Sourdough Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
Every flavor is good in its own way, but cinnamon sugar is the best. You always have the ingredients, it’s easy, and it makes your kitchen smell sweet and delicious. We love these sourdough cinnamon sugar muffins so much that we never freeze them, just eat them all in one day.

I make these as a sourdough discard recipe, but if you choose to use an active starter, you’ll need two muffin tins because they will rise more. In that case, only fill your tins ⅔ of the way full.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
You can use a discard or an active starter, just fill the muffin tins less if you use an active starter.
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If you’d like to double or triple this recipe, you can make adjustments in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Ingredients
Batter
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅔ cup shortening or butter, room temperature
- 2 whole eggs
- ¾ cup sourdough starter discard (if using active, only fill your tins ⅔ of the way full.)
- ½ cup milk
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 sticks unsalted butter melted
How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
Step One: Prep
Preheat oven to 350℉ (175℃). Grease or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Step Two: Mix Dry Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and ground allspice.

Step Three: Make Batter
In a separate bowl, cream together the 1 cup of sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the dry ingredients and milk alternately (a third of the dry ingredients, half the milk, a third of the dry ingredients, half the milk, then the final third of dry ingredients). Stir in the sourdough starter by hand, scraping the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.

Step Four: Fill Muffin Cups
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full. (If you’re using an active starter, fill only ⅔ of the way full.)
Step Five: Bake
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Step Six: Prepare Cinnamon Sugar Coating
In a bowl, melt the 2 sticks of butter. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining 1 ½ cups of sugar and the cinnamon.

Step Seven: Dip And Roll
Dip the baked muffins in the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serving & Storing
Serve with fresh fruit salad, vanilla yogurt, kid-friendly granola, or my favorite cast iron skillet omelet, and plenty of coffee.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 to 3 days, or refrigerate them for up to a week.
You can make these ahead of time and freeze them. Just freeze them without the sugar coating and add it after reheating them or letting them thaw out.
More Sourdough Muffin Recipes
Make a big batch and freeze them for quick and easy breakfasts all week (or month!!).
- Strawberry sourdough muffins are just the thing for a spring morning.
- Sourdough blackberry muffins come together super quickly.
- Have some of these sourdough lemon muffins to enjoy during winter.
- If you’ve got some extra starter and a bag of chocolate chips, you’re halfway there to making chocolate chip sourdough muffins.
Printable Recipe
Sourdough Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Ingredients
Batter
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅔ cup shortening or butter room temperature
- 2 whole eggs
- ¾ cup sourdough starter discard (if using active, only fill your tins ⅔ of the way full.)
- ½ cup milk
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 sticks unsalted butter melted
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Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350℉ (175℃). Grease or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and ground allspice.
- Make batter. In a separate bowl, cream together the 1 cup sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the dry ingredients and milk alternately (a third of the dry ingredients, half the milk, a third of the dry ingredients, last half of milk, then the final third of dry ingredients). Stir in the sourdough starter by hand, scraping the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Fill muffin cups. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full.
- Bake. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Prepare cinnamon sugar coating. In a bowl, melt the 2 sticks of butter. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining 1 ½ cups of sugar and the cinnamon.
- Dip and roll. Dip the baked muffins in the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Love,

Does this recipe use discard or actual starter?
I use discard usually. active is fine, but fill the tins a bit lower as it will puff up more!
This recipe is super simple, moist, and super tasty. It has also made the house smell like fall time. This is a keeper and I can see making this often.
thanks Ilonka! so happy you enjoyed it. try them in mini muffins if you haven’t yet! 🙂
How would the baking time change to make these mini muffins?
hey tess mine are usually ready at about 15 min. 🙂
When I try to use the “print” button on this recipe, I am getting prompted to enter my email and sign up to receive “ads and promotional emails”. This is the first I am encountering this. Hopeful it’s a glitch that is fixable as I use your recipes all the time! <3
Anyways, these are in the oven now! Yummy! Thank you.
hi tina! i don’t like how that box is worded… it just signs you up for my email list! if you are already on it, i don’t why you are seeing it, but it won’t s ign you up tiwce… it will just get rid of the box! i hope you like the recipe ❤️❤️