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Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins

Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin

English muffins don’t come in with too many flavor options beyond plain and sourdough, although whole wheat do seem to pop up more and more often these days. The one real flavor that english muffins come in is cinnamon raisin – and it’s a good one. When the spicy muffins toast up, the cinnamon scent and flavor is released from the bread and the raisins become hot and sweet. They’re not as versatile as the go-with-anything plain variety of english muffin, but when they’re spread with butter, cinnamon raisin is a fantastic breakfast treat.

These are very easy to make at home. The english muffin dough is a no-knead batter that is mixed up and allowed to rise for just a short period of time. Once it has risen, the dough is dropped in big spoonfuls and cooked on a skillet or griddle. This allows both the top and the bottom of the muffin to take on a golden color, while the center cooks through and still remains chewy and soft, the perfect texture for toasting.

This recipe calls for nonfat milk because it tends to produce slightly holier muffins. The higher the fat content in the english muffin, the tighter the crumb. Low fat milk works pretty well, but if you compared a whole milk muffin and a nonfat muffin, you’d notice a difference. All that said, both will taste good. If you want to experiment a little, try using other dried fruits in place of the raisins, like currants, cranberries or blueberries.

Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins

Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins
1/3 cup water, warm (110F)
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup nonfat milk, slightly warm (100-110F)
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup raisins

In a large bowl, whisk together water, sugar and yeast and let mixture stand for 10 minutes, until slightly foamy.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining ingredients except the raisins and mix until smooth. Once the batter comes together, stir in the raisins.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 45 minutes to relax and rise.

Heat a griddle/nonstick frying pan over medium/medium-high heat (water dropped on the griddle evaporates very quickly). Lightly grease with cooking spray if not using a nonstick pan.
Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls onto greased surface and cook until medium brown on the bottom. The top will look set and the sides will appear somewhat dry. The exact time depends on the temperature of your griddle and the size of your muffins, but expect this to take several minutes. Flip over and cook 2nd side until brown.
Cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes or until completely cool.
When ready to serve, split muffins with a fork and toast.

Makes about 10 muffins.

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38 Comments
  • Jenny
    July 6, 2009

    These look absolutely delicious! I might whip some up now for breakfast tomorrow 😀

  • Roggie
    July 6, 2009

    Hi Nicole. Could lightly greased muffin rings be used for making these english muffins?

  • Nicole
    July 6, 2009

    Roggie – Yes, but they stay pretty close to circular on their own, so you certainly don’t have to get them out if you don’t want to. They’ll look great either way.

  • Roggie
    July 6, 2009

    Thank you. I’ll give them a go as these are two of my favorite ingredients.

  • j
    July 6, 2009

    Any tips on making these delicious-looking muffins whole wheat?

  • Tasty Health Food
    July 7, 2009

    I’ve always loved english muffins. Have you ever tried Wolferman’s? They come in tons of flavors like Apple Orchard, Pumpkin Spice, and Cheddar Cheese to name a few. My aunt always sends them to me for Christmas for some reason. 😀

  • Emily
    July 7, 2009

    these sound great…I never realized English Muffins were so easy (and this is coming from someone who has made 100’s of homemade, boiled, soft pretzels in one day. 🙂 Awesome!

  • Laura Rebecca
    July 7, 2009

    Great idea! Thanks for this recipe.

  • Ashley
    July 7, 2009

    Yum yum yum! I know I’d love these and must try them.

  • Flyby
    July 7, 2009

    These sounded so good that I had to try them. I had to make some small modifications (buttermilk instead of the nonfat milk, since that was the only low-fat I had, plus enough baking soda to balance it out, and omitting the raisins due to a family member not being crazy about them), but I tried to stay true to the recipe.

    The outsides came out way too dark, even after turning down the griddle to medium from medium-high, and I’m not sure the insides got fully cooked (they’re still cooling). And I couldn’t get them circular for the life of me! They’re all these weird shapes. lol

  • Glitter Girl
    July 8, 2009

    I had no idea that English Muffins were so easy. Thank you so much!

  • Laura
    July 8, 2009

    Nicole,
    You read my mind! I just made Peter Reinhart’s English Muffins and Dan Lepard’s plus another recipe (Laurel Wilks, Get Your Buns in Here). The best was Dan Lepard’s, but it takes 2 days!

