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 are amazing! I have tried a few apple cinnamon recipes and none of them have turned out this amazing. Even my kids loved them. Thank you for sharing this! Its going in the family recipe book.
Thanks, Rachel. I’m so glad these were a hit with your family!
The ingredients ask for milk but it’s not mentioned anywhere in the method?
I’m sorry you missed this in the instructions. Instruction 5 in the recipe, “Gently fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk.”
These muffins are fantastic!! I made my first batch last week and loved them so much that I made 3 batches yesterday and shared them with family and friends…. everyone absolutely loved them! I use 2 1/2 cups apples as I love apples! Thank you for sharing this recipe Robyn!
Thanks, Janet. So nice of you to share. I’m glad everyone enjoyed them. xo
These are soooo yummy! The house smelled amazing and even my neighbors were asking what the amazing smell was 😉 have you tried any substitutes for the butter, milk and eggs?
I haven’t made these with substitutes, Kelly, but others have left comments that they have used coconut milk instead of the milk, coconut oil instead of the butter, and applesauce or chia seeds plus water and ground flax seed plus water for the eggs. I hope this helps.
Quick question. Do you peal the apples?
It’s really a personal preference, Emily. Most of the time I peel mine.
Wow I can’t wait to try these I bet they delicious 😋!! 🙂
Hope you enjoy the muffins, Mckayla.
Thank you Robyn!! I tried the no sugar version of the same and substituted some dates with the apples and it worked a charm!!! Love this and love you!
Thanks, Tanya. I’m glad you found substitutes that worked for your needs.
I have apple sauce to use up, how much do you think I should use since i won’t be using diced apples?
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried making these muffins with applesauce, Meagan.
I just made these they are fantastic the only difference, is I made them in little loafs. I also added pumpkin pie spice, it made it so much more flavourful.
This sounds great, Jeannette.
I used turbinado sugar!
These were so delicious last night I made them again today after my family devoured all 12.
Thank you.
So glad everyone loved the muffins, Mariela!
Soooo yummy! I’ve had a craving for these and this recipe balances it perfectly!!
Thanks, Abbey!
Delicious and easy!!!
Thank you, Lauren!
I loved these!! Quick and easy to make and SO good!!
Thanks, May!
These are literally the best muffins I’ve ever made/ tasted! They taste like a hybrid between Apple fritters and cinnamon donuts I’m obsessed with. THANK YOU!
So happy you love these muffins, Alyssa. Love your description of the taste. xo
I made these for my daughter’s kindy as they were studying the letter A. They were so good that two teachers stopped me to ask for the recipe, so I’m back to send it to them and thought I’d leave a review.
Thanks, Ashleigh. So glad everyone enjoyed the muffins. It is always a treat when someone asks for the recipe, isn’t it? xo
Wonderful
hello!
Could I substitute butter with oil? if yes, same quantity?
Anastasia, I haven’t made these with oil but it should work fine. Several people have commented on here that they substituted the butter with coconut oil and it worked great. You would use an equal amount of oil as the butter.