Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins
My cinnamon sugar donut mini muffins are moist and coated in a crunchy cinnamon sugar mixture. These taste like fried donuts from your favorite bakery, but are ready in your oven in less than 30 minutes!
I love making homemade muffins for brunch like my raspberry, pumpkin, and morning glory muffins. These cinnamon sugar donut muffins are my new favorite! They remind me of the donut holes I get at amusement parks, but don't require you to deep fry anything! We make them for every holiday! Serve with a hot cup of coffee.
Why Our Recipe Is the Best: A Sprinkle of Food Science
- We Preheat Our Muffin Tin: This helps crisp up the exterior of the muffins to make them taste like a deep fried donut. '
- We Use Cornstarch: Cornstarch is pure starch that doesn't contain any protein like all purpose flour. This discourages gluten development for a soft, cakelike crumb.
- We Use Nutmeg: Don't leave this out! I'm not a big nutmeg fan usually, but it really does give it that bakery donut taste.
Ingredient Notes and Shopping Tips
- Flour: Measure your flour correctly by spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling it with a knife. Avoid dipping your cup on your flour as you'll use too much leading to a dry end result.
- Butter: I like baking with unsalted butter so I can control the final level as it does vary by brand. If you only have salted butter just use that and leave out the extra salt called for in the recipe.
- Buttermilk: I like the tang buttermilk breaks to this recipe but you can also use whole milk if you don't have any.
- Cinnamon: Grab Ceylon cinnamon if you can. I got mine at Walmart. It is milder than other varieties which can be quite harsh and spicy.
Krystle's Tips: Steal My Culinary School Secrets
- Plan Ahead: These cool off quickly so prepare your butter and cinnamon/sugar coating in advance so you're ready to go.
- Don't Overmix: Overmixing can make these tough and dense because it develops too much gluten. Mix just until the flour disappears.
- Don't Overbake: Bake until the tops are just turning brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Overbaking will make these dry and crumbly.
Yes! Fill only about three fourths of the way full and increase the baking time to 18-22 minutes.
More Breakfast Treats
Cinnamon French Toast Casserole
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📖 Recipe
"Fried" Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins
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Ingredients
For the Muffins
- ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ Cup Unsalted Butter Melted
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaespoon Vanilla
- ¾ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- ½ Cup Buttermilk Or Whole Milk
- ¾ Cup Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
For Topping
- ¼ Cup Butter melted
- ½ Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a mini muffin tin with butter. Preheat just the pan in the oven for 2-3 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and nutmeg. Stir in milk.
- Mix in flour and cornstarch until just combined. Do not overmix. Ladle batter into the prepared pan filling around halfway full.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top start to turn golden brown.
- In a small bowl, combine sugar, and cinnamon. In another small ball, melt butter. Dip in butter then cinnamon sugar.
- Cool for 10-15 minutes and enjoy!
