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 all-purpose flour, + 2 teaspoons for coating apples
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, + 1/2 teaspoon for coating apples
- 2 cups diced apples
- ½ cup unsalted butter, , room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk
For the Topping:
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup 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 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Mix 2 teaspoons flour with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. 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
Can I use muffin tin liners?
You can use liners for the muffin tins if you want, Tyler.
Forgot to rate this recipe, duh! Five stars without question.
Made these today after getting a few from a friend. Followed the recipe exactly except used only 1/4 cup of butter (1/2 stick) for the topping as suggested by many reviewers. I brushed the butter on each warm muffin before dipping into the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Used two honey crisp apples which made almost two cups exactly. Great directions; easy to put together. The muffins were fabulous while they lasted. Thanks, Robyn.
Thank you. I love these muffins with Honey Crisp apples.
Made these for the first time and they were amazing. I made them as listed with one exception: I put all of the ingredients except the apples in and stirred them in at one time. It was a real time saver and they turned out perfectly.
Thanks, Liz. So glad they turned out well for you and you loved these muffins. Thanks!
I used 1.5 cups of apples, but didn’t have everything I needed, so subbed brown sugar instead of white, and bread flour instead of all purpose. The result was a delicious, hearty muffin perfect for a breakfast on the go! Skipped the topping as well, so the muffins were the perfect amount of sweetness.
one complaint…5 minutes of prep time? took me a solid 15-20 even on my third time making it! other than that, I loved this recipe!
Jonathan, I’m happy you liked these muffins even with your substitutions. The prep time in a recipe refers to the time it takes to follow the steps in the instructions up to the cook time. The time it takes to peel, chop, dice, melt, etc. varies so much with different people that the time to mix the batter after all ingredients are prepped and pour the batter into the muffins tins is a more accurate time.
Great recipe! I recommend using at least a tablespoon of cinnamon to make that flavor pop a bit more, but it’s delicious!
Thanks so much, Ruthie!
Great recipe! My family loved it and they are super easy to make. I skipped the cinnamon sugar topping only because we prefer less sweet and it was perfect. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks, Bimal! I’m so glad your family loved these muffins. My family loves them without the topping sometimes, too.
These are delicious! They are so moist and the perfect blend of apples and cinnamon and they were so easy to make! I love this recipe will definitely make them again. I also loved the topping the only thing I would change is the butter for the topping I found half a cup was too much I had a lot leftover. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed these muffins, Sara.
This! 🤩 I shredded the apples instead, and substituted 20% of the flour to wholemeal spelt, and they were absolutely DIVINE! Moist, fluffy, scrumptious. Everybody loved them. New favorite fall recipe 😍
Thanks, Sarah, for the tips. I’m so glad these worked so well for you.
Hi there I’m new at counting calories and I’m wondering if the nutritional facts are for the whole batch or per muffin ? By the way these muffins are the best I’ve had yet!
Ashley, I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins. The nutritional information is for each muffin including the topping.