These cinnamon pecan muffins are absolutely lovely, with a moist, tender crumb, the perfect amount of crunch, and cozy, warm flavor. An easy muffin recipe you’ll make again and again!
These soft, sweet cinnamon pecan muffins are a celebration of simplicity. Don’t let the long-ish list of ingredients fool you. These are wonderfully easy to make, and they celebrate simple flavors in a big way.
Why You’ll Love This Cinnamon Pecan Muffin Recipe
- Easy to make. For all of you who make muffins frequently, you won’t find many surprises here. If you need to brush up on your muffin making skills, be sure to see my tips for using the muffin method of mixing.
- Delicious. With their amazing flavor and soft, moist texture, these cinnamon pecan muffins may very well be my perfect muffin. (For more cinnamon treats, try cinnamon bun scones, apple cinnamon muffins, and cinnamon almond scones, too!)
- Cozy. I’ll happily enjoy one of these cinnamon pecan muffins any time of year, but I especially crave them in fall. Pair them with your favorite warm beverage for a perfectly indulgent treat.
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- All-purpose flour – Here’s how to measure flour for baking.
- Light brown sugar – Learn more: Light Brown Sugar vs Dark Brown Sugar: What’s the Difference?
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon – I’m a big, big fan of Penzey’s cinnamons, especially their Ceylon cinnamon. If you have the chance, do yourself a favor and give them a try.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Sour cream – This helps create a tender crumb. Greek yogurt will also work.
- Unsalted butter – Melt the butter, then let it cool. Here’s the difference between unsalted and salted butter in baking.
- Milk – I like to bake with whole milk, but any variety you have on hand will be just fine.
- Eggs – Let these come to room temperature on the counter before you start the recipe.
- Vanilla extract – Use homemade vanilla extract or a high-quality store-bought brand.
- Chopped pecans – Buy pecan pieces, rather than whole pecans. They’re cheaper and since they’ll be chopped anyway, it doesn’t matter!
- Turbinado sugar – Optional, for a delightfully crunchy topping.
What Is Turbinado Sugar?
Turbinado sugar is a type of raw sugar that has been minimally processed. It has a hint of the molasses flavor and its large crystals provide a pleasant crunch, making it an excellent finishing touch for baked goods like these cinnamon pecan muffins.
How to Make Cinnamon Pecan Muffins
- Prepare. Preheat your oven to 400°F and grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan, or line it with paper liners.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Form a well in the center.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir together the sour cream, melted butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Combine wet and dry. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, stirring just until combined.
- Add the nuts. Fold in the pecans, reserving some for topping the muffins, if desired.
- Bake. Divide the muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups and top with remaining nuts and coarse sugar, if desired. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Tips for Success
- Don’t over-mix the batter. This is always important with muffin recipes! Over-mixing can lead to tough, dense muffins rather than tender ones. Mix just until combined or a few small streaks of flour remain.
- Use room temperature ingredients. As mentioned before, make sure your eggs and sour cream are at room temperature before starting the recipe. This will help everything mix together smoothly.
- Fill the muffin cups evenly. To ensure that all your muffins bake evenly and finish at the same time, use a cookie scoop or a measuring cup to fill the muffin cups with an equal amount of batter. This simple step can make a big difference in the final result.
- Know the basics. If you’re new to baking, read over my baking tips for beginners.
Variations
- If you prefer to make a loaf instead of muffins, I can help you with these steps for converting muffins to bread.
- You can substitute another nut if you like. Just be sure to substitute by volume, as the weights of different nuts can vary.
- For more cinnamon flavor, mix the turbinado sugar with a bit of cinnamon to make a cinnamon sugar topping. Learn more: How to Make Cinnamon Sugar
- Add a pinch of cardamom or swap the cinnamon for apple pie spice.
How to Store
Once the cinnamon pecan muffins have completely cooled, place them in an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Can I Freeze This Recipe?
Yes, these cinnamon pecan muffins freeze well. Wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap, then place them in a zip-top freezer bag or container. Frozen muffins can be thawed at room temperature or warmed in the microwave before enjoying.
