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
Hi ! I’ll try this amazing recipe but I wonder if i can use greek yogurt instead of butter and in wich quantity. Could you help me Please? Thank you!
Hi. I simply love your blog.
I baked this today but it didnt puff up like yours. Is your texture fluffy and cake like?
Mine was dense but moist. Love the flavor.
Can I use Self Raising Flour instead?Do I omit the baking powder? I would prefer it less dense. How can I achieve
fluffy muffins. Cou;d I have overmixed the flour?
Love to hear your advise.
Thansk
I just made these using Paula Red apples, delicious. I found my baking time to beabout 20 minutes, so keep an eye on this!Very good and not overly sweet, I will definitely make again.
I’m always looking for ways to use the fruit from my trees. This recipe is perfect for my tasty, but ugly apples. I prefer the skins be left on for the fiber and like others replaced the butter with sauce I made from these apples. I also added in chopped walnuts. I’m also going to try this recipe with my bounty of Italian plums. When I add up the cost of making these I wonder why coffee shops charge so much. I guess it’s the wastage and overhead incurred.
These were the best apple muffins I have EVER had! Made a batch yesterday for dessert and they ended up being so good that I whipped up another batch later that night. While the muffins are in themselves incredibly moist, soft and delicious, the topping make them 5-star. I’m thinking I need to fill my freezer with these! Thanks for a perfect recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Annette!!! xo
I can’t even begin to describe how amazing these are! Super easy and no special shopping required. I will definitely be making these again and again!
Would it also work, as an healthy alternative to sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar before baking, instead of using butter? Thinking of making these again!
Made these this morning. Used applesauce in place of one egg and even used Red Delicious apples. They were excellent and the leftovers are even good cold. My little boys love them so I will probably make them again very soon.
So glad you all enjoyed them, Daphne!
I love these muffins. I just made them this morning in fact. They smelled great and tasted amazing. I went ahead and added 1 and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and substituted Apple sauce in for butter. I’m definitely making these again:)
Really solid recipe! Instead of butter, I used applesauce to make it a bit healthier…also I didn’t have enough butter for it all. They came out thicker and closer to the consistency of a cupcake, which was to be expected, but the applesauce just added to the appliness!