Bakery-Style Moist Coffee Cake Muffins with Irresistible Crumb Topping
Indulge in the ultimate comfort of freshly baked goods with these delightful bakery-style coffee cake muffins. Perfect for any occasion, whether it’s a cozy breakfast, an elegant brunch, or a simple afternoon snack, these muffins promise a truly satisfying experience. Crafted with a thoughtful combination of buttermilk and oil, each bite delivers an incredibly moist and tender texture that simply melts in your mouth. Crowned with a generous, sweet, and crunchy cinnamon crumb topping, these muffins strike the perfect balance of flavors and textures. The best part? This quick and easy recipe ensures these delectable treats are ready to enjoy in just 30 minutes!
What could possibly be better than a classic coffee cake? How about a perfectly portioned coffee cake in a convenient muffin form! These coffee cake muffins with crumb topping are not only incredibly easy to prepare but are also guaranteed to add a sweet, comforting touch to your morning routine or any part of your day. This recipe yields a dozen perfect muffins, making them an excellent choice when you’re seeking new and inspiring muffin ideas for your family or guests.
Each of these delightful muffins boasts a super crunchy, almost streusel-like topping that provides a wonderful textural contrast to the soft, moist interior. To elevate their flavor and appearance even further, these muffins can be drizzled with a simple yet exquisite vanilla glaze. This quick glaze takes mere minutes to whip up, adding a touch of bakery-quality finish that makes them irresistible. The combination of the tender muffin, the sweet cinnamon streusel, and the delicate glaze truly makes these muffins a standout treat.
As a trained professional baker, I often prepare my coffee cakes in traditional pan form, much like my popular apple coffee cake, comforting banana coffee cake, and delightful cherry coffee cake. However, these convenient coffee cake muffins are absolutely perfect for those busy mornings or when you need a delicious grab-and-go treat. They’re also fantastic for preparing a large batch for a special brunch gathering or a potluck, ensuring everyone gets to enjoy a piece of homemade goodness with minimal fuss.
Crafting the Perfect Crumb Topping
The secret to a truly outstanding coffee cake muffin lies significantly in its crumb topping, often referred to as streusel. Achieving that wonderfully crispy, sweet, and buttery streusel doesn’t require any exotic ingredients. In fact, you’ll only need a few basic pantry staples: all-purpose flour, white granulated sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and, crucially, cold butter.
There are three fundamental elements that contribute to a perfectly successful streusel topping:
- The Essential Role of COLD Butter: This is arguably the most critical component. Using butter that is thoroughly chilled helps it maintain its solid form when mixed with the dry ingredients. As the streusel bakes, these tiny pockets of cold butter slowly melt and release steam, which in turn creates air pockets and results in that desirable crunchy, crisp texture. If the butter is warm or at room temperature, it will quickly melt and blend into the dry ingredients, forming a paste rather than distinct clumps, and thus preventing the formation of that beloved crumbly texture.
- Mastering the Flour-to-Sugar-to-Butter Ratio: A successful streusel relies on a precise balance of its components. You need just the right amount of flour and sugar to encapsulate and offset the butter. This ensures that the mixture remains clumpy and doesn’t completely melt into a flat, greasy layer during baking. This careful ratio is what allows the streusel to hold its shape and maintain its delightful crunch.
- The Art of Mixing (or Not Over-Mixing): The technique you use to combine the ingredients is key. Instead of stirring or creaming, use your fingertips, a pastry cutter, or even a fork to “pinch” or “cut” the cold butter into the dry ingredients. Work quickly and gently until small, irregular clumps around the size of a pea are formed. These individual clumps are what will bake up into crisp, flavorful pieces. Avoid over-mixing at all costs; if you mix too much, the butter will warm up, and the mixture will turn into a paste, losing its potential for clumpy, crunchy goodness.
Don’t fret too much about getting every piece of streusel perfectly uniform; it’s perfectly fine, and even desirable, to have a mix of slightly larger and smaller clumps. This variety adds to the rustic, homemade charm and textural complexity of the topping.
This particular recipe also incorporates brown sugar into the crumb topping. Beyond contributing a delightful molasses note and deeper caramel-like flavor, brown sugar’s slightly higher moisture content and finer crystals help the butter stay clumpy and bind the crumbs together more effectively, further enhancing the streusel’s texture.
Baker’s Tip: For an even crunchier streusel, prepare the crumb topping first and keep it chilled in the refrigerator while you mix the muffin batter. This extra chilling step helps the butter remain firm and will significantly boost the “crunch factor” of your finished muffins!
