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Monday, August 18, 2025

Mini cinnamon muffins – RecipeTin Eats


I swear, these Mini Cinnamon Muffins taste just like doughnuts! Except, well, you know. They’re baked, not deep fried. 🙂 And the inside is plusher and more buttery. I challenge you to stop at one!

Mini cinnamon muffins – RecipeTin Eats

Mini cinnamon muffins

These mini cinnamon muffins are an easy, bake-now treat made with pantry staples – butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and cinnamon. No store runs for buttermilk, no overpriced out-of-season blueberries, no frustration because someone’s raided the chocolate chips!

I made them mini rather than regular muffin size for extra cute factor (think – popping in your mouth) and you’ll love how plush the crumb is. Noticeably softer and more delicate than regular muffins.

Honestly, these little bites of joy taste just like mini cinnamon doughnuts and will vanish by the handful! Make them for breakfast, lunchboxes, afternoon tea… or simply when you need a bit of mini muffin happiness. Which is – always, no?😃

Mini cinnamon muffins

Proof of extra plush soft crumb

Here’s a close up of the inside. Notice how the crumb looks more like soft Vanilla Cupcakes – tighter with smaller holes – rather than regular muffins which tend to have larger more irregular holes and are not quite as soft inside. This extra plush crumb is borrowed from Madeleines, the little French butter cakes. Apparently the French know a thing or two about baking….?. 😉

Mini cinnamon muffins
Mini cinnamon muffins

Ingredients in Mini Cinnamon Muffins

Here’s what you need to make these. Tell me you have everything you need! 🙂

  • Flour – Just plain / all-purpose flour. Wholemeal flour can be used but will make the crumb less soft and it will probably puff up a bit more because the batter will be a bit thicker.

  • Caster sugar (superfine sugar) – Used in two ways: some goes into the batter, and the rest for coating the mini muffins. While regular granulated sugar can be substituted in the batter, you’ll need the finer caster sugar for the coating so it sticks (the regular sugar grains are too large).

  • Baking powder – The leavening agent that makes these mini muffins rise. You can substitute the flour plus baking powder with self raising flour, but the crumb won’t be as soft and it won’t rise as much, simply because the built in baking powder is not as fresh.

    Check – If your baking powder has been hiding in your cupboard unused for months, check it’s still active!

  • Eggs – Large eggs – which are sold in cartons labelled “large eggs”, 600 – 660g for a dozen (21-23 oz) or 50 – 55g each in shell (~2oz). Don’t need to be pedantic about exact size in this recipe, just don’t use say, giant ostrich eggs. 🙂 If you’ve only got mega eggs, use the conversion here to figure out how much to use in this recipe.

    Best at room temperature but will still work if they’re fridge cold in this recipe (give it an extra vigorous whisk with the sugar before adding everything else).

  • Unsalted butter – For beautiful buttery flavour! I rarely use butter as the dominant oil in muffins as they tend to dry the crumb out. But for these muffins, it doesn’t – thanks to the different order in which the ingredients are mixed into the batter. The French are so clever!

    I almost always used unsalted butter so I can control the amount of salt in recipes, bearing in mind that the amount of salt in salted butter varies from brand to brand.

  • Oil (tiny amount) – Any neutral flavoured oil (vegetable, canola, grapeseed). Just 2 teaspoons improves the shelf life of these muffins. The general rule of thumb with fat in baked goods is – butter adds flavour, oil keeps things moist – because oil stays liquid at room temperature.

  • Milk – This is to loosen the batter a little bit, rather than using more oil (too greasy, weighs it down).

  • Vanilla – Extract rather than artificial essence, which is imitation so doesn’t taste as good.

  • Salt – Standard baking practice these days, to bring out the flavours.

  • Oil spray – For easy greasing of the many little holes of mini muffin tins. If you don’t have oil spray, brush with plain oil. I know it’s tempting to use butter, but it’s not as good for ensuring it doesn’t get stuck – as I found out myself first hand – because butter is ~15% water.

