Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donut Muffins – Part cinnamon-sugar donut hole, part mini-muffin, no matter what you call them, they’re fast and easy to make, and so tasty and pop-able. Because they’re baked rather than fried, I don’t feel guilty when I pop more than a couple.
I grew up eating fried mini donuts at fairs and carnivals and loved every greasy, cinnamon-sugary second.
These mini donut muffins are the next best thing.
I couldn’t decide if they were more like a donut hole or a mini muffin, so I’m calling them donut muffins.
They come together from start to finish in under 30 minutes. Having warm, fresh donut muffins for breakfast sure beats a bowl of cold cereal.
And yes, plan to eat muffins, plural. They’re tiny, but oh so pop-able. But because they’re baked rather than fried, I don’t feel too guilty when I’m popping away.
Four of these mini muffins are still smaller than 1 bakery-style coffee shop muffin. I’ve noticed that bakery and coffee shop muffins keep getting bigger and bigger, and they’re now about the size of a softball. These are about half the size of a golf ball.
If you don’t have mini muffin pans <–I love that pan, you can bake them in a standard-sized muffin pan
, or bake them as donuts
or mini donuts
and adjust baking times accordingly.
Buttermilk keeps them soft, light, tender, and fluffy. It also serves to add moisture, which is important because I find that mini muffins and baked donuts are prone to dryness, but the buttermilk protects against it.
No buttermilk? Cheat and make some with regular milk.
A hefty dose of cinnamon in the batter as well as in the cinnamon-sugar coating, makes for well-spiced muffins. The cinnamon is noticeable and distinct, but not overpowering. If you’re a cinnamon fiend and prefer to be over-powered, it’s easy to add more to taste.
I also added ground nutmeg because I find it rounds out flavors, especially cinnamon. It gives depth in a can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it kind of way.
They bake quickly, in just about 10 minutes. Because they’re small, they can go from raw to dried out and crisp in the span of about 90 seconds, so watch them closely.
Ten minutes with my two mini muffins pans was the magic number, but due to variance in pan size, oven, and climate, watch your muffins not the clock. If you’re baking them as full-size muffins, I’d estimate 17 to 20 minutes, but haven’t tested it.
After they bake, dip the tops in melted butter and then in cinnamon-sugar. The cinnamon-sugar coating is key. It adds so much extra cinnamony flavor and the sugar granules add donut hole authenticity.
I almost put them in a gallon-sized ziplock, and wanted to pour butter into the bag, then douse with cinnamon-sugar, and shake. But I used restraint and simply dipped the tops. Next time I’ll live dangerously and use the bag, butter, and shake method because it’s faster, and why say no to more butter and more cinnamon-sugar.
The flavor and the speed in which these little puffballs went from idea to reality to half a dozen in my belly makes them a total win.
Once you pop, you can’t stop.
This is my second mini food recipe this week.
It’s cute, it’s fun, and it clearly tastes better.
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Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donut Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 large egg
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Coating
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- For the Muffins – Preheat oven to 350F. Spray two 12-count mini muffin pans with floured cooking spray; set aside. (You can make as full-size muffins and will likely yield about 1 dozen; or make as donuts or mini donuts; adjusting baking times accordingly)
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and hand mixer), combine egg, butter, sugars, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed to cream ingredients until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the buttermilk. Beat momentarily to incorporate.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just incorporated; don’t overmix. Batter will be fairly thick.
- Using a spoon sprayed with cooking spray so the batter slides off easily, drop rounded tablespoons into prepared pans. Fill each cavity about 3/4-full. (I made 28 mini muffins and some were on the skimpy side. In order to keep the yield at an even 24 muffins, I recommend dividing batter equally among 24 wells)
- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes (mine took 10 minutes exactly), or until muffins are domed with set centers, are springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Because they’re small, they cook quickly and 1 minute can drastically effect taste; don’t overbake and watch them closely. Allow muffins to cool in the pans on top of a wire rack for about 10 minutes before removing. While the muffins cool, prepare the coating.
- For the Coating – In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power; set aside.