More Easy Muffin Recipes
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
- Banana Cream Cheese Muffins
- Berry Cheesecake Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Get the Recipe:
Cinnamon Pecan Muffins
Yield
12 standard muffins
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
35 minutes
These easy cinnamon pecan muffins are absolutely lovely, with a tender crumb, the perfect amount of crunch, and cozy warm flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100g) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (170g) sour cream
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 & 1/4 cups (150g) chopped pecans
- turbinado sugar, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan, or line with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the sour cream, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture, and stir just until combined. Stir in the pecans. If you like, save some pecans to top off the muffins.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, using about 3 tablespoons of batter to fill each about 2/3 full. If you reserved pecan to add to the tops of the muffins, add those now. If you like, sprinkle a pinch of turbinado sugar on top of each muffin.
- Bake 16 to 20 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.
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17 Comments on “Cinnamon Pecan Muffins”
Penzy’s spices! Love them. I also used to love going to The Spice House when I was in Milwaukee. Mmmmm..the smell. These look really good. Pecans are my favorite.
These look great! Why is it that so many muffin recipes only make 9 muffins while most muffin pans have room for 12? I think it’s annoying so whenever I create a new muffin recipe, I don’t consider it perfect unless the batter fills all 12 muffin cups 😉 I’m gonna try to KA blueberry muffin mix today with my brand new mini muffin tin!
Nicole, I had that same conversation with myself just the other day. It’s not like it’s easy to increase the recipe by 33% to make 12. I’m anxious to find out how your blueberry muffins turn out!
I don’t know if I missed something or not, but I did not realize you are from MS! Me too! Small world. BTW, these muffins looks good. I LOVE cinnamon AND pecans!
yum. these look delicious. too many muffins, too little time!!
This is the third blog I’ve seen Penzey’s mentioned. I’m going to have to get there someday.
Those look great. My how my dad would love them.
Claire, it’s good to find another MS girl in the food blog world!
Abby, Penzey’s is incredible. The best part was getting to smell everything!
I love ceylon cinnamon! It’s so much better than the grocery store kind, which really isn’t “true” cinnamon at all. The ceylon has a wonderful flavor.
I agree, Natalia. It’s my new favorite cinnamon variety. I’ll have to buy a bigger container next time.
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Made this muffin recipe today for my folks homecoming. I wish they had been a bit sweeter for coffee time but other than that they’re good! I would up the sugar a bit next time, but they were very easy to make and very easy to clean up afterwards.
Something lacking knew when they where being mixed to heavy big disappointment .certainly didn’t look like the picture .Have made a lot of different muffins .but this receipt was a complete disaster .Ontario Can.
I’m sorry you had troubles! I haven’t had the issues you described when I’ve made these. They should definitely look like my photos. If you made any changes to the recipe or used low- or non-fat sour cream and/or milk, that could certainly be an issue. Otherwise, check that your ingredients were measured accurately and that your oven’s temperature isn’t off.
This was the first time I have used one of your recipes, being new to the blog. They were delicious! I made them for my DIL’s mother who no longer can bake but loves homemade goodies. This recipe made 36 mini muffins and baking time was 8-9 minutes. Love that so many of your recipes use pecans.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins, Cheryl!
I made these and they were delicious. This recipe is a keeper. I toasted the pecans first. Only the ones I mixed into the batter, not the ones I put on top. I love Penzey’s spices too, but like King Arthur’s cinnamon. I added 1/2 cup of King Arthur’s cinnamon bits. And I used light cream instead of milk because I would have had to go to the other fridge for a new milk…sheer laziness. There were three muffins left this morning. I buttered up two of them for my brekkie and my piggy Golden, Paddy wolfed down 1-1/2 muffins while my back was turned. Really, I should know better. I wasn’t too sure whether his mighty tongue had grazed the remaining half muffin, so I didn’t eat it, which left me with just one muffin. 😢 So these muffins got two thumbs up from the people who enjoyed them and two paws up from Paddy.
That’s so great to hear, Lillian! I’m really glad they were a hit for you. I truly appreciate both the thumbs and paws up! 🙂