Essential Muffin Ingredients
The muffin base calls for common baking ingredients, but two particular components play a crucial role in achieving their signature moist and tender crumb:
- Buttermilk: This recipe specifically utilizes buttermilk for a reason! Buttermilk is slightly acidic, which reacts with baking soda to create a light and airy texture. More importantly, its tangy flavor adds depth, and its fat content contributes to a noticeably more tender muffin compared to recipes using regular milk. It also helps to keep the muffins moist for longer.
- Vegetable Oil: While many baking recipes call for butter, using a neutral-flavored vegetable oil (like canola or sunflower oil) in these muffins is a game-changer. Oil remains liquid at room temperature, which directly translates to a super tender crumb and muffins that stay moist for days after baking. Unlike butter, which can solidify and make baked goods dense, oil provides a consistent, delicate texture.
Other staple ingredients like all-purpose flour, brown sugar, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and kosher salt all work in harmony to create the perfect flavor profile and structure for these delightful coffee cake muffins.
The Two-Temperature Baking Secret for Bakery-Style Tops
To achieve that coveted high, domed, and rounded top characteristic of professional bakery muffins, we employ a clever two-temperature baking method. This technique might seem a little unconventional, but it yields consistently impressive results!
First, you’ll start by baking the muffins at a high temperature of 425°F (220°C) for the initial 8 minutes. This burst of intense heat causes the leavening agents (baking powder and baking soda) to react rapidly, generating a significant amount of steam. This sudden expansion forces the muffin batter to puff up quickly in the center before the edges have a chance to set, creating that iconic bakery-style rounded top.
After this initial high-heat bake, without opening the oven door (which would cause a drastic temperature drop and potentially collapse your muffin tops), simply lower the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C). Continue baking for another 12-14 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. The lower temperature ensures the muffins cook through evenly without burning the tops, allowing the interior to become perfectly moist and tender.
Filling the Muffin Tin for Maximum Dome
When it comes to filling your muffin tin, forget the conservative approach often used for cupcakes! For these coffee cake muffins, you want to fill the muffin liners generously, all the way to the top. This seemingly daring act is actually crucial for achieving those beautiful, sky-high, rounded tops. As the muffins bake, the batter will rise and expand, creating an impressive dome that spills over the rim slightly.
You might notice some of the streusel topping making a small “mess” by overflowing initially, but don’t worry! This is exactly what we want. As the muffins continue to bake, the streusel will settle and bake directly into the muffin structure, adhering perfectly and creating a stunning, crunchy crust that’s integral to the bakery-style appeal. Trust the process and fill them up – you won’t regret the magnificent results!
Final Recipe Tips for Coffee Cake Muffin Perfection
To ensure your homemade coffee cake muffins turn out perfectly moist, tender, and topped with that irresistible streusel, keep these essential baking tips in mind:
- Accurate Dry Ingredient Measurement: Precision is key in baking. For dry ingredients like flour, it’s highly recommended to measure them with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, use the spoon-and-level method: spoon the flour into your measuring cup until overflowing, then level it off with a straight edge (like the back of a knife) without packing it down. This prevents adding too much flour, which can lead to dry, dense muffins.
- Temperature Matters (Mostly Room Temperature): For the muffin batter itself, ensure all ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, etc.) are at room temperature. Room temperature ingredients emulsify better, creating a smoother, more uniform batter and a more tender final product. The only exception is the butter for the crumb topping, which absolutely must be cold and diced small.
- Embrace the Thick Batter: Don’t be alarmed if your muffin batter appears quite thick; this is completely normal for this recipe! A thick batter contributes to the sturdy structure needed for those tall, domed tops.
- Avoid Over-Mixing: This is a golden rule for muffins. Mix the wet and dry ingredients only until they are just combined. A few lumps in the batter are perfectly fine. Over-mixing develops the gluten in the flour too much, leading to tough, chewy muffins instead of light and tender ones.
- Filling the Liners: As previously emphasized, fill your muffin liners generously, almost to the very top, for spectacular domes. For this recipe, filling them about ¾ full allows for optimal rise without spilling over excessively. The streusel will settle into the muffin.
- Cool Before Glazing: Patience is a virtue when it comes to glazing! Allow the muffins to cool completely, or at least mostly, before drizzling on the vanilla glaze. If you apply the glaze to warm muffins, it will simply melt and soak into the muffin, losing its distinct appearance and sugary crust.
Storing Your Delicious Coffee Cake Muffins
Proper storage ensures your muffins remain fresh and enjoyable for as long as possible. These muffins are best enjoyed on the day they are baked, when the crumb topping is at its crispiest and the interior is most tender. However, they store exceptionally well too:
- Storing at Room Temperature: For short-term storage, keep your cooled coffee cake muffins covered in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week. Placing a paper towel at the bottom of the container can help absorb excess moisture and keep the streusel from becoming soggy.
