Cinnamon Swirl Muffins packed with a triple-punch of cinnamon and buttermilk are a delicious breakfast that can be made in about 30 minutes.
Jump to RecipeSunday morning at our house means “Big Breakfast Sunday”. But there are times that we forget until waking up that morning! Oops! And, of course, the boys look forward to this so they won’t let us forget. Well, last Sunday was one such day, so I did some quick thinking searching and found a recipe for cinnamon swirl muffins.
We had all the ingredients, so I decided to give it a try while still changing a few things about the recipe. I started with this recipe that I found but varied some of the steps. One of the changes was because I misread a step, but they ended up working really well. We love the streusel on Apple Crisp so I decided it would be good on muffins, too.
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but any sweet breakfast usually has to be doubled in my house. Tyler is my little hobbit eating his breakfast then wanting second breakfast and complaining on school days that he doesn’t have time for third breakfast. We have said we need to take him to an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet one day!

The cinnamon swirl muffins have a streusel on top, but I also mixed some of it into the batter. This helped get the cinnamon sugar flavor distributed throughout the muffin rather than just on the top.
This is the first time I’ve used buttermilk in muffins before. I was surprised at how well it works. The flavor is very subtle, but it helps keep the muffins from drying out. We don’t use buttermilk enough to buy it already prepared, so I buy it in powder form and mix some up when we need it.

Cinnamon Swirl Muffins Step by Step
Ingredients
Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Streusel
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tsp cinnamon
- 4 tbsp butter
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 425F. Gather the muffin ingredients.



In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until there are no lumps.

In a separate medium mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla.


Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk until they are well combined.



In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the streusel. Then use a pastry blender or two butter knives to cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.

Spray or line a muffin pan. We made about 16 muffins. Fill each cup about 3/4 of the way with the muffin batter.

Sprinkle each muffin with about 1 tsp of the streusel mixture.

Use a toothpick to swirl the cinnamon streusel into the muffin batter.

Top the muffins with the remaining streusel.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425F then reduce the heat to 350F without opening the oven. Bake another 12-14 minutes.

Make sure the muffins are cooked in the center and a toothpick comes out clean.


Recipe
Originally Published On: February 14, 2019
Last Updated On: July 27, 2023

Cinnamon Swirl Muffins with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tsp cinnamon
- 4 tbsp butter
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until there are no lumps
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and vanilla extract
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until they are combined
- For the streusel, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl then cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly
- Spray or line about 14 muffin cups and fill them 3/4 of the way with the muffin batter
- Sprinkle one tsp of the streusel onto each muffin
- Use a toothpick to swirl the streusel into the muffin batter
- Sprinkle the remaining streusel onto the top of the muffins
- Bake at 425F for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and cook for an additional 12-15 minutes until the muffins are cooked through
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Other Cinnamon Recipes to try
- Cinnamon Rolls with the Bread Machine
- Mini Cinnamon Crescent Rolls
- No Yeast Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls in Less than One Hour
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread in the Bread Machine
- Cinnamon Swirl Muffins with Streusel Topping
- Make-Ahead and Pull-Apart Mini Cinnamon Bites
- Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
- Overnight Oatmeal Cups
That looks great! I love cinnamon muffins!!!
They were so yummy! Cinnamon is perfect for breakfast foods.
Those taste great. Love your easy recipe too! I could eat these everyday!
Thanks! We are going to have to double next time because the boys kept going back for more.
These look delish! And I love your little guy’s call for second and third breakfasts!
He’s so funny about it. I tell him he’s like a hobbit and of course he doesn’t know what that means so just laughs and asks for more breakfast!
I loved how easy these Cinnamon Swirl Muffins with streusel were to make. Your muffins look delicious and I love that cinnamon!
We have definitely found that cinnamon is a much-loved flavor in the breakfast we have at our house!
That looks really good. Since I love to bake, I will be giving this a try.
Baking is so much fun!
This is my favorite type of breakfast! And since working from home third breakfast totally happens often for me!
I’ll admit, there are days I am hungry at 9:30 and have a second or third breakfast, too!
YES, you are totally speaking my language. Cinnamon is one of my favorites and these look absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Cinnamon is great for almost any breakfast! We love cinnamon here and usually use so much more than a recipe calls for.
Oh wow, these look delicious. Cinnamon is one of my absolute favorite flavors. I can’t wait to make these.
We eat a lot of cinnamon here, too. We often double or triple the cinnamon in a recipe!
Oh my gosh cinnamon is my favorite and I must make these right away! So so good!
If you love cinnamon then you should definitely try these!
These sound delicious – I love anything cinnamon flavoured! These would go down a storm in our house as we all love muffins…
We love cinnamon anything here, too. My older son, especially, wants cinnamon on everything!
Ever since I was a little girl and my grandma would make me cinnamon rolls, I have been a sucker for all cinnamon-y baked goods. I’m definitely trying this recipe!
Yum! Cinnamon rolls are the best! We love anything with cinnamon here, too.
Literally anything with cinnamon is a win for me! I love making muffins so this may be the next one I try!
Same here! Especially with my oldest son.
Oh wow these looks fab. Tyler is deffo right, I love the sweet smell of cinnamon too xx
It’s such a wonderful smell. I’ll sometimes diffuse cinnamon oil just because we love the smell so much here 🙂
I can tell those Cinnamon Swirl Muffins with Streusel Topping are delicious. Seeing your sous-chef preparing them make me smile. I love cooking and baking with my girls.
Oh, they are so yummy. And it’s so fun to spend time/make memories in the kitchen with the kids!