Brushed with vegan butter and then topped with the perfect touch of sugar and spice, these yummy moist Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Muffins are OMG good! Also, super quick and easy to make, you are sure to be wowed with flavor from this simple recipe.
Have you ever made a recipe that is just a few basic ingredients, but turns out to be one of the best things you've ever tasted!?! Well, this recipe for these muffins is the perfect example of that.
The base of the recipe comes from a basic muffin recipe that I work from all the time. But one day I decided to try to improve upon it. Yet, after I was done I looked at all of the leftover plain muffins laying around and thought what am I going to do with all of these? Then it occured to me! Brush them with melted butter and top them with cinnamon and sugar of course! And that my friends is how these buttery, moist, perfectly spiced Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Muffins came to be.
I even think I love this muffin recipe as much as my Vegan Blueberry Muffin recipe. That is saying a lot! These muffins are just so yummy and great for breakfast, as a snack, or a sweet treat.
Jump to:
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour- I have not tried this recipe with gluten-free flour. If you do make sure to use a 1-to-1 version that has xanthan gum in it.
- Cornstarch- The cornstarch turns the all-purpose flour into cake flour and adds a little extra binder to the batter creating a better crumb. You can use arrowroot powder if you prefer.
- Sugar- Cane sugar will work as well. But I advise against subbing brown sugar because it will change how the recipe turns out as it creates more moisture.
- Baking Powder- Gives the muffins rise.
- Baking Soda- Gives the muffins even more rise when it reacts with the apple cider vinegar used in the recipe.
- Sea Salt- I used sea salt, but fine grain kosher salt works too. I advise against using himalayan pink salt in baking because it does not fully dissolve as well in the batter. It is better used as a finishing salt.
- Neutral Oil- Use an oil that has little to no flavor like canola, safflower, or sunflower. Using coconut oil or avocado oil will change the flavor.
- Almond Milk- Any type of unsweetened plant based milk will work. In fact, even water will work, but the muffins would lack some flavor with using water.
- Apple Cider Vinegar- Reacts with the baking soda to create a beautiful dome on the muffins. Don't worry you can't taste it at all.
- Vanilla Extract- Aids in bringing out all the flavors.
- Cinnamon- I used Vietnamese ground cinnamon. Also called Saigon cinnamon. It has the most amazing flavor.
- Vegan Butter- I used Earth Balance but any vegan butter will work. If your butter doesn't have salt in it you will need to add a dash of salt to the cinnamon and sugar mix.
How to Make Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
This recipe is super easy and produces ready to eat muffins in about 30 minutes!
To start, you preheat your oven to 375° fahrenheit. Then prepare your muffin tin by lining it with 10 paper liners or greasing it and dusting with flour.
Next, you get your topping ready by mixing 3 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small dish. You will use this mixture in a later step, so for now just set it aside.
For the muffin batter, you sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Then add the sugar and whisk all the dry ingredients together. In a different medium sized bowl you will mix the almond milk, oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract. Now, make a well in the flour mixture and then pour the liquid ingredients into the well folding in just until the batter is moistened. Make sure to incorporate all the flour, but be careful not to overmix.
Now that the batter is ready, pour it into the tin evenly into 10 muffins. Then bake the muffins for 20 to 23 minutes until they are just starting to brown and a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. The finished muffins will still be quite pale but baked. Allow the muffins to cool for about 5 minutes in the tin before placing them on a cooling rack.
While the muffins are cooling, you melt the vegan butter. Then take that melted butter and brush it on top of a muffin. Now, take that same muffin and spoon the cinnamon and sugar mixture over it until fully covered. Just shake the excess spice mixture back into the bowl. You then set the topped muffin on a cooling rack and continue topping the other muffins. You want to do the muffins one at a time so the butter does not have time to soak into the muffins before you add the cinnamon sugar topping.
And there you have it! Simple, buttery, deliciously spiced vegan cinnamon sugar muffins that you won't be able to stop eating.
Storage
These muffins will keep for about 5 days at room temperature when covered or for up to 4 months in the freezer when stored in an airtight container. If you do decide to freeze them allow them to defrost at room temperature.
Top Tip
Measure your ingredients accurately and use a digital scale for the dry ingredients. Baking is all about science. You will have both better and more consistent results. Not to mention I keep trying to tell people that weighing flour and sugar makes a lot less mess!
But don't worry if you don't have a scale. Here is my favorite video on how to measure flour the right way!
