5 gms protein. We will be making them often!