If you’re a fan of coffee cake, then you will adore these coffee cake muffins. They are soft and full of cinnamon flavor and topped with a generous amount of streusel. Then they are finished off with a delightful glaze!
My 9-year old daughter is a funny little thing. While she loves all the homemade food we create, she hates the time it takes to prepare. In her words, it takes time away from playing together.
On Sunday mornings, my husband usually goes to exercise while Addie and I are at home. During this time, I usually prep for brunch or make breakfasts for the week (typically in the form of muffins or quick breads). My daughter was complaining one Sunday morning about how she wanted me to play with her.
The guilt trip worked, but I also slyly invited her to come help me in the kitchen. I told her that I was baking coffee cake muffins, and that I needed help taste testing the streusel once it came out of the oven. She happily obliged. When I told her that we needed to make a glaze for the top, she was all in. I added all the ingredients for the glaze to the bowl, and she happily stirred everything together.
Once we were done, we drizzled some glaze on top of each muffin. She got to lick the spatula, of course. Later that afternoon, she and my husband were snacking on a muffin, and they told me, “Mom – these muffins taste weird. What did you put in them?”
Those jokesters were only kidding of course, and they said that these muffins were fantastic. Thankfully, my daughter did not complain the rest of the morning about not being able to play together. Spending time in the kitchen was sufficient, and I’m happy she saw that as play time.
The three of us really enjoyed the muffins. They had a soft, tender crumb and a great cinnamon flavor. Of course, my favorite part was the streusel. Man, I could eat that stuff all day!
Coffee cake muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk of choice
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 large eggs
Streusel topping
- ⅙ cup granulated sugar
- ⅙ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ stick (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter melted
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
Glaze
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon milk
Instructions
Make the muffins
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Generously grease or line a standard muffin pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the milk, applesauce and eggs together until well blended. Transfer this to the large bowl and mix until everything just comes together. Do not over mix.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared baking pan, filling each well about ¾ full.
Make the streusel topping
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Add in the melted butter and mix well. Fold in the flour until the mixture resembles wet sand and you get some pea-sized clumps.
- Add a spoonful of streusel on top of each muffin.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The muffins should be nicely browned on top. Allow them to cool completely.
Make the glaze
- Meanwhile, make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk together in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze on top of the cooled muffins and allow to set.