- In a separate small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
- After the muffins have cooled, dip each muffin top briefly in melted butter, then in cinnamon-sugar, and repeat until all muffins have been coated. Optionally, the entire muffin could be buttered and coated similar to traditional cinnamon-sugar donut holes, and in doing so, you’d need to melt more butter and use more cinnamon-sugar. Serve immediately. Donut Muffins are best fresh, but will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 4 days (noting that the cinnamon-sugar coating may liquify a bit), or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Thanks for the entries in the Peanut Butter Comfort and KitchenAid Handheld Blender Giveaway
What’s your favorite donut or muffin recipe? Mini food fan?
this is precisely the kind of thing I should not be eating right now but SO want to be!!
I have these little babies on my blog too! They are so crazy easy to make, my girls can do it! We love them for a quick sugary donut fix :)
These look delicious! I adore donut and love making my own, the flavours sound lovely.
These are the cutest ever. Love!!
OMG.
GIVE IT TO ME.
Love these! I’ve been wanting to make some little donut muffins. They’re so dang cute. Nice job, Averie!
These look soo good! I’ve been wanting to use my mini muffin pan so I might just make these! I love that these are baked- so much easier than frying!
So much easier and healthier! :)
Ok, I have so much to tell you girl! First off, these look amazing and I’m totally making them now that the kids are officially on summer vacation. I need them to first finish up the cinnamon and sugar donuts that I made up yesterday. I might even make those up and throw them into a muffin tin next time. Donuts can be tricky to make as you need the batter to be at the perfect height before cooking. If it’s too high, they look like a muffin. I also love your idea of throwing all the muffins in a ziploc and shaking it around. I might try that next time as it would save me time and mess.
OK, I received your beautiful cookbook and I absolutely love it and I’m so PROUD of you. I hear your voice in the book and your photographs are stunning! I also love the pics of Skylar. She is so stinking adorable and totally has your smile. Zoe wanted to tell you that she is super proud of you as well and that your recipes rock! So I quickly Instagramed the peanut butter cups that John and Zoe made up last night, check out your feed when you get a chance. John came home and grabbed your cookbook and was taken back by your peanut butter cups. He announced at dinner that he and Zoe were going to make some up. They were so easy Averie and so darn delicious. We made one with Nutella and peanut butter (my fave) and are going to try marshmallow fluff next. We also just used some chunky peanut butter that we had lying around, and I loved the texture. I seriously was always intimated by making peanut butter cups, but now with your cookbook, you took that intimidation away. I’m totally going onto Amazon and giving you a 5 star review. Next up, I’m making your homemade peanut butter. Ok, girl! So sorry for this LONG comment, but I had so much to say and you are the best at what you do, so keep it coming! xoxo, Jackie :)
Wow, what an amazing comment and I am just so happy about all of it! That you got the book, love it, already made!! something from it, and that your hubs and daughter are also excited about it. Thank you so much for telling me – makes me happy to know it’s a family affair and you’re all into your PB goodies and making things! Nutella & PB Cups sound wonderful!
And between my IG, Twitter, FB, blog, it’s been insane this week. I’ll check my feed later and try to catch up. Thanks for IGing it! And major!!! thanks in advance for the review. That would be so sweet of you!
LMK what else you make!!! xoxo
Those look awesome! Great recipe, wouldn’t mind trying these :)
No spam today! Excellent! :)
I made some donut muffins a few years ago and I employed the shake method, without butter. If you do it when they are only partially cooled, the steam from adding them into the ziplock kind of liquifies the sugar, but not all the way. Just enough that they cinnamon sugar mix sticks to the donut muffins.
Sadly, I lost my min-muffin pan in the move. I need to get a new one stat.
The shake-it method is what I do if I’m not taking pics :) And the next day, after being sealed in a ziplock, the moisture sort of melts the sugar, so I sometimes add a little more cinn-sugar. More is merrier :)
Cinnamon sugar doughnut holes are definitely one of the only types of doughnuts I enjoy. I’m sure that’s no surprise, since it’s all about the cinnamon for me!! :) I love that these are mini muffins–adorable.
I know, I love the cinnamon too!
Clearly, I need to buy myself a mini muffin pan!
If you can’t decide if they’re more like donut holes or mini muffins, well that is a great problem to have! :) These look delicious, Averie, and oh so cute!!
These are so heavenly Averie!
I think i figured out what’s for breakfast this weekend….
Perfect, bcz I always have buttermilk in the fridge for special occasions like this! And the perfect size treat, no less! Course, you know we just can’t stop at one little donut muffin! How scrumptious….
I always have buttermilk on hand lately. You just never know. A little TJs quart will last forever and it’s $1.79 of insurance to always keep on hand :)