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! Hubby loves them too. For the topping I only used 2 T of butter and 1 tsp cinnamon mixed with 2 tsp sugar. The original amounts seemed like way too much. I still had some leftover too. Anyway…love these.
Thanks, Sandy, so glad you and your husband love these muffins.
Do the apples get soft? Making these for 1 yr old grandson. Is topping absolutely necessary to success? Again for a 1 yr old
Susan, just to make sure the apples are soft enough for your grandson, you may want to cook the apples first until they are soft, then add to the batter. The muffins are still delicious without the topping. I hope you and your grandson love the muffins.
These were amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Robyn- these look delicious! Was hoping to make them for a tailgate next weekend. Are you able to share the best storing instructions for these if I wanted to make them a few days in advance? And do you think these would be just as good as mini muffins? Thank you so much!!
Stacey, you can store these in an airtight container a couple of days or freeze to keep longer, up to 3 months. Just cool the muffins completely, wrap securely so they are airtight and place them in the freezer. You can freeze them after you add the topping. You can either let them thaw at room temperature or heat 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. I think these would be great as mini muffins,too.
What type of apples do you use. I have red delicious left over from a gathering and I’m trying to find a use for them. These look amazing and I want to try, but I’ve heard red delicious may be too soft for baking?
Thank you
Allison, I like to use Braeburn, Rome, Jona Gold, Gala, Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, and SweeTango apples in these muffins. Red Delicious are usually too soft for baking and sometimes will make your muffins mushy.
im currently making these but instead of muffins I doubled it and made it into bread. I also added apple spice and raisins. Thank you❤️
Mrs Littrean, I haven’t tried making this as a loaf but other people have said they did and loved it.
Can I make this into a loaf instead of muffins?
Charm, I haven’t made these muffins as a loaf. However, several have said they have baked this recipe in a loaf pan. Reduce the temperature to 350ºF and bake about 45 – 50 minutes.
Can you freeze these muffins with good success?
Gena, you can freeze these muffins up to 3 months. Just cool the muffins completely, wrap securely so they are airtight and place them in the freezer. You can freeze them after you add the topping. You can either let them thaw at room temperature or heat 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.
these are the best muffins, almost like an apple pie and a cinnamon roll had a muffin baby 😂
Thanks, Cortney, I love that description! So glad you love these muffins.
I made these for work today! They were a hit!
Okay, normally I NEVER comment but these muffins were DEVINE, the moment I had one in my mouth, immediate bliss, I adjusted the recipe here and there but overall it is a fantastic fail-proof recipe, absolutely loved this
Thanks so much, Jennie, for taking the time to let me know how much you loved these muffins.
I’m so glad you liked these muffins, Jennie! Thanks.