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Cinnamon sugar muffins with high domed tops and a crackled sugary crust

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Tall, bakery-style muffins with high domed tops, golden-brown edges, and a crisp cinnamon-sugar crust over a pale, fluffy, tender crumb. A short rest lets the batter hydrate fully before it goes into the oven, and starting the bake at a high temperature before dropping it is what pushes the tops up into a real dome instead of a flatter, more even rise. A generous cinnamon-sugar coating over each muffin bakes into a lightly crackled, sugary cap rather than sinking into the batter.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 12
Course: Baking, Muffins
Cuisine: American
Calories: 330
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping
  • 90 g granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
For the Muffin Batter
  • 300 g all-purpose flour
  • 170 g granulated sugar
  • 2½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp fine salt
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 180 g sour cream room temperature
  • 120 ml whole milk room temperature
  • 115 g unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
  • 60 ml neutral oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method
 

Prepare the Pan and Oven
  1. Heat the oven to 220°C / 425°F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with parchment tulip liners or standard muffin liners. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the topping in a small bowl and set aside.
Mix the Dry Ingredients
  1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until evenly combined.
Mix the Wet Ingredients
  1. Whisk together the eggs, sour cream, milk, melted butter, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl or large measuring jug until smooth and fully combined.
Make the Batter
  1. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold gently with a spatula just until no dry flour remains. The batter should be thick and scoopable, not thin or runny; a few small lumps are fine, and overmixing here costs height and makes the muffins tougher. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes, which helps hydrate the flour and supports a higher dome.
Fill and Top the Muffins
  1. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 85 to 90% full for tall, bakery-style tops. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar topping generously over each muffin, using all of it, so the tops end up well coated and bake into a lightly crisp, sugary crust.
Bake
  1. Bake at 220°C / 425°F for 5 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 190°C / 375°F and continue baking for 11 to 14 minutes, until the tops are high and domed, the surface is golden and crackled, the edges are browned, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few tender crumbs but no wet batter.
Cool
  1. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. For the best crust, let them cool just enough to handle and serve still slightly warm.

Notes

The high-heat start isn't an optional detail; it's what pushes the batter up quickly before the structure sets, giving these muffins their tall, domed tops instead of a flatter, more even rise.
Room-temperature sour cream, milk, and eggs mix into the batter more evenly than cold ones would, which supports a more uniform rise across all 12 muffins.
The 10-minute batter rest gives the flour time to fully hydrate before baking, which also supports a higher dome than batter baked immediately after mixing.
Filling the cups generously, to 85 to 90%, matters for the final shape; spreading the same batter across more than 12 muffins gives smaller, flatter tops instead of the tall bakery look this recipe is built around.