Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins

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Lyndsy Moore

April 11, 2025

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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.

If I could live off muffins, I would. Blueberry muffins, strawberry muffins, morning glory muffins, or even raisin bran muffins…I’ll take them all. Chocolate peanut butter muffins or even a simple vanilla muffin? Yes please.

But when I came across this cinnamon buttermilk muffin recipe, I knew it would quickly become a favorite. It’s like coffee cake in a muffin. This is the ultimate in comfort food.

overhead view of muffins with cinnamon sugar streusel baked inside

se cinnamon muffins are the ultimate, tender muffin kept that way by buttermilk. The acidic buttermilk breaks down the gluten in flour, which leads to light, tender muffins. Don’t skip the buttermilk. Please? Thanks.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Buttermilk Muffins

ingredients for buttermilk muffins on a table

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 Saigon cinnamon. Have you ever tried it? It has delicious flavor.

✨ See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients. ✨

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.

dry ingredients for muffins in a glass mixing bowl

liquid ingredients in a bowl, with milk pouring in

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.

cinnamon sugar butter mixture in a bowl with a spoon

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.

spooning cinnamon sugar streusel over muffin batter

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.

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.

a stack of cinnamon buttermilk muffins, with one broken in half on top

Ingredients

For the muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour 260 grams
4 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder 16 grams
1 1/4 teaspoons salt 7 grams
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 6 grams
1/3 cup canola oil* 76 grams
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
1 cup buttermilk 8 ounces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 10 grams

For the streusel:

1/3 cup granulated sugar 67 grams
3 teaspoons cinnamon 9 grams
3 tablespoons salted butter at room temperature

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.

Make the muffins:

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Whisk to break any clumps.
In a separate bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well.
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.
Spray 2 muffin pans with cooking spray or line with standard muffin cups. Fill 14-16 muffin cups half full of 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.
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.

Notes

*You can 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.
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