Monkey Bread Muffins… quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten!

Published February 9, 2012. Updated January 5, 2024

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Breakfast or dessert, you need to make these soft, delicious Monkey Bread Muffins! These fluffy, cinnamon-sugar-coated biscuit-like muffins are finished with a sweet vanilla glaze that you’ll want to lick off the plate. I promise it’s one of the tastiest muffin recipes you’ll ever eat!

These muffins are quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever eaten! I love sitting down with a warm Monkey Bread Muffin when I need a moment to pause life. You’ll want to take in everything this muffin has to offer as you pull apart one of its delicate, tender, fluffy, buttery, crystallized sugar-and-cinnamon-coated pieces and gently bite into it. While luxurious, Monkey Bread Muffins are also super kid-friendly. Kids LOVE pulling each little bite from the muffin and popping them into their mouths!

I created these muffins because I was craving Monkey Bread and didn’t have the traditional bundt pan.  I know many monkey bread recipes use store-bought biscuit dough, but I wanted these to be from scratch—isn’t everything that much better when it’s made from scratch?  For the dough base, I started a very similar dough to the one I used for my 15 Minute Donuts from Scratch and I think it’s perfect. You can always use canned dough in a pinch (it’s always useful to keep some in the fridge!).

I won’t lie, when I first pulled these out of the oven the presentation wasn’t what I was looking for.  For me, presentation is an important part of good food, so I thought “hmm what can I do to make them pretty?  Ah, yes indeed, glaze!”  It adds a delicate touch to these delightful muffins.  Enjoy, try not to eat the whole pan at once, because warm Monkey Bread Muffins are heavenly.

Pro Tip: don’t wash your muffin pan until you’ve eaten all those delicious cinnamon sugar chips off of it, yum!

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5 from 2 votes

Monkey Bread Muffins

Soft, cinnamon sugar coated biscuit-like muffins finished with a sweet vanilla glaze! One of the tastiest muffin recipes you'll ever eat!
Servings: 12
Prep30 minutes
Cook18 minutes
Ready in: 48 minutes

Ingredients

Glaze

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a muffin tin, set aside. In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, 3 Tbsp granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour buttermilk, 1/3 cup milk and melted butter into flour mixture. Stir with a fork or clean hands just until mixture comes together (don't overmix, key to fluffy muffins).
  • Pour 1/2 cup granulated sugar into a medium container that has a lid to cover. Scoop dough out 1 even teaspoon at a time and drop into container in an even layer, working in batches (I fit 18 dough balls in at a time). Then cover container with a lid and shake to coat. Drop 6 sugar coated dough balls into each muffin cup. Repeat this process until all muffin cups are filled.
  • Whisk together 6 Tbsp melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until well combine. Pour about 1 scant Tbsp brown sugar mixture evenly over each muffin. Place muffin tin on a cookie sheet and Bake 18-19 minutes until golden. Allow to cool 5 minutes in muffin tin before removing muffins (I lifted mine out with a fork).
  • In a mixing bowl whisk together powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp milk until well blended. Pour mixture into a piping bag or ziploc bag, snip a small tip off the end of the bag and drizzle glaze over each muffin.