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    Home ยป Recipes ยป Muffins

    Coffee Cake Muffins

    April 30, 2018 Updated August 7, 2023 BySam 97 Comments

    This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read my disclosure policy.
    Jump to Recipe
    Coffee cake muffin with streusel topping

    Fluffy coffee cake muffins topped off with a mountain of buttery, crumbly streusel!

    These breakfast treats are simple to make and the mile high pile of streusel is absolutely addictive, good luck eating just one!

    Coffee cake muffin on a plate

    I should really probably just call these Coffee Cake Muffins “Streusel Muffins”, instead. Because that’s what we’re really here for, right? All that streusel.

    I mean, I don’t want to sell the actual muffins short, they’re definitely incredible. They’re light, fluffy, perfectly sweetened, flavored with a hint of cinnamon, and made with a combination of butter and oil (for the best flavor and texture — a technique that I use in my banana muffins as well), but it’s the streusel that has me reaching for a second and then a third and then just maybeee picking off the muffin top of a fourth.

    I might have a streusel obsession. How about you?

    A pan of coffee cake muffins

    If you do, you’re going to love these coffee cake muffins as much as I do. Before we can get to the streusel, though, let’s briefly go over how to make the muffins bases.

    If you take a look back at some of my most popular muffin recipes (for example, my chocolate chip muffins or blueberry muffins), you’ll probably notice that the base for each of these is extremely similar. After lots of muffin fails, I determined a few key winning tips that make for some of the best muffins possible.

    First, we start with a combination of butter and oil. Oil makes muffins nice and soft and fluffy, while butter has a great flavor that oil is lacking, but tends to make muffins a bit too dense. By using half of each instead of committing to just one 100%, we get soft and fluffy coffee cake muffins that also have a great, buttery flavor.

    You may also notice that I add cornstarch to the dry ingredients. In my experience, this also helps to make the muffins nice and soft (a technique I also use in my secret ingredient chocolate chip cookies!).

    Alright, now let’s talk about how we make all that streusel.

    A bowl of crumbly streusel topping

    While many streusel recipes start with cold butter, today’s begins with melted butter, which is a technique that I use with my cinnamon coffee cake. I also think it’s much easier to make streusel this way rather than by using a pastry cutter, so that’s another reason this technique is a win for me.

    How Do I Make Streusel for Coffee Cake Muffins

    Firsts, melt your butter. Cut it into pieces before popping it into the microwave so that it melts evenly and doesn’t explode all over your microwave. Speaking of which, I need to clean my microwave.

    Maybe cover the bowl with a piece of wax paper to prevent any potential messes.

    Let the butter cool for a bit while you stir together your flour, sugar, and cinnamon. While we want it to be melted, you also want to be sure the butter isn’t scorching hot before you add it to the dry ingredients. Use a fork to work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs (like in the photo above), don’t overwork it or you’ll end up with a paste rather than a crumble. The best part of the streusel is those buttery, sugary clumps!

    A freshly baked coffee cake muffin that's been bitten into

    I use my hands to pile up the streusel evenly over the muffin batter, and gently press down to snuggle that streusel into the coffee cake muffin batter.

    Bake everything on 375 and enjoy!

    PS: when I share coffee cake recipes I often get a lot of questions about where the coffee is in the recipe. I’m not sure if coffee cake is more of an American thing, but coffee cake is typically just a treat that’s served as a nice complement to your coffee, not one that’s made with coffee. I hope that helps clear things up!

