Cinnamon Apple Muffins Recipe
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Cinnamon Apple Muffins are so scrumptious and full of warm cinnamon and crisp apple bits and finished with a cinnamon sugar topping. Favorite bakery style muffins recipe with amazing flavor and aroma, perfect to enjoy anytime.
And believe me, when autumn rolls around, these babies are in high demand.
In reality, they are perfect as a year-round breakfast treat, but for some reason, I immediately associate them with cool autumn mornings with all that cinnamon and apple deliciousness they have in their favor.
And luckily, these babies definitely have lots going on in their favor!
These cinnamon apple muffins use just one apple to make a dozen muffins, but if you prefer more apple bits in your muffins, by all means, I’d increase it to two. Dice them small so that the pieces of apple aren’t overwhelming when you take a bite of muffin. You want every single bite to be well-balanced in flavor and texture.
What Apples to Use for Cinnamon Apple Muffins?
You can use whichever baking apple you prefer. I like to use Braeburn, Rome, Jon Gold, Gala, Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, and SweeTango apples in these muffins. I also like that when I bite into the apple pieces, I still know that it is apple and not make me think it is applesauce or apple butter included. Don’t you?
Along with apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, you’ll just need some butter, milk, baking powder, salt, and eggs. The classic ingredients for a cinnamon apple muffin, I think. Nothing weird here.
Once the muffins are in the oven baking, I like to brown a little bit of butter and mix together a bowl of cinnamon sugar. Then, once the muffins have cooled slightly, I dip the tops of the muffins into the slightly warm brown butter and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Talk about perfection!
Amazingly enough though, folks don’t just eat the tops of the muffins and then forget about the sweet little base. They gobble the whole thing up it’s so well balanced in flavors.
But, just in case you were wondering, you can skip that indulgent little coating on the top, but I seriously recommend you don’t.
These muffins are so easy to make ahead so you can have this delicious muffin when ever you want.
Freeze instructions: You can make these muffins ahead and store them in an airtight container for a couple of days or freeze them to keep them longer up to 3 months. Just cool the muffins completely, wrap them in 2 layers of freezer wrap so they are airtight and place them in the freezer. You can also freeze them after you add the topping.
To Reheat: You can either let them thaw at room temperature or heat them frozen, unwrapped in the microwave, or wrapped in foil in the oven. If you want, you can wait and add the topping after you reheat them.
Other Favorite Muffin Recipes
More Muffin Recipes
Here’s my Cinnamon Apple Muffins. Make them soon.
Cinnamon Apple Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 +.02 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour, for coating apples
- 1½ teaspoons (6 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (1 g) kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons (5 + 1 g) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, for coating apples
- 2 cups (240 g) diced apples
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large (100 g) eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (9 g) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (113.5 g) milk
For the Topping:
- 1/2 cup (113 g) butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (31 g) ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º F. Spray muffin tins with bakers spray or coat well with shortening or butter and flour, making sure to discard any excess flour from the tins after coating.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Mix flour with ground cinnamon used to coat the apples. Toss diced apples with the flour/cinnamon mixture to coat apples in a separate bowl. Set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add an egg, one at a time, taking care to fully incorporate before adding the other. Mix in vanilla.
- Gently fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk. Stir until just combined. Fold in diced apples and scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Prepare topping for muffins while the muffins are baking by melting the butter and allowing to cool slightly. Pour butter into a separate bowl sized easy for dipping tops of muffins. Mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside.
- Once muffins have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the muffin tin. Then, remove each muffin and brush the butter on with a pastry brush (or dip into the melted butter) and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place onto a plate to finish cooling.
Notes
The original recipe called for a 1 to 1 mixture of sugar and cinnamon. If you prefer a less cinnamon flavor in your topping, reduce the mixture to 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
These sound delicious!! But is there really supposed to be an additional 1/2 Cup of cinnamon to the 2.5 tsp?
I made this recipe just this morning the only thing I changed was I used a little less flour and for the topping I used brown sugar and cream cheese along with the butter. Came out scrumptous! Thanks! Definitely the best apple muffin recipe out there!
I used brown sugar instead of granulated sugar and instead of cinnamon sugar, I topped the muffins with cream cheese frosting while they were still hot. Other than that, I followed the recipe precisely and they did not rise with a “muffin top”. The crust is kind of hard and they stuck to the pan. I cooked at the listed temp on the middle rack. I’m thinking maybe because I’m considered a high altitude location they didn’t turn out right. A lower temp might’ve helped but I hate that they didn’t rise. The taste is good at least.
Hi Michelle,
If you are considered at a high altitude, I would definitely suggest that you adjust them for your altitude next time.
First time I made these I must have overmixed as they turned out really small and not fluffly. I just made them again and wow, these are truly amazing. Little crunchy on the top and fluffy/light in the middle with great apple hints. I made the butter topping and also a simple icing sugar/lemon topping and split it across the dozen – fantastic.
Please share your tip on what worked for u. I baked mine this morning and it didnt rise much with the muffin top.
I may have over mixed too.
Thank much.
Just wondering if I was to make a large number of these to take to work, could I freeze them? thanks.
Sure Christina, you should be able to freeze them just fine! xo
What did I do wrong? I followed this recipe to the “T” and they just didnt turn out like the picture. when I was finished making the batter it was very very thick!! I was wondering if it needed another 1/2 cup milk. Sad they didnt turn out but I can say my husband did like them.
Best Muffins I have ever made, I agree on the cinnamon amount, I only 1 tablespoon. Besides that these were fabulous!!! I have already made them twice in a week!!
I wish I knew how to post a picture! I added way to much butter for the topping so it was more like a brown sugar glaze and holy smokes just dripping goey delicious. Muffins were so soft and moist! I didn’t peel my apples it was fine and added a half tsb of nutmeg. Thank you for sharing we love it!
I made these muffins tonight and they turned out fantastic. I was so impressed at how light and fluffy they turned out. After I added the last egg I had to beat the mixture for roughly an extra 5 – 7 minutes so the sugar could dissolve. I also used the electric mixer on the lowest speed to fold in the flour and milk. Thank you for such a great recipe.
Love them! I used 2 shredded apples (peel and all). My husband does not like apple cake/muffins because of the apple pieces, but when I shredded the apples he really loved these. Too bad for me, because I love the apple pieces. Next time I’ll divide and make one batch with apple pieces, and one with shredded apple for my picky husband 😉 Thank you for the recipe!