Downtown Bakery and Creamery’s Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

I was watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate- Snacks and the owner of Sprinkles Cupcakes, Candace Nelson, said her favorite snack was the donut muffins at Downtown Bakery and Creamery.  They looked amazing!  Besides, I figured if she would eat these muffins instead of her own cupcakes, they must be fabulous. I remembered saving a recipe awhile back for cinnamon donut muffins and that it was from some bakery.  I found the recipe and sure enough, it was written by the owner of Downtown Bakery and Creamery!  These are supposed to be giant muffins, but I read the reviews and most people suggested they be made mini to increase the cinnamon sugar to cake ratio (brilliant!) and because they are so rich.  The cupcakes bake up tall with a crust on the outside and they are fluffy and tender on the inside.  While they are still hot, you brush them all over with melted butter and roll them in cinnamon sugar.  Does breakfast get much better than that? I’m gonna go ahead and say no. 😀

Downtown Bakery and Creamery’s Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins

Yield: 24 standard size muffins  (52-56 mini muffins)

For the muffins:
12 oz. (24 Tbs.) unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature
1-3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 lb. 11 oz. (6 cups) all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1-2/3 cups milk
1/4 cup buttermilk

For dipping:
8 oz. (16 Tbs.) unsalted butter; more as needed
2 cups sugar
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. In a stand mixer or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Combine the milk and buttermilk. With a wooden spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don’t overmix. The batter is very thick.  Grease and flour a standard-size muffin tin. Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. (A #16 ice-cream scoop gives you the perfect amount.) Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, 30 to 35 minutes.

Melt the butter for the dipping mixture. Combine the sugar and cinnamon. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter (I recommend the brush method- I did both and found that the dip method lead to them absorbing too much butter and got greasy).  Then roll them- top, bottom, and sides- in the cinnamon sugar.

Make ahead: You don’t have to bake all the muffins right away; the batter will keep, covered and chilled, for up to three days in the refrigerator.

Mini muffins:  I baked mine in a mini muffin tin. I made a half recipe and got 28 mini muffins.  They took about 18 minutes to bake, but I would start checking at about 14 minutes.

Source:Fine Cooking

Helpful Hints:

• Cinnamon sugar is delicious, but powdered sugar, plain sugar, or vanilla sugar would be delicious too.
• Do not overmix, or you will not get fluffy, tender muffins.
• I added a splash of vanilla to the batter, as I can’t imagine any baked good without it 😀

Posted by Just Baked on February 6, 2012

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