    How to Make Coffee Cake Muffins

    Coffee cake muffin

    Coffee Cake Muffins

    Fluffy coffee cake muffins topped off with a mountain of buttery, crumbly streusel!
    These breakfast treats are simple to make and the mile high pile of streusel is absolutely addictive, good luck eating just one!
    4.90 from 28 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
    Servings: 12 muffins
    Calories: 377kcal
    Author: Sam Merritt

    Ingredients

    Muffins

    • ¼ cup (57 g) melted butter
    • ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil may substitute vegetable oil
    • ¾ cup (150 g) sugar
    • ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar tightly packed
    • 1 large egg + 1 egg white room temperature preferred
    • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk room temperature preferred
    • 1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 2 teaspoons corn starch (cornflour in UK)
    • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
    • ½ teaspoon salt

    Streusel topping:

    • 1 ¼ cup (156 g) all-purpose flour
    • ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar tightly packed
    • ⅓ cup (66 g) sugar
    • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 6 Tablespoons (85 g) butter melted

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
    • Combine your melted butter and canola oil in a large bowl. Stir well.
      ¼ cup (57 g) melted butter, ¼ cup (60 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil
    • Add sugar and stir to combine.
      ¾ cup (150 g) sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
    • Add egg, egg white, and vanilla extract. Stir very well, until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Add buttermilk and stir.
      1 large egg + 1 egg white, 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk
    • In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, corn starch, cinnamon and salt.
      1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons corn starch, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt
    • Using a spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet, taking care not to over-mix the batter (which will make your muffins dense and tougher).
    • Evenly divide the batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each liner about ⅔ of the way full. Set aside and prepare your streusel topping.

    Streusel

    • Prepare your streusel by whisking together flour, sugars and cinnamon.
      1 ¼ cup (156 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar tightly packed, ⅓ cup (66 g) sugar, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form. 
      6 Tablespoons (85 g) butter
    • Using your hands, evenly divide streusel over muffin batter, piling the streusel over the batter and gently pressing the topping into the batter.
    • Bake on 375F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
    • Allow to cool before serving.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 377kcal | Carbohydrates: 57g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 202mg | Potassium: 143mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 333IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 64mg | Iron: 2mg

    Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.

    Tried this recipe? Show me on Instagram!Mention @SugarSpun_Sam or tag #sugarspunrun!
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Gail

      May 11, 2025 at 10:37 am

      5 stars
      Best muffin recipe ever

      Reply
      • Sam

        May 11, 2025 at 9:33 pm

        I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Gail! ๐Ÿ™‚

        Reply
    2. Farah

      March 23, 2025 at 5:42 pm

      5 stars
      Hi Sam,

      These are amazing, like all of your recipes I’ve tried! I would love to make these jumbo, would I use the same instructions as you have in the blueberry muffin ones as far as cooking temps? I have successfully made those several times.

      Thanks so much!

      Reply
      • Sam

        March 25, 2025 at 2:35 pm

        Hi Farah! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them so much! I haven’t personally tried it, but I think the bake times on the jumbo blueberry muffins would be a good place to start when making these jumbo. ๐Ÿ™‚

        Reply
    3. Martina Garizio

      January 31, 2025 at 5:54 pm

      Need ing. list and amounts

      Reply
      • Sam

        February 04, 2025 at 3:14 pm

        Hi Martina! The ingredients and amounts are all listed above where you leave comments. ๐Ÿ™‚

        Reply
    4. Kim

      March 25, 2024 at 12:18 pm

      Can I add cinnamon chips to these coffee cake muffins?

      Reply
      • Sam

        March 26, 2024 at 9:15 am

        Hi Kim! That should work. ๐Ÿ™‚

        Reply
        • Lizzie

          February 02, 2025 at 10:38 am

          When I bake I love making at least a double batch to have plenty to share with friends, family, and neighbors. Everyone immediately told me how much they loved them but to me, being a bit more picky as a good baker/chef should be, thought they were a bit on the dry side. Had great flavor, just dry, to me at least. Any tips on how to moisten them up a bit? I tried them warm fresh from oven, left covered in fridge after cooled a bit but still warm enough to leave a little condensation, and waited a day warmed in microwave. No change. Any tips/tricks would be much appreciated. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes. Keep them coming!

