Why spend hours making cinnamon rolls when you can make them in muffin form? This Cooking Light cinnamon roll muffin recipe will make you think you’re eating a real cinnamon roll!
My family and I were in Colorado last month for a quick vacation before school started. While we were there, I received a text message from my friend E. Since she knows that I am a muffin fiend, she immediately thought of me when she saw this recipe in Cooking Light.
I bookmarked the recipe and vowed to bake it upon our return and made true on my promise. I loved the idea of cinnamon roll muffins. My family and I go crazy for cinnamon rolls but they take some commitment to make. These do not require any yeast, rolling or slicing so they’re super easy.
A few things to note about this recipe… the muffin wells will look only about half full since there isn’t much batter or filling to start with. I was super worried about short, dense muffins, but they puffed up nicely while baking in the oven. They’ll create a flat muffin top, which you can decorate with some drizzle.
Also, these were a tad on the dry side for me, so I’d recommend upping the buttermilk or adding a few additional teaspoons of oil or applesauce to the muffin batter. They will start to dry out after the first day so these are best enjoyed on the same day.
Thank you, E, for finding this cinnamon roll muffin recipe and sending it to me. If you all have any recipes you’d like to see me tackle, please send them along!
Cinnamon roll muffins
Ingredients
Filling
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons low-fat buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons butter melted
Muffins
- 2 cups white whole-wheat flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Generously grease a standard muffin pan and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix all the filling ingredients together. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda together.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, mix the buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs together on medium speed until well incorporated. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
- Place about 1 Tablespoon of the batter in the bottom of each muffin well. You may want to use the bottom of a spoon to spread it out. Evenly distribute the filling and add it to each muffin. Top with the remaining batter. You can try to spread the batter out to cover most of the filling.
- The muffin wells will look only about halfway full, but they will puff up in the oven. Bake in your preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool before serving (although warm muffins are always awesome). If desired, you can create a glaze to drizzle on top. I used about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar with about 1 teaspoon or so of milk and used a fork to decorate the tops.