I grew up eating fried mini donuts at fairs and carnivals and loved every greasy, cinnamon-sugary second. These mini donut muffins are the next best thing. I couldn’t decide if they were more like a donut hole or a mini muffin, so I’m calling them donut muffins. They come together from start to finish in under 30 minutes. Having warm, fresh donut muffins for breakfast sure beats a bowl of cold cereal.
And yes, plan to eat muffins, plural. They’re tiny, but oh so pop-able. But because they’re baked rather than fried, I don’t feel too guilty when I’m popping away. Four of these mini muffins are still smaller than 1 bakery-style coffee shop muffin. I’ve noticed that bakery and coffee shop muffins keep getting bigger and bigger, and they’re now about the size of a softball. These are about half the size of a golf ball.
If you don’t have mini muffin pans <–I love that pan, you can bake them in a standard-sized muffin pan, or bake them as donuts or mini donuts and adjust baking times accordingly. Buttermilk keeps them soft, light, tender, and fluffy. It also serves to add moisture, which is important because I find that mini muffins and baked donuts are prone to dryness, but the buttermilk protects against it. No buttermilk? Cheat and make some with regular milk.
A hefty dose of cinnamon in the batter as well as in the cinnamon-sugar coating, makes for well-spiced muffins. The cinnamon is noticeable and distinct, but not overpowering. If you’re a cinnamon fiend and prefer to be over-powered, it’s easy to add more to taste. I also added ground nutmeg because I find it rounds out flavors, especially cinnamon. It gives depth in a can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-it kind of way.
They bake quickly, in just about 10 minutes. Because they’re small, they can go from raw to dried out and crisp in the span of about 90 seconds, so watch them closely. Ten minutes with my two mini muffins pans was the magic number, but due to variance in pan size, oven, and climate, watch your muffins not the clock. If you’re baking them as full-size muffins, I’d estimate 17 to 20 minutes, but haven’t tested it.
After they bake, dip the tops in melted butter and then in cinnamon-sugar. The cinnamon-sugar coating is key. It adds so much extra cinnamony flavor and the sugar granules add donut hole authenticity. I almost put them in a gallon-sized ziplock, and wanted to pour butter into the bag, then douse with cinnamon-sugar, and shake. But I used restraint and simply dipped the tops. Next time I’ll live dangerously and use the bag, butter, and shake method because it’s faster, and why say no to more butter and more cinnamon-sugar.
The flavor and the speed in which these little puffballs went from idea to reality to half a dozen in my belly makes them a total win. Once you pop, you can’t stop.
This is my second mini food recipe this week. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it clearly tastes better.
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Thanks for the entries in the Peanut Butter Comfort and KitchenAid Handheld Blender Giveaway What’s your favorite donut or muffin recipe? Mini food fan?