        • Sam

          February 07, 2025 at 4:57 pm

          I’m so glad everyone has enjoyed them so much, Lizzie! If they are a bit dry they may have just needed a minute or two less in the oven. ๐Ÿ™‚

    5. Sabrina Popat

      December 06, 2023 at 2:33 pm

      5 stars
      Oh my gosh this tastes so amazing I canโ€™t share with anyone. Thank you so much for this recipe! โค๏ธ

      Reply
    6. Paula

      July 19, 2023 at 10:52 am

      Hello-
      As I love your coffee cake cookies and your blueberry muffin cookies, I was thinking of making these muffins and adding some fresh blueberries to the batter. What do you think? I prefer this crumble topping to a sugar/cinnamon topping which I seem to usually find in blueberry muffin recipes. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Emily @ Sugar Spun Run

        July 19, 2023 at 2:15 pm

        Hi Paula! That should work just fine here. We hope you love them!

        Reply
        • Christine

          January 16, 2024 at 9:30 pm

          5 stars
          Loved these! I accidentally switched the brown sugar and white sugar amounts and still turned out great! Love the crumb topping!

    7. Ella

      May 05, 2023 at 9:06 pm

      5 stars
      Hi this is the best recipe ever. Thank you for all your hard work. I had no problem making these muffins and my family loved them. Is there a way I can double the recipe?

      Reply
      • Emily @ Sugar Spun Run

        May 08, 2023 at 11:19 am

        So glad you love it, Ella! Yes, you can double the recipe without issue. Enjoy โ˜บ๏ธ

        Reply
    8. Deb

      May 04, 2023 at 9:08 pm

      I noticed this recipe uses buttermilk but does not call for baking soda. Some of your other recipes do call for baking soda when using buttermilk. What determines when to use baking soda along with the buttermilk, and when the baking soda is not needed? Just wanting to learn more about the science of baking when it comes to buttermilk in recipes๐Ÿ˜Š

      Thank you for all your great recipes!! ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Reply
      • Emily @ Sugar Spun Run

        May 08, 2023 at 12:34 pm

        Hi Deb! In recipes like this, the buttermilk is added to enhance the flavor and moisture of the final product. In recipes where baking soda is also used, the acidic buttermilk helps with leavening. We talk more about this in our baking powder vs. baking soda post and our buttermilk substitute post, if you’d like to read more ๐Ÿ˜Š

        Reply
        • Lynn

          May 27, 2024 at 1:28 pm

          can you use all butter instead of half butter, half oil? I don’t like tasting the oil flavor in baked goods.

        • Sam

          May 28, 2024 at 9:56 am

          Hi Lynn! If you use a neutral oil you shouldn’t taste the flavor, with that being said, you can use all butter, but just note that the muffins may be a little more dry. ๐Ÿ™‚

    9. Deb

      May 01, 2023 at 1:58 pm

      Sam, I have made your banana muffins and they are yummy ๐Ÿ˜Š I would like to make some of your other muffin recipes as well, all of which are made using buttermilk. Your banana muffin recipe and your pumpkin muffin recipes call for both baking soda and baking powder, which I realize is the norm when baking with buttermilk. But your chocolate chip muffins and coffee cake muffins recipes call only for baking powder, no baking soda. Is that because those two recipes have cornstarch in the recipes? Just curious ๐Ÿ˜‰, absolutely not criticism meant ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Reply
      • Emily @ Sugar Spun Run

        May 08, 2023 at 12:46 pm

        Hi Deb! The banana muffins and pumpkin muffins use baking soda to create extra lift, since adding moist ingredients like the bananas and pumpkins could cause dense muffins. The chocolate chip and coffee cake muffins are fine with just the baking powder. Hope that helps! ๐Ÿ˜Š

        Reply
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    4.90 from 28 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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    The author (Sam) in blue shirt holding donut Hi, I'm Sam! I'm dedicated to bringing you sweet, simple, and from-scratch dessert recipes. My life may or may not be controlled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate). Read more about me.

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