Buttermilk Spice Muffins (Mimi’s Cafe Copycat)
Buttermilk Spice Muffins are moist, full of flavor and taste just like the ones you’ll get at Mimi’s Cafe. Grab a warm muffin, slather on some butter and grab that coffee because you’re going to fall in love with this recipe!
Have you ever eaten at Mimi’s Cafe? In case you haven’t, let me tell you that they have some of the best breakfast dishes. They actually have all sorts of dishes ranging from breakfast, lunch and dinner. We normally eat there for breakfast, so I can’t really vouch for their other entrees.
When you eat breakfast at Mimi’s you’ll always get a muffin of your choice as a side. They have Buttermilk Spice, Carrot Raisin Nut, Low-Fat Blueberry, Honey Bran and always a featured muffin of the season. Plus they’re baked fresh daily. They bring it warm to your table while you’re waiting for your breakfast. With a side of butter too.
You guys these muffins will have you swooning. They are that good! I can honestly say that sometimes the only reason I want to go to Mimi’s is because of these darn muffins. The food blogger in me knew I had to re-create these muffins. I couldn’t keep dragging the family to Mimi’s just for the muffins. Mimi’s Cafe actually posted their Buttermilk Spice Muffin on their site, so I started there. Why go through the guessing game when it’s right there?
Normally I try to create recipes that are new, but I thought to myself that there are a lot of people who don’t have a Mimi’s Cafe in their area and have no idea how good these muffins are. So I went ahead and tweaked the recipes a little, then took some photos and wha-la you have yourself a moist, delicious and an easy to make Buttermilk Spice Muffin.
If I can be honest with you all, I actually made these muffins about 3 weeks ago. I decided yesterday that I wanted to post the recipe, but I wasn’t happy with my photos. So I busted my booty in the kitchen and made them fresh just so I could photographed them again. I had to give you all gorgeous photos to look at. You’d expect nothing less of me, right?
As I sit here typing this post for you all, my house smells like fall and I’m craving cold, raining days with these muffins and a big cup of joe. I can not wait. I have a few more months until the fall weather will visit us. It normally doesn’t start cooling down until after Halloween, so for now I’ll just daydream while I eat these delicious, moist Buttermilk Spice Muffins.
Get the Recipe: Buttermilk Spice Muffins (Mimi's Cafe Copycat)
Ingredients
- Muffin Batter:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk
Nut Topping:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray; set aside.
- Using your stand mixer, add the sugar and butter. Mix together until light and fluffy. One by one add the eggs in and mix until incorporated.
- In a small bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and whisk together.
- With your stand mixer on a low speed and the flour mixture and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
- Fill muffin tin 3/4 full and set aside while you make the topping.
- In a small bowl add all the nut topping ingredients and sprinkle 1 heaping tablespoon onto each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately, or the nut topping will start to sink in the batter.
- Bake 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let stand for a few minutes, then break away from the pan with a spoon or a knife. Set muffins on a wire rack and let cool for a few minutes.
- Serve warm with butter and Enjoy.
Want some more muffin recipes? Here you go:
Here are some more delicious muffins around the web:
Healthy Double Chocolate Cherry Muffins by Bake. Eat. Repeat.
Monkey Bread Muffins by Live Well Bake Often
Blueberry Almond Whole Grain Muffins by Cookie Monster Cooking
Skinny Banana Almond Butter Muffins by Kristine’s Kitchen
I’ve never heard of Mimi’s Cafe! I feel like I’m missing out! haha
These muffins sound completely fantastic – buttermilk is so awesome in baked goods! And thanks for including my blueberry muffins! 🙂 Happy Friday!
Thank you Ashley!! Hope you had an awesome weekend! 🙂
Wow, these sound fabulous! Buttermilk adds such a depth of flavor to baked goods 🙂
That’s the one thing I have to have when visiting a Mimi’s, either their bran, spice or carrot muffins (which they don’t always offer). It’s the best thing on their menu these days!
These muffins have a perfect crown. How generous of them and you to share the recipe! Pinning and making! 😉
What yummy looking muffins! I’ve never tried these at Mimi’s but I will definitely have to now!
I love Mimi’s! I don’t remember their muffins though, I haven’t been in a long time. They look perfect Cyndi! I totally need to try them out 🙂
I definitely need to take a trip to Mimis cafe! Any place that offers an entire muffin as a side is a place for me 🙂 the addition of nutmeg and cinnamon sounds amazing
These look so puffy and delicious! Love that crumb topping…is there anything better than crumb topping? Nope. These look amazing.
These muffins look perfect! I definitely need to make a batch this weekend!
Thank you Sarah! 😉
Every spring we head down to Phoenix for Mariners spring training and that usually involves a trip to Mimi’s (we don’t have any where we live) and everyone that gets muffins always talks about how good they are! Now we can make them at home. Thanks!!
Thank you Des!!