How to make Mini Cinnamon Muffins

Note to experienced bakers: the batter is looser than regular muffin batters, and the order in which ingredients are added isn’t typical for Western muffins because, as mentioned above, this recipe borrows from French Madeleines. And that is why they are softer and more plush inside compared to regular muffins!

  1. Wet – Whisk the egg and sugar vigorously using a handheld whisk for 20 seconds until it becomes pale yellow. Then add the oil, vanilla, milk and whisk to incorporate.

  2. Dry – Whisk the dry ingredients in a medium bowl (flour, baking powder and salt) then gently whisk into the egg mixture in two batches (ie add half, whisk, add rest, whisk).

  1. Add butter last – Lastly, gently whisk in the butter until it’s incorporated.

  2. Batter thickness – You have a smooth, fairly loose batter than can be poured rather than scooped like in a mound like ice cream into the muffin tin. When you fill the muffin tin, the surface should level out.

    Is yours a little thicker? That’s ok! It will still work, your muffins will mound a bit more, it’s not a big deal. Thicker batters can happen because your eggs or milk were not at room temperature (cold liquids make stiffer batters).

  1. Fill – Grease the muffin tin with oil spray generously. Doing it immediately prior helps the muffins release easily – don’t do this ahead and don’t grease with butter (it’s ~15% water!). Fill the holes 3/4 full. If you do too much, they will overflow and will not rise as much as they could. If you have a little leftover batter, use a paper liner in a regular muffin tin and bake it on the floor of the oven (this way it won’t get in the way of the heat circulation of the mini muffin tin.

  2. Bake for 12 minutes at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced) until the mini muffins on the outer edge have golden tops, the ones in the middle are pale golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, no raw batter.

  1. Bang out – Leave in the muffin tin for 2 minutes, then invert and bang out the mini muffins. They’re too fragile to pick out one by one.

  2. Coat in cinnamon sugar – As soon as they’re cool enough to handle, toss the muffins in cinnamon sugar to coat all over. The sugar clings best to the tops while hot, but it sticks to the sides and base just as well whether warm or cooled. If you are having trouble getting the sugar to stick to the top, brush lightly with melted butter.

Mini cinnamon muffins

Pile the Mini Cinnamon Muffins into bowls and serve right away. They’re at their absolute best warm, but still taste wonderful for a couple of hours after baking, even without reheating.

For the next day – and the one after – I can’t stress enough how much better they are lightly warmed! Just 20 seconds in the microwave makes them extra soft and brings out their gorgeous buttery flavour.

And once again, impossible to stop popping in your mouth, one by one, until – gasp, shock, horror – who ate all the Cinnamon Muffs??!!! – Nagi x

Mini cinnamon muffins FAQ


Watch how to make it

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Mini cinnamon muffins

Mini Cinnamon Muffins

Servings24 mini muffins

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above. These are way too easy to keep popping in your mouth. They taste like cinnamon doughnuts! Except, baked, not fried 🙂 And the inside is more plush and buttery because the recipe is based on French Madeleines. How did I never do that before – it’s too good and too easy not to adapt for other recipes!I make these mini because the batter works best for small little cakes – and also, so cute! But you can totally use a regular muffin tin, see Note 3.

Prevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

ABBREVIATED:

  • Whisk flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar vigorously, then oil, milk and vanilla. Add flour in 2 batches, then butter. Spray mini muffin tin, fill 3/4 full, bake 12 min at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), bang out then toss in cinnamon sugar.

FULL RECIPE:

  • Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). (Don’t grease the muffin tin yet)

  • Cinnamon Sugar – Mix the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

  • Dry ingredients – Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

  • Wet ingredients – In a separate medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar vigorously for 20 seconds until pale yellow. Add oil, milk and vanilla and whisk again.

  • Finish batter – Add half the flour, gently whisk in, then whisk in the remaining flour. Gently whisk in the butter until incorporated. Set aside while you prepare the muffin tin.

