Serving Up {Muffins}: Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Our family has muffins nearly every Sunday.  Couple our muffin frequency with my love of anything cinnamon and frosted and it should come as no surprise that we have tried Cinnamon Roll Muffins.  In fact, we have tried a number of Cinnamon Roll Muffin recipes.  There is one recipe in particular that seems to pop up frequently on blogs and/or pinterest (like here) that we tried, and while it did taste like cinnamon rolls, it requires the process of rolling out the dough, spreading a topping over the dough and then rolling the dough into a log.....etc.  Well, if I wanted to go through all of that I would just make the real deal cinnamon rolls and skip muffins altogether.

This recipe is not as pretty and it doesn't look like cute little miniature cinnamon rolls, but it has got the taste down!  It helps that the recipe calls for yeast, which I think adds a sweetness that makes the finished product taste more authentic.  But there is no kneading, no rolling pins, no floury mess to clean up.  You fill the muffin tins (I used paper lines, but would suggest just greasing the muffin tins and skipping the paper lines for this recipe), you sprinkle the topping mixture, you swirl the topping mixture and you bake.  Then you enjoy the smell of cinnamon goodness and giggle an evil laugh knowing your cinnamon roll fix only took 10 minutes from start to oven!  It doesn't get any better than that!

CINNAMON ROLL MUFFINS     Pin It
(recipe from Amandeleine)
printable version

Dough
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg

Filling/Topping
2 Tbs. butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp.cinnamon

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 oz. softened cream cheese
1-2 Tbs. milk or cream

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.  Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk, then stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg into the flour mixture. Mix well, until very smooth. Let rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, mix together butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl using a fork until all the butter has been incorporated into the sugar and mixture is crumbly.

Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. Sprinkle the topping over the dough mixture and press the  swirl slightly with a knife.

Place the muffin pan into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, until bread is lightly browned at the edges and the center of the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Some of the sugar mixture on top may still be bubbling.

Cool for at least 30 minutes before whisking the powdered sugar, milk and cream cheese together to form an icing and drizzling it onto the bread.  Serve immediately.