Apple Cinnamon Muffins are moist, tender spiced muffins with chopped apples, crumble topping, and cinnamon vanilla icing. Perfect for fall!
This delicious Apple Muffin recipe is quick to make with simple ingredients. These tasty muffins are perfect in the fall for an easy Breakfast or Brunch dish. For more homemade muffins with apples, check out my Apple Pie Muffins and Apple Pumpkin Muffins!
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Apple Cinnamon Muffins
I love baking muffins because they’re great for any morning. You can indulge in fresh, warm muffins on the weekend, make mini muffins to eat on the go on busy mornings, or freeze muffins for meal prep. It doesn’t matter what kind of morning you’re having, these Apple Cinnamon Muffins will make it even better.
This cinnamon apple flavor is perfect for the fall and winter. Spiced baked apples are just so comforting. The amazing flavor of cinnamon isn’t just in the moist muffins. I also use it in a buttery crumble topping and a sweet vanilla icing so you get the cozy taste of apple cinnamon in every bite.
Ingredients
- Flour: You’ll need 3 cups of all-purpose flour for the muffin batter. Sift your flour before adding it to the wet ingredients so it blends easily so you don’t over-stir the batter.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: This muffin batter will have a lot of extra moisture so I used a combination of 1 tablespoon baking powder and ½ teaspoon baking soda so the muffins come out fluffy.
- Spices: The main star of the muffins, besides apples, is cinnamon and I use 2 teaspoons in the batter so you get plenty of that sweet, warm flavor. There is also ½ teaspoon of salt to add a bit of balance.
- Butter: I used 1 cup of melted butter instead of oil in this muffin batter. I like the taste of the butter with the apples and cinnamon.
- Eggs: Beat the three eggs before adding them to the other ingredients to add air and make extra fluffy muffins.
- Sugar: These are fairly sweet muffins with 1 ¼ cup of granulated sugar. You could also use brown sugar for a warmer, slight caramel note.
- Milk: I use 1 ¼ cups of whole milk to add rich flavor and add the bulk of the liquid. You could also use buttermilk or replace half of the milk with sour cream or Greek yogurt for a rich tangy flavor.
- Apples: For the apple pieces, I used Honeycrisp Apples. They have an excellent flavor and hold their shape while baking. Peel them for this recipe as the skin won’t soften or break down during baking.
- Crumble Topping: The muffins are topped with a crumb topping made with ½ cup sugar, 2/3 cups flour, ¼ cup butter, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Make sure you use cold ingredients for the crumble topping. That way, the butter won’t all melt into the muffins while they bake.
- Icing: The sweet crumble is great on it’s own, but I wanted these extra special so also added a simple cinnamon vanilla glaze. The simple glaze is made with 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
How to Make
Time needed: 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Sweet Crumb Topping
Add the granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, cold butter, and ground cinnamon to a mixing bowl. Then use a fork or pastry cutter to combine the simple ingredients into a coarse, crumbly blend. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Prep for Baking
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper muffin liners. Peel and dice the fresh apples.
- Mix Wet and Dry Ingredients
Whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon until well blended. Whisk together the eggs, melted butter, sugar, and milk in a separate bowl.
- Combine into Batter
Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and slowly whisk until combined.
- Add Apple Pieces
Fold the diced apples into the batter. Be careful to just mix them in evenly but not over-mix.
- Fill Muffin Tin Cups
Fill the prepared muffin cups ¾ full. This is a thicker batter so I find using an ice cream scoop makes this easier and adds the perfect amount of batter.
- Topping
Sprinkle the butter and cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over each muffin.
- Cooking Time
Bake the Apple Cinnamon Muffins for 20-24 minutes until they’re golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the muffins cool completely before adding the icing.
- Vanilla and Cinnamon Icing
Whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon until smooth. Then drizzle the smooth vanilla icing over the Apple Muffins. Let the icing harden for 20 minutes before serving.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Crumble Topping:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter , cold, cubed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Apple Cinnamon Muffins:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3 large eggs , lightly beaten
- 1 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2 Honeycrisp apples , cored, peeled and diced (about 1 pound)
Cinnamon Vanilla Icing:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- To make the crumble topping smash together the sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon with a fork until just combined.
