With the perfect amount of cinnamon, little pockets of apples, and a sweet crumb topping, these Apple Cinnamon Muffins are the perfect way to start your day.
Looking for a way to use up those apples? Also try this German Apple Pancake or Apple Crisp.
I have been trying to change up our breakfast routine lately, as the kids are getting bored with eggs or cereal pretty much every morning. So I’ve been having fun making muffins once a week.
The kids asked for apple muffins, so I had to make these Apple Cinnamon Muffins! I have made them a few times now, and love them. I’ve made them both with the crumb topping and without, and they are actually very good both ways. I’m a sucker for a crumb topping, but if you want something a little less sweet, or if you are short on time, you can definitely leave off the crumb. These muffins are perfect for a sweet breakfast!
Tips
Here are a few tips for making the best muffins:
- Don’t overmix your batter. Mix just until everything is combined.
- You can use an ice cream scoop or a spring loaded scoop to fill the muffin tins. This helps you to get even amounts of batter in each tin.
- Don’t overbake your muffins. Dry muffins are not good muffins. Bake them just until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean, or once you can touch the top of the muffin and the muffin springs back.
- Let the muffins sit in the tin for about 10 minutes before removing to serve.
- You can either bake muffins in a greased muffin tin or with paper liners.
When using apples in baking, you want to use an apple that will remain crisp. I like using granny smith, but honeycrisp or braeburn are also good choices. You just don’t want an apple that will turn to mush when it is baked.
People have used many different substitutions for the applesauce with great results, including Greek yogurt, crushed pineapple, sour cream, and even orange juice! There are some great substitution ideas in the comments.
This is a personal preference. I usually keep them on because I don’t mind the texture and it’s faster than peeling the apples. I also don’t worry about chopping the apple to fine. But if you don’t like the texture, you can peel the apples. Or many people have shredded the apple, as well!
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Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups chopped apples
Crumb Topping:
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter cut into small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, stir together the oil and the sugar. Stir in the eggs, applesauce and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Gently stir in the apples.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan, dividing the batter equally between the cups.
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with a fork or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb over the batter in the muffin pan.
- Bake the muffins until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let the muffins sit in the pan before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store any leftover muffins in an airtight container.
Jessica says
I can’t wait to make these this evening! We have so many apples I need to use before they go bad. Question- do you know if they freeze well? And if I plan to use liners in the muffin pan, should I spray them?
Deborah says
I haven’t tried freezing these particular muffins, but I usually have good luck freezing muffins in general so I’m guessing they would work just fine. And if you are using liners, there is no need to spray them. I hope you love them!
Francesca says
Can I use gala apples? Or no?
Deborah says
Yes, I think gala would work just fine!
Lorna Solberg says
I made this Last night (9-11) they are good but taste like it needs something more. I think I will play around with this recipe as I have apples coming out my ears this year, 😂 , unless the deer ate. The rest. Thank you for sharing
Paul H. says
Just tried this recipe this morning for brunch; they are FANTASTIC!
Thank you thank you thank you!!!
David says
Whipped them up in no time. Very Yummy!
Mel says
I absolutely loved this recipe. The only thing I did different was I shredded an apple instead of chunking it up. I didnt want to bite into something hard inside something soft. Delicious ! Cant wait to make it again.
Erin says
I made these the other day, replaced half the flour with wholewheat, and the cinnamon with spekulatius spice mix (easy to get here in Germany), and there were a total hit at my language class. Thanks!
Nicole says
I made these muffins for my family this morning and forgot to add the sugar:) The apples, applesauce and streusel gave the muffins just the right amount of sweetness. I love this recipe and I’m sure with the sugar that it would be even more delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Deborah says
Haha – good to know they are good without the sugar, as well! So glad you sill loved them!
Catherine Pappas says
Beautiful muffins to enjoy with a good cup of coffee. xo
Rahul says
These muffins sound so tasty and it looks gorgeous. I love the simple flavour of these.
Chels R. says
These muffins – those chunks of apple! YUM!
cookbook queen says
These look so so cozy and perfect!!!
Mollie says
I'm baking these now! I substituted 1 cup of AP flour for 1 cup of 100%whole wheat. The batter seemed too oily when it was all together and I was dipping scoops into the muffin cups. We'll see, but it next time I'll decrease the oil. I also decreased the sugar because I thought the apple would give some natural sweetness. (Now that I'm thinking about it, since I decreased the sugar, I should've decreased the oil maybe?) Overall, they smell *awesome*, I love apples and cinnamon together so I'm sure they'll taste great, and the recipe made 12 big muffins that puffed up nicely.
eatme_delicious says
Mmm I love apple cinnamon baked goods. I spend way too long looking for specific muffin recipes sometimes – like I was looking for a muffin recipe that used dried apricot last week. All the ones that were coming up didn't sound good (but maybe that's partly because I don't like dried apricot haha) and so finally I just found a muffin recipe and subbed raisins for apricots.
Emily says
I'll have to remember this recipe when I want a good apple cinnamon muffin. They look perfect!
Keep the muffins coming!
Katie says
These look wonderful. Love the spiced apple