- Storing in the Refrigerator: If you need them to last longer, you can transfer them to the fridge in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Keep in mind that refrigeration can sometimes slightly alter the texture of baked goods, making them a little firmer.
- Freezing for Later Enjoyment: Coffee cake muffins freeze beautifully! Once the cinnamon coffee cake muffins have completely cooled, wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap, then place them in a freezer-safe airtight container or heavy-duty freezer bag. They can be frozen for up to three months. To serve, thaw them overnight on the kitchen counter, or for a quicker option, gently defrost them in the microwave until warm and soft.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coffee Cake Muffins
Here are some common questions about making and enjoying these delightful muffins:
- Can I substitute buttermilk? If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can easily make a substitute. For every cup of buttermilk required, simply pour 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup, then fill the rest of the cup with regular milk (dairy or non-dairy). Stir gently and let it sit for 5-10 minutes until it slightly curdles. While this works in a pinch, store-bought buttermilk will always provide the best flavor and texture.
- Can I use butter instead of oil in the muffins? While butter can be used, this recipe specifically calls for oil to ensure maximum moisture and tenderness that lasts for days. If you substitute butter, the muffins may be slightly less moist over time and could have a denser texture. For the best results as intended by this recipe, stick with vegetable oil.
- What kind of vegetable oil should I use? A neutral-flavored vegetable oil like canola, sunflower, or grapeseed oil is recommended. Avoid strong-flavored oils like olive oil, as their taste can overpower the delicate coffee cake flavor.
- How can I make bigger streusel clumps? To get larger, more defined streusel clumps, ensure your butter is extra cold, and work it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips just enough until pea-sized chunks form, then gently squeeze some of these chunks together to make slightly larger aggregates before chilling.
- My muffins didn’t get high domes. What went wrong? The most common reasons for flat muffin tops are over-mixing the batter, not preheating the oven to the initial high temperature of 425°F, or opening the oven door too soon during the initial high-heat bake. Ensure your leavening agents (baking powder and soda) are fresh.
- Can I add nuts or fruit to these muffins? Absolutely! For an extra layer of flavor and texture, you can fold in ½ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the muffin batter. Small pieces of diced apple or blueberries could also be a delicious addition, but be mindful of adding too much moisture.
Ultra-Moist Coffee Cake Muffins with Oil
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Ingredients
For the crumb topping:
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1 cup all purpose flour, 120g -
½ cup brown sugar, 107g -
¼ cup sugar, 50g -
½ tsp cinnamon -
¼ tsp kosher salt -
½ cup butter, unsalted, cold, diced small.
For the muffins:
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2 ½ cups all purpose flour, 300g -
1 cup brown sugar, 218g -
2 tsp baking powder -
½ tsp baking soda -
1 tsp cinnamon -
½ tsp kosher salt -
4 large eggs -
1 cup vegetable oil -
¼ cup buttermilk -
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the glaze:
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½ cup confectioners sugar, 56g -
1 tbsp cream
Instructions
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Make the crumb topping. In a small bowl, combine the 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, ½ tsp cinnamon (adjust to ¼ tsp for a milder cinnamon flavor), and ¼ tsp kosher salt.
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Using a pastry cutter, or your fingertips, cut or pinch the ½ cup cold, diced butter into the dry mixture until small, pea-sized clumps are formed. Be careful not to overwork the butter. Place the bowl in the refrigerator to keep chilled while you prepare the muffin batter.
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Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, and ½ tsp kosher salt. Mix well to ensure all dry ingredients are thoroughly combined.
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In a separate medium-sized bowl, lightly beat the 4 large eggs. Then, add the 1 cup vegetable oil and mix until well combined. Stir in the ¼ cup buttermilk and 1 tsp vanilla extract until just incorporated.
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Pour the wet ingredients mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix gently with a spatula or wooden spoon only until just combined. A few lumps are fine; do not overmix, as this can lead to tough muffins. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
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Using a 3 tbsp ice cream scoop, divide the muffin batter evenly among the 12 lined muffin tin cups, filling each approximately ¾ of the way full. Generously top each muffin with the chilled crumb topping. It’s perfectly fine if the crumb topping slightly overflows the liners; it will bake beautifully into the muffins.
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Bake the muffins in the preheated 425°F (220°C) oven for the first 8 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C) and continue baking for another 12-14 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and rounded, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
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Once baked, remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. When the muffins are cool, prepare the glaze by combining the ½ cup confectioners’ sugar with 1 tbsp cream (add more cream a teaspoon at a time if needed, until desired drizzling consistency is reached). Drizzle the glaze generously over the cooled muffins.
Notes
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