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Cinnamon Sugar Cream Cheese Muffins

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5 from 1 review

Sugar, spice, and everything nice. These muffins are soft, moist, scented with cinnamon and vanilla, and stuffed with tangy cream cheese. After baking they are brushed with vanilla butter and rolled in cinnamon vanilla sugar. They are the perfect way to ease into the Fall season.

  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 12 regular muffins or 24 mini muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3/4 cup milk (I use whole milk but use any milk you prefer)
  • 1/2 cup (1 standard stick or 4 ounces) butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

For the filling:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into 12 pieces for regular muffins or 24 pieces for mini muffins

For the topping:

  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean powder (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons butter (1 ounce), melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Prepare a 12-count muffin pan (24 if making mini muffins) with liners, or a generous spray of nonstick baking spray.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl or large glass measuring cup, mix together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Give it a really good whisk to break up the eggs.
  5. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until just combined. Don't overmix. The secret to the best muffins is to have a really ugly, shaggy, barely mixed batter.
  6. Fill muffin cups half way, add a piece of cream cheese and really press it down into the batter. Fill the rest of the way with batter. I use a leveled two tablespoon cookie scoop for the first layer of batter and again for the second layer of batter.
  7. Bake in preheated oven: 22-25 minutes for large muffins, 18-20 minutes for mini. I've found these times to be reliable, but if you want to check with a toothpick, make sure you avoid the cream cheese. You want to see a few moist crumbs, not any wet batter. Another way to check is to just press the muffin top lightly with your finger. It should feel firm and not leave an indentation.
  8. Once baked, remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer muffins to cooling racks.
  9. Combine melted butter and vanilla extract for topping. Stir together remaining topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
  10. Brush each muffin top with melted butter mixture and roll in cinnamon vanilla sugar mixture. If you didn't use liners you can brush the entire muffin and roll the whole thing in the sugar mixture but you may need to double the topping ingredients.

Notes

Feel free to use a smaller amount of cream cheese or to leave it out all together. 

A neutral oil can be used in place of the butter.

Find it online: https://wildthistlekitchen.com/cinnamon-sugar-cream-cheese-muffins/