You will love this recipe for Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Muffins because they are...
- Cinnamon and sugar perfection
- Buttery and moist
- Quick and easy
- Fun to make with kids
If you try this recipe please let me know how it turns out by leaving a comment and rating. You can also hashtag #danceswithknives with a photo of your creation on Instagram where you can find me @dances_with_knives.
More Vegan Baking Recipes
- Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Crumble
- Vegan Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cake with Almonds
- Vegan Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Easy Vegan Double Chocolate Muffins
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Easy Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams)
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder (I used cornstarch)
- ¾ cup sugar (150 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup neutral oil (canola, safflower, or sunflower)
- ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375° fahrenheit. Then line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or grease and dust with flour.
- Mix 3 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a small bowl. Then set aside for later. This will be your topping.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Then add the sugar and use a whisk to mix all the dry ingredients together.
- In a different medium sized bowl, combine the almond milk, oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract. Now, make a well in the dry ingredients and add the almond milk mixture folding just until all the flour is moistened. Do not overmix. You do not want any lumps or sight of raw flour, but do not beat the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly to make 10 muffins into the prepared tin.
- Bake at 375° fahrenheit for 20 to 23 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. The muffins will be just starting to brown. These muffins are still fairly pale when done. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing from the tin and setting them on a cooling rack.
- Now, melt the vegan butter in a small saucepan or the microwave.
- Brush each muffin with the melted butter using a pastry brush and then use a spoon to cover the muffin with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Just shake the excess cinnamon and sugar right back into the bowl. Do each muffin one at a time. You don't want the butter to fully soak in before you add the spice topping. You can also just dip the the muffins into the butter and then into the spice mix, but I found brushing with the vegan butter and spooning the spice mix over the muffins worked better.
- Store the muffins covered at room temperature for about 5 days or put them in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 4 months.
Zory P says
This is a great recipe. Definitely the best vegan muffin recipe I’ve tried. I did use whole wheat pastry flour because I had run out of all purpose flour and I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients. Also, I chose to use turbinado sugar with the cinnamon for the topping, it gave the muffin a super nice crunch. The entire muffin texture was perfect. Thanks for this recipe.
Kim @ DancesWithKnives says
Hi Zory! So glad you enjoyed this muffin recipe. Extra cinnamon is always a lovely addition! Thanks for the rating and review! I really appreciate reader feedback.
Ali says
Delicious! These came out light and fluffy, not too sweet. The crunch on top, mmmmm! Had all the ingredients on hand for an impromptu treat on a snowy morning.
Kim @ DancesWithKnives says
Hi Ali,
Fantastic! These are one my favorites. So simple, but so good!
MaryPat Weatherl says
These were extremely good! I made them gluten free with a mix I make up myself and they turned out beautifully!! I added cinnamon to the batter because I love it so much. The next day they tasted like cinnamon doughnut holes. So yummy!
Kim @ DancesWithKnives says
Awesome! So glad to hear they worked for you with gluten-free flour! Thanks for letting me know. Appreciate the feedback. 🙂
Siara says
When I made this, I got more of a biscuit dough than a muffin batter. They still tasted delicious but any insight on why that happened? Thanks!
Kim @ DancesWithKnives says
Hi Siara,
Hmmmm... Odd I have been using this recipe for years. So muffin batter does tend to be thicker than say cake batter, but not thick like biscuits. The only thing I can think of is that you used too much flour. So I did a test today since I last replied to you to double check. Hence the edit here. And it came out like it always does for me. Beautiful yummy muffins.
Did you use a scale to weigh the flour or use the sifted flour method to get 2 cups? Before I went to culinary school for years I had be measuring flour completely wrong and coming out with dry baked goods. A sifted cup of flour can literally weigh up to 30 grams less than a packed cup of flour. It's why I include the weight of dry ingredients in my baking recipes. So that is one thing that may have happened. But if you weighed your flour or even used the sifting method the only other thing that could impact the texture of the dough is the order in which you mixed the ingredients. I hope this helps! I'm glad they tasted great even if the batter turned out a tad thick. Thanks for the feedback. It means a lot when readers reach out.
Shelley says
Yummy! I put about a teaspoon, or more in the batter. Love cinnamon. They were so good. Will definitely make again!
Kim @ DancesWithKnives says
Nice! So glad you liked them. The cinnamon addition is a great idea!