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
I substituted all-purpose gluten-free flour (xantham-free) and they turned out great. Will be adding this to the recipe book.
Thanks, Marie!
Delicious! The perfect balance of cinnamon, sugar, and apple. Definitely making this again! Thank you for sharing your talent!
Thanks, Ashley!
Hi Robyn, I am excited to try them tomorrow. Was just wondering if one can add a bit of ground ginger to it as well?
I haven’t tried this with added ginger, Shagun, but let me know how it turns out if you do.
My kids love these muffins. I accidentally added one extra egg. Definitely a keeper. 🙂
Thanks, Belinda.
Just FYI, I recently made these muffins for a neighbor and substituted gluten free flour for all-purpose flour. The muffins were a huge hit! They turned out perfectly, even with the substitution.
Thanks for information, Romi. There are many who may need to make these gluten free.
These muffins exceeded my expectations! Followed the recipe exactly as stated and everyone LOVED them. Saving the recipe to make again 🙂
Thanks, Taylor!
Easy and clear recipe! I was out of eggs when I was making this but I added apple sauce instead and they still came out amazing!!
Thanks, Maite.
Would it bake well in a cake tin too instead of as muffins?
I have not made this as a cake, Ruhi, but other people have commented that they have.
The topping recipe calls for 1/4 sugar and 1/4 cup of cinnamon. Hopefully, everyone knows not to put that much cinnamon.
Did 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and the muffins were fantastic.
These are spectacular – I made them for my folks recently and wow! Do they freeze well? When I make them and it’s just for me, it would be great to store them in the freezer so I don’t eat them all in one go!
These muffins do freeze well, Julia. 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!
Looking to make a new item for all my clients for breakfast
Best ever muffins
Thanks, Janine!
Do these freeze ok, has anyone kept some in the freezer – for a rainy day 😁
These muffins do freeze well, Christine. 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!
In the future I’m going to only use 1 tsp of cinnamon in the batter. Otherwise delicious!