These look so delicious, I would love to be eating one with a coffee. Thanks for sharing!
Julie
Thank you Julie!
Wow do these muffins look perfect, Cyndi! I’ve never heard of Mimi’s Cafe before, but I’m thinking these muffins are even better than those! I love the buttermilk and spice combo! What a perfect breakfast or dessert. Pinned!
Thank you sweetie for the pin and your sweet words! 😉
Wow, these muffins look like the perfect way to start the day! I love any excuse to make a delicious recipe again. Your pictures are beautiful!
Thank you Ashley! You’re too sweet!!
Mimi’s Cafe muffins are so delicious, but I’ve never tried this one! And since homemade is always best, I’m sure yours are better. These would be so great for breakfast!
Oh man Marcie you’re missing out! You need to try these at Mimi’s Cafe and at home. 🙂 Thanks!!
I *think* I’ve been to a Mimi’s Cafe? In San Diego? Needless to say thank you for introducing me to these muffins! They look so good!
Ha, yeah you probably have Alyssa! There are a ton of Mimi’s in San Diego. Thanks sweetie! 🙂
The Mimi’s by me closed! It was a dark day for me–I loved their muffins! This is one of their best recipes too! They look amazing–will definitely be giving these a try! 🙂
Oh no!! So sorry Michelle! Thank you. 🙂
I’ve never had a Mimi’s Cafe muffin, but these look pretty fantastic so I am most definitely going to have to try them! They look so fluffy, and that topping – yum! Thanks for the shout out for my chocolate muffins! 🙂
Thank you Stacey!! Your muffins look delicious too! 🙂
I’ve never heard of Mimi’s Cafe before but these muffins look seriously amazing! I love the buttermilk in here and the nut topping is totally calling my name! They sound perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack!
Thank you Kelly! 🙂 You gotta eat at Mimi’s Cafe whenever you in Southern Ca. 😉
I never used to eat muffins much but then I made a batch a few weeks ago and I haven’t stopped making them! I definitely need to start putting crumb toppings on my muffins because they look so good! I’ve never heard of Mimis but these muffins look delicious 🙂
Thank you Izzy!! 😉
These muffins are delish and my favorite of all time! I have tried this exact recipe twice now and have baked up wonderful results, the only question I have is how do you get the sugar/nut topping to become a “crust” like Mimi’s does it? My muffins are great but the sugar topping won’t stick, let alone make a light crust. 🙁 happy baking! 🙂
Hi Amanda! So happy to hear that you love this recipe. I do too. What I would recommend doing is 5 minutes before the muffins are done, set the oven tray as close to the top as you can. That way they can crisp up and maybe hold more of the yummy topping. I think the reasons the topping isn’t held on like Mimi’s is because we don’t have industrial ovens. Hope that helps. Thanks for visiting!! 🙂
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So I’ve just entered into the world of baking. When you say muffin pan is that just the standard size or the jumbo size? Because these look a lot bigger then the muffins and cupcakes I get in my regular pan.
Hi Kayla. I actually used a regular 12 count muffin pan. I know all sizes vary so fill yours 3/4 of the way with the batter then sprinkle with the topping. You might get more than 12-18 but they are so good, you’ll be glad. 🙂 Happy Baking!!
Think there is an error on baking soda vs baking powder. I made these for work without testing them and they were horrible (too alkaline). Can anyone confirm this? Id like to reseem myself with coworkers.
These muffins are very disappointing. Good points: Nice crown and the topping is OK. However, they completely lack in flavor – I tasted NO spice whatsoever, which I was concerned beforehand because it only contains cinnamon and nutmeg – not my idea of a spice muffin. I also found them to be dry.
Hi Vee. I’m sorry that the muffins didn’t work out. I hope you’ll try out some more recipes around My Kitchen Craze and let me know what you think. Happy Baking.
Hi Cyndi – I will definitely make these again, but I plan to add allspice and cloves to improve the flavor.
This is my favorite muffin at Mimi’s. My batch is in the oven right now and I cannot wait to try them. I made jumbo size as I am the only one that will eat them I may have to adjust the baking time just a bit.
These were amazing! Very easy to make and they taste just like Mimi’s Cafe. Highly recommend!
These are really yummy! The only negative is that there’s a little too much baking soda in the recipe. You can smell it after they’re baked and taste it a little. I’m going to try these again with 1 1/2 tsp instead of 2 and see what happens!
I made these yesterday. They were pretty dry. Also, the topping just laid there like the pile of sugar it is and then fell off when I took them out of the pan. They taste wonderful, but I was disappointed.
Just made these. They are so yummy and taste just like Mimi’s Cafe muffins! I like how they are a little smaller than Mimi’s because theirs were huge.
Made these just the other day. I have to admit the flavor was just so so. I did not bake them as long as the recipe called for and they still were pretty dry. I out them in a plastic container thInking maybe after a day or two they might moisten up a little but no such luck. I probably won’t make again.