Cinnamon Roll Muffins

For me, Easter is in fierce competition against Christmas in the Favorite Holiday Contest. I mean, what’s not to love? It’s spring, there’s an abundance of chocolate and it usually involves breakfast or brunch. In my family, we like to gather around the table to enjoy the traditional ham or a stack of crepes. And since we’re Canadian, you better believe we drench everything in maple syrup. We also like to make cinnamon rolls. Not necessarily for the Easter meal per say, but sometimes to eat at breakfast, especially when we have family sleeping over. My mother-in-law makes incredible cinnamon rolls for the Easter brunch, as well. Me, however, I haven’t quite mastered the art of baking these fluffy and sweet buns. What if the dough doesn’t rise? What if I can’t make Pinterest-perfect rolls? What if something goes wrong and my cinnamon buns turn into hard cinnamon rocks? But despite everything, I still adore cinnamon rolls, and I love how they make your entire kitchen smell good. I just have to enjoy them whenever somebody else bakes them.

This year, as we are fast approaching Easter, I was trying to find a way to incorporate cinnamon rolls into a recipe, one that would be easy and almost foolproof. I’m proud to say that this might be the best recipe I’ve ever created. These muffins have the fluffy texture of cinnamon rolls and are topped with a cinnamon crumble and icing. Just like a real cinnamon roll, they are just as good warm or at room temperature. For me, these are a new Easter staple.

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Fluffy muffins mixed with a cinnamon crumble, topped with icing and that same sweet, crunchy crumble.

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Ingredients:
Crumble

• 3 tbs butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 7 tbs flour

Dough

• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing

• 6 tbs powdered sugar
• 4 tsp milk
  

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1. Preheat over to 375˚F and prepare muffin tins.
2. To make the crumble, mix together the ingredients (butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and flour), using your fingers to create a crumbly texture.
3. In a large bowl, toss together the flour, sugar and baking powder. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, milk and vanilla extract.
   
5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in. Using a wooden spoon, mix until just combined.
6. Add half of the filling and blend roughly into the dough.
7. Pour into muffin tins. Sprinkle some of the remaining crumble on top of each muffin.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
9. Once the muffins are out of the oven, let them cool completely.
10. Once the muffins are cooled, mix together the powdered sugar and the milk to make the icing. Using a spoon, drizzle icing on each muffin.
11. Let the icing set for a couple minutes.
12. Enjoy on Easter morning!

Extra tips:

• Using your fingers to make the crumble is key. The warmth of your fingers will help soften the butter and it’ll be much quicker.
• When combining the dry and the wet ingredients, avoid mixing too much. Muffin batter is very fragile and over-mixing would result in rock-hard muffins. Since you’re going to blend again later on, after adding the crumble, simply toss the ingredients together at this point.
  
• For the icing, I find that it’s easier to do it in two batches; first mix 3 tbs of powdered sugar and 2 tsp of milk, and drizzle on the muffins. The first layer of icing will most likely be absorbed by the muffins. Then, once more, mix 3 tbs of powdered sugar and 2 tsp milk, and drizzle on top of the first layer.
  

These muffins are so much easier than making actual cinnamon rolls, and they are equally delicious. I think they are the perfect addition to an Easter brunch table or to keep in a cake stand in case you have visitors sleeping over.

If you end up recreating this recipe, don’t forget to use the hashtag #teaandmascara so that I can see your pictures.

Happy baking!

Much love,
-TM-