Cinnamon Muffin Melt Copycats

Have you ever enjoyed the Cinnamon Muffin Melts from Tastefully Simple? They are delicious!

Well, they look like these, smell like these, and best of all, TASTE like these! I found a recipe in my Taste of Home Baking book for cinnamon doughnut muffins. I swapped out two-thirds of the white sugar for brown sugar, and voila! I had my Tastefully Simple copycats...and I was so excited!

The recipe in my book suggested filling them with jam. I filled two with grape and two with strawberry jam. But I didn't like them that way, so I say just leave it out. I considered that apple butter would be good, you can't go wrong with apples and cinnamon to be sure, but I didn't try that one. My husband and I thought that the jam almost tasted sour inside the sweet muffin. All in all, these are very addicting and fantastically scrumptious. And I'm so excited to be able to make these delicious muffins from scratch without the Tastefully Simple mix!

Cinnamon Muffin Melt Copycats
adapted from Taste of Home
Prep: 15 minutes / Bake: 8-10 minutes
Yield: about 30 mini muffins or 10 large muffins (I made mini)

Muffins
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (I used light)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup milk (I used skim)

Topping
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin or fill with paper liners.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir until combined. In a small bowl, combine sugars, oil, egg, and milk. Beat with a fork or whisk until mixed. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

3. Fill muffin cups three-fourths full. If you have any unused cups, fill them with water to help the muffins bake more evenly and prevent the pan from warping. For mini muffins, bake 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. For larger muffins, the original recipe states 20-25 minutes.

4. While the muffins are baking, prepare the topping. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and set aside. In another small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Immediately after removing the muffins from the oven, dip the tops in butter and then in the cinnamon-sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Review

• Preparation: 5
• The batter comes together quickly and the baking time is short too.
• Taste: 5
• The Tastefully Simple mix is completely delicious and addicting...and so is this recipe. Maybe it's actually not a good thing that I made these copycats!
• Cost: 5
• I didn't have to buy anything to make these, which is always a plus!
• Clean-up: 4
• A few small bowls and a muffin tin.
• Changes
• I would like to find a way to make more of the cinnamon-sugar stick to the top, it's the best part!
• These muffins tasted really really close to the box mix, and most people probably wouldn't notice a difference unless eating the two side by side. But there is something that I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe I should use all brown sugar? Or substitute some butter for the vegetable oil? The texture, moisture, and crumb all seem right. Maybe it's just the topping...I need more topping!
• Get creative and experiment with jam fillings. To do this, fill muffin cups half full; place 1 teaspoon of jam on top (for large muffins). Top with enough batter to make cups three-fourths full. Bake as directed.
• Summary
• These are sweet, satisfying, and simple to make. I love the mini muffins because you can just pop the whole thing in your mouth...when no one's looking of course! Enjoy!