  • Spray and bake – Generously spray a 24 hole mini muffin tin with oil. (Note 3) Fill each 3/4 full with batter (don’t be greedy and overfill, they will not rise as they should!). A small cookie scoop with lever is handy, or a jug or piping bag.

  • Bake 12 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes then invert and assertively bang the pan edge on a work surface to knock the muffins out of the tin. (Don’t try to pry out, they will break)

  • Toss in cinnamon sugar while warm (sticks better) then serve immediately!

Recipe Notes:

1. Flour – Self raising flour can be used in place of the plain flour and baking powder, it should rise just as well though the crumb probably won’t be quite as soft. Wholemeal flour is not recommended, and I haven’t tried with GF flour.
2. Sugar – You can use regular sugar in the batter but for the coating, it needs to be caster sugar / superfine sugar so it is fine enough to stick to the muffins.
3. Muffin tin sizeIf you don’t have a mini muffin tin, divide the batter between 12 regular muffin tin holes (14-15 min bake) to make flatter-than-usual muffin “discs”. Not only do you get a better cinnamon-sugar-to-cake ratio, the batter is not suitable for making full size muffins (doesn’t rise as much as I’d like).
LEFTOVERS will keep for 3 days, At their prime freshly made, if they cool down just rewarm in microwave for 20 seconds because they are sooooo good when warm! (That’s for whole bowl of them, if it’s just one, it only takes 5 sec). Freezable 3 months.
Nutrition per mini muffin, assuming half the cinnamon sugar is used.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 65cal (3%)Carbohydrates: 8g (3%)Protein: 1g (2%)Fat: 3g (5%)Saturated Fat: 2g (13%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 21mg (7%)Sodium: 18mg (1%)Potassium: 34mg (1%)Fiber: 0.1gSugar: 5g (6%)Vitamin A: 100IU (2%)Vitamin C: 0.003mgCalcium: 15mg (2%)Iron: 0.3mg (2%)

Life of Dozer

Mr Dozer has had a rough week. 😢 We’ve had a fair few visits to the vet – four in five days (!) – to try to figure out what was wrong with him. He was extremely weak, barely able to walk, and showing signs of extreme nausea but was not bringing anything up, and the rear end was business as usual. He was hit with frequent “gulping” episodes, and he’d look at me with panicked “help me” eyes.

The vet was a bit stumped, so he was subjected to a series of tests, from bloods to X-rays to ultrasounds to try to figure it out, with some worrying possibilities mentioned.

Then all of a sudden on Day 5 it transformed into acute gastro. We are talking, explosive. We are talking – battening down the hatches to prepare the house for the inevitable storm that is Dozer going through mega-gastro. Waterproof floor coverings “everywhere”, cordoning off “Dozer-proof” areas. Rubber gloves. Carpet cleaner. Industrial laundry liquid. Baby wipes galore. Freaking out if Dozer parks himself anywhere in the house not protected.

Even – adult nappies. 😂 I had a thought that I could cut a tail hole. It didn’t work. 😂 It wouldn’t stay on, and he was so unhappy during the fitting sessions when I was deep in the design phase, I decided he’d been through enough and scrapped it.

IF YOU KNEW WHAT I HAD DEALT WITH AT 11 PM, 1 AM AND 3 AM YOU WOULD NOT MOCK ME FOR TRYING THIS!!

BTW, there are actually such things as dog nappies apparently, but I needed an immediate solution!

Anyway, he is home, minus a good chunk of fur on his rear end and belly, and based on where things are at there’s a few days to go yet. But it’s a relief to know what the problem is, and he’s definitely not in as much discomfort has he was a few days ago!

I am also pleased to report that through all of this, he didn’t lose his appetite at all. Even when he was so weak he couldn’t stand long enough to eat all the food in his bowl, his legs shaking and near collapse, relying on me to hold him up, when his nausea was at his worst and he was barely sleeping because of the constant gulping – he ate his way through the entire ordeal.

Atta boy. 🥰



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