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
Such a great cupcake/muffin for a colder day!
These are a keeper!
Changes I made : Added a dash of honey and did not making the topping. I cooked these at 200C for 10-12min.
The ratio of ingredients are great for a nice fluffy cake. Not dense or wet. The muffin top has a nice crunchy crust.
Sooooooo good. 🙂
Thanks Sarah! xo
Loved these muffins! Was thinking about baking the entire batter recipe in a loaf pan instead of muffin tin. Do you think one recipe would be enough for a loaf. Also, how much should the baking time be increased?
Thanks!
Absolutely EXCELLENT delicious need the top I dipped in butter the top
Super delicious
And cut apples a little bigger than diced for visual
Thank you decilious
Baked today. Absolutely divine. Loved them.
Thanks, Syn,
So glad you liked them!
you would have to increase the baking time by 1.5 so about 45-50 minutes!
I can’t wait to try this recipe, it will be later this morning, sounds simply yummy, thank you
Hi Lorna,
Hope you enjoy the muffins!
I have made these muffins twice. They are so delicious! First time I put the topping on and the second time I didn’t. They are great, both ways. I found them dry the first time, so the second time I cut back the cooking time and they were much better.
Hi just made muffins didn’t even have chance to get cool ,my 92year old mother-in-law had three.
So happy you and your mother in law enjoyed them! Thanks Michelle! xo
What a delicious muffin recipe, I made it gluten free by subbing “gluten free plain flour” for the regular flour! I was really craving some muffins, so whipped this up in my Kitchenaid. Sadly I didn’t have fresh apples, so busted out a tin of pie fruit apple slices. It turned it amazing. Secondly, I saw a lot of recipes called for Greek yogurt and I had some leftover to use, so substituted 1/4 cup of the milk with 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt – made them so lovely a moist. Lastly, ran out of ground cinnamon, so I figured what the heck, and used cinnamon sugar from a little jar. Also turned out delicious.
Mixed as per recipe guidelines in the Kitchenaid, then popped into 12 hole muffin tin lined with patty pans, and popped about 1/4 cup in each. Perfect! Topped cinnamon sugar mixture, after dipping in melted butter and then ate straight away whilst hot lol
Thanks so much! Glad you liked them! xo
OMG, to DIE for!!!!!! One must, however be a serious lover of cinnamon to enjoy these!
I “veganized” the recipe by using Melt vegan spread in place of butter and a mixture of ground flax seeds and water (1 Tbsp: 1.5 Tbsp) for eggs.
Mine came out a little over 12 muffins, so I put the rest into a tart pan and made 12 mini muffin tops. I think I may be crowned “apple queen” at work!
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed them Gina! Thanks! xo
I made these muffins for my husband to take to work. I followed the recipe as written (including all the cinnamon) and they were absolute perfection. (I did manage to keep two for myself).. I will be making this again soon to share with family. I have 40+ years of baking and this is by far the best muffin I have ever made. Thanks.
You don’t know how happy this makes me to hear, Jan! Thanks so much! xo
These are amazing. I think they may be the best muffin I’ve ever made, and I make a lot of them. Followed directions precisely and WOW. Thanks for sharing the recipe, it’s a keeper!
I’m tickled that you enjoyed them too! Just the aroma of them is amazing, right?! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with me, Margaret! xo
I made these and added chopped pecans and finely chopped candied ginger to the batter. They turned out so amazing. Love this simple recipe!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wonderful to hear that you love it, Michelle! Thanks! xo
Love this recipe! Its even better if you do half regular flour, and half almond flour. And if you add chocolate chips.