Nothing—and we mean absolutely nothing—beats a freshly made donut. But let's face it: they're not the easiest treat to make at home. That's where these donut muffins come in. With their cinnamon sugar topping and warm, buttery crust that forms while they bake, they'll fill the donut-shaped hole in your heart. And best of all, there's no frying or rolling required, so have your kids join you in the kitchen to make the impossibly easy dump-and-stir batter!

Nothing—and we mean absolutely nothing—beats a freshly made donut. But let's face it: they're not the easiest treat to make at home. That's where these donut muffins come in. With their cinnamon sugar topping and warm, buttery crust that forms while they bake, they'll fill the donut-shaped hole in your heart. And best of all, there's no frying or rolling required, so have your kids join you in the kitchen to make the impossibly easy dump-and-stir batter!

To make the muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. Scale or measure all dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined. Stir together milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate small bowl until well combined.
2. Pour the wet ingredients and the melted butter into the dry ingredients and stir until batter is uniform and smooth, with no clumps of dry powder remaining.
3. Evenly distribute batter between all 12 prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake muffins for 15-18 minutes until centers have puffed up and feel set when gently pressed.
5. Allow muffins to cool 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and let cool another 10-15 minutes while you prepare the topping.

To top the muffins:

1. Place melted butter in a small bowl. In a separate small bowl, combine sugar and spices until thoroughly mixed.
2. Dunk warm muffin tops into melted butter, allowing any excess to drip off, and then roll the muffin tops in the spiced sugar.
3. Repeat process for all remaining muffins. Once each has been coated, dunk them one more time each in the spiced sugar (but not the butter) to add a second layer of topping.
4. Serve warm or keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nellie’s Notes:

We love using cardamom in the topping to elevate this classic flavor profile and bring a light citrus undertone to the spices, but if you’re a die-hard lover of classic cinnamon and sugar donuts or have a picky little eater at home, simply leave the cardamom out.

To make delicious mini muffins that put donut holes to shame, prepare the batter in the same manner and just adjust the bake time to 12-15 minutes. You should get about 30 mini muffins per batch. For a proper donut hole finish, dunk the whole mini muffin into the melted butter, shake off any excess, and coat fully in the cinnamon sugar.

One of the classic features of a donut is that buttery caramelized crust. To achieve it, we recommend baking these muffins right in a greased muffin pan rather than a muffin pan lined with muffin papers. In a pinch, you absolutely can use muffin papers; you’ll just find that the resulting donut muffins are a bit more muffin-y and a bit less donut-y (but still delicious!).