- Refrigerate the topping for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line two 12 cup muffin trays with paper liner cups.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until well combined (this will help the muffins be tender).
- In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, melted butter, sugar and milk.
- Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture slowly while whisking.
- Whisk until the mixture is just barely combined (do not over-mix).
- Fold in the apples.
- Fill the muffin liners ¾ full.
- Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the muffins in clumps to make nice crumbs.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool completely.
- To make icing, whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon until smooth and drizzle the thick icing over the muffins.
- Let sit 20 minutes to harden.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Note: Baking Apples
Whenever I’m baking with apples, I use firm apples that hold their shape well, like Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, or Fuji Apples. These varieties provide a nice texture without becoming mushy. They also have a stronger, tart apple flavor that doesn’t get lost in the batter. You’ll also want to peel your apples for this recipe. The skin won’t have time to break down and soften so it will add an unpleasant texture if you leave it on.
Can this be made ahead of time?
- Bake Ahead: You can bake the muffins a week in advance. Once cooled completely, store them in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Refrigeration: If you want them to last longer, you can refrigerate them for up to two weeks. Just be sure they’re completely cooled before placing them in a container to avoid condensation, which can make them soggy.
- Freezing: For even longer storage, you can freeze the muffins. To freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container. They can be frozen for up to three months.
Nutritional Facts
How to Store
- Store: To keep them fresh, let the muffins cool, then put them in an airtight container. Although they can stay good in the fridge for up to 1 week, their texture stays best if you store them at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Freeze: After letting the muffins cool, you can also put them in an airtight container to freeze them for up to 3 months.
Frequent Questions
Do not overmix the wet and dry ingredients to avoid making tough muffins. If you mix the batter too much, it produces an excess of gluten, which makes baked goods denser. Mix until just combined for perfectly fluffy muffins.
Be careful not to overmix the batter, as this can lead to dense muffins. Mix until just combined, with some lumps remaining. Sift your dry ingredients before adding so that they mix easier with less stirring.
Variations
- Different Fruit: Instead of making apple muffins, you can use the same base recipe but add different kinds of fruit. Try making peach, banana, blueberry, pear, or any other fruit muffin you like with this muffin batter.
- Mix-ins: Just like you can replace the apples with different kinds of fruit, you could substitute the fruit with other mix-ins. For example, if you want chocolate chip muffins, replace the chopped apples with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Add chopped nuts, flaked coconut, toffee bits, or your other favorite baking mix-ins.
- Maple Crumb Topping: You can make a rich maple syrup and brown sugar blend instead of the white sugar sweet crumb topping in this recipe. Add 3 tablespoons butter, ½ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to a small bowl. Use a fork or pastry cutter to combine the brown sugar mixture into coarse crumbs. Then add it to the Apple Cinnamon Muffins before baking.
- Healthy Apple Muffins: You can replace half of the white flour in the recipe with whole wheat flour to make healthier muffins. The wheat flour adds more vitamins and nutrients, but I find that if you completely eliminate the white flour, the healthy apple muffins turn out too dense. You could also make gluten-free apple muffins with almond, oat, or coconut flour.
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More Delicious Apple Muffins
I had to add about a quarter cup of flour (by weight, I weigh everything). I followed the suggestion and used dark brown sugar in the batter (not the topping). I did remove 2 Tbsp of milk to try to compensate for it, but it was still WAY too liquid (thinner than pancake batter consistency). I sprinkled about a quarter cup of extra flour through a small sieve and gently folded it in with a spatula until I got a batter I could scoop.
It would help to know how much liquid we are supposed to substract if we want to use brown sugar, specially if you are going to suggest we could use it instead of white. I really hope I get an answer on that.
After 20 minutes in my oven (traditional, not convection), the muffins were ready. I got 27 of them, with about a third of topping left (I guess I was too stingy with how much to put on each muffin).
They are, however, absolutely delicious.
Reducing the liquid by a couple tablespoons is a great hack but is also optional. When we’ve tested our muffin recipes with brown sugar they still had about the same consistency and it wasn’t necessary to adjust the liquid. If the batter was that runny, I suspect there are some other troubleshooting needed because a brown sugar swap shouldn’t have caused that much excess liquid. I’m so glad to hear you loved them and good for you in troubleshooting your recipe to your desired batter consistency!