    I MUST make your version. It reminds me a little of the Alton Brown English Muffin recipe, which is well liked. But that requires muffin rings. (Although, in the comments to that recipe, some people have said they have made their own rings out of folded aluminum foil. Maybe Flyby can try this . . .)

    Also (@flyby), I have found that you can prevent English muffins from getting too dark when cooking by (a) watching them like a hawk and (b) turning them frequently. Check on them after 3 minutes.

  • Flyby
    July 8, 2009

    Laura,

    I doubt they were even on the griddle three minutes per side… I was putting them on four at a time (as that’s what I had space for on the griddle), and I would start flipping them in the order I had put them on as soon as the last one was on the griddle, and they’d still be that dark. And I tried opening a few… Still raw on the inside. 🙁 And I had such good luck with the english muffin batter bread… I doubt my stove is so far off compared to everyone else’s, so I’m at a loss for why they wouldn’t come out.

  • Nicole
    July 9, 2009

    Flyby – I’m sorry to hear that you’re having problems with overbrowning. I have two suggestions. First, you might want to simply try a longer cooking time at a lower temperature. Second, you might also want to slightly press down your batter once you put it onto the griddle to make it a little bit thinner and help it cook more evenly.
    With english muffins, they will be chewy and moist on the inside (not raw, hopefully) since they’re usually toasted before serving, and I’ve turned some slightly under done ones around simply by splitting and toasting them before serving.
    My final thought is that baking soda can increase browning in baked goods (and skillet-baked goods), and while it shouldn’t be a huge factor, it is possible that it is playing a small role here, as well.

    I hope that helps!

  • SpanishDave
    July 9, 2009

    You can’t beat a good old english muffin.

    Im gonna have to try a Cinnamon Raison English Muffin it looks lovely.

  • maris
    July 9, 2009

    Yours are probably ten times better (and I’ll be making Peter Reinhart’s soon, so I can’t wait to try them!) but Thomas’ makes cranberry english muffins around the winter holidays. They’re not my favorite but nice if you don’t have time to make them from scratch but like a little variety.

  • Mia
    September 19, 2009

    Those look fantastic…

    My father is coming to town next week, I think I’ll surprise him with some these, he loves english muffins for breakfast so this should go over big!

  • Chad
    March 8, 2010

    I made these tonight. They have a nice texture and the recipe is dead simple!

    My suggestions: double the amount of raisins, add another 1/3 tsp of cinnamon, and–like has been discussed–don’t go any higher than medium heat.

    Thanks so much!

  • kahve falı
    April 19, 2010

    thanks..

  • fal
    April 19, 2010

    good info

  • fallar
    April 19, 2010

    Good Job, thanks for sharing.

  • fal bak
    April 19, 2010

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    April 19, 2010

    yes good info

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    April 19, 2010

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  • tarot falı
    April 19, 2010

    thanks.

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    April 19, 2010

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    April 19, 2010

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    April 19, 2010

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  • medyum
    April 19, 2010

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  • firma rehberi
    April 21, 2010

    i like it

  • youtube
    April 21, 2010

    really good

  • kral oyun
    April 21, 2010

    i like

  • hitkazan
    May 22, 2010

    Hi I found your site very useful. I found your site, google searches

  • samantha
    February 25, 2011

    can you use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose

  • Roggie
    February 25, 2011

    Nicole, this part of the recipe “The top with look set and the sides will appear somewhat dry,” shouldn’t it read” the top will look set and the sides will appear somewhat dry”?

  • Foodiewife
    April 11, 2012

    Muwaaaaah! That’s a big kiss for posting this recipe. I made them, and they turned out perfectly. Absolutely spot on! no more buying my cinnamon-raisin muffins for $4.00 a bag. These are so easy to make, and so much better. Thank you!

  • jason
    November 12, 2012

    As a person new to baking, i found this pretty easy except the handling of the dough. To make it easier to handle the muffin dough, rub your hands with flour before portioning and handling. This may be common to some but I did notice someone complained of the issue. Also, I added a bit of extra sugar into the final mix to sweeten it up a bit and it turned out fantastic. Thank you for the recipe! I’ll be doing this again 🙂

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