Cinnamon Apple Muffins Recipe
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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
Thank you for sharing your recipe. My muffins turned out great. Big hit at home and at work. One large red delicious apple gave me the 2 cups of apples I needed. I used plain greek yogurt instead of milk, sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on top prior to baking, and I lowered the baking temperature to 350.
Thanks, John. So glad these muffins were a hit!
Easy to make and very delicious. I made these tonight so my family could have for tomorrow’s breakfast, but my family has almost finished them all! Hee, hee😄 will definitely have to be making more of these, it is a winner. Thank you!😊
I’m so glad everyone loved the muffins. Maybe they saved enough for breakfast! xo
SOOOOO GOOD! I did some modifications – half whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar and reduced the cinnamon in the topping. Will definitely keep this recipe. Thanks!
Thanks, MJ.
Perfect balance. I really Fluffed eggs in one by one. This created such a bouncy and moist muffin. I definitely cut the cinnamon to 1/8 and the top was still warming and sweet.
1/4 CUP of cinnamon for the topping?
I make these with the 1/4 cup cinnamon for the topping and everyone in my family loves them. As I state in the Notes section, you can reduce the amount if you want. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Robyn!! I love ALL of your recipes! So excited to try these muffins- any advice on baking time/heat if I want to make these in my jumbo muffin pan?
Thanks!
Beth
Beth, I haven’t made these as jumbo muffins but I would use same 375º F. heat and bake just a few minutes longer. I would start checking them at 30 minutes. Hope you enjoy them.
I’m excited to make these muffins but have a question. On the ingredient list it mentions coating apples with flour and cinnamon, but in the directions it just mentions flour. Is this an error? Thanks!
Thanks for catching that, Sandy. I have updated the instructions. You mix the 2 teaspoons flour with the 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to coat the apples.
I have made this amazing recipe countless times and it is always a success, I get lots of compliments and when are you making apple muffins again, my daughter absolutely loves them and she is hard to please.
I am awful at baking but this recipe, Robyn, I could sell the muffins 🙂
Thank you so much.
Xxx
Thanks so much, Jenny! So glad this recipe is such a success for you! xo
Could you sub plain flour/baking powder for SR flour instead? Can’t get plain flour at shops 🙁
Teneille, follow my recipe for How to Make Self Rising-Flour and you can always make your own. Hope you enjoy your muffins.
So perfect! Second time I made them I added clove, nutmeg and cardamom with cinnamon for a total of 2 teaspoons. Even better.
Thanks, Melanie!
The muffins were very tasty. I might try substituting apple juice/cider for some of the milk for even more apple flavor.
So happy you liked the muffins, Marnie! I haven’t tried substituting apple juice or cider for milk. Let me know how it does.
These muffins are delicious! Can they be frozen? If so, what’s the best way to reheat?
These muffins do freeze well, Jenn. Just cool them completely, wrap securely so they are airtight, and freeze for up to 3 months. You can either let them thaw at room temperature or heat frozen, unwrapped in the microwave or wrapped in foil in the oven. Hope you enjoy!
I really want to try this, would I be able to use salted butter? If I do, would I need to adjust the salt in the batter?
Sure, salted butter would be great, Veronica. You may want to adjust the salt added in the recipe if you want. Hope you enjoy the muffins.
Great recipe, my home smells great! I substituted with cloud 9 flour(rice flour, buckwheat flour) its cup for cup as reg flour). Also used coconut sugar.
Thanks, Debbie. I’m so happy you liked this recipe and glad you could adapt it to your needs. I love how my house smells every time I make these, too.