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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
Apple and cinnamon is a classic pairing for a reason; there’s just something so perfect about spicy, warming cinnamon and fresh, juicy apples! This recipe not only brings all of those great, comforting flavours to the plate, but it tops them off with a crunchy, flavorful streusel that I’m sure you’ll love!
Looking for more delicious apple desserts that go beyond your everyday apple pie? Check out my Brown Sugar Glazed Apple Cake, Cinnamon Spice Upside Down Apple Cake, or Apple Brown Betty this fall!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: These muffins are easy to make! Get your kids or partner to help out with the crumble to make it a fun group activity!
- Total Time: These muffins come together in 30 minutes, prep and bake time included!
- Variations: Choose your favorite apple variety for this recipe—we suggest Granny Smith or Bramley, but you can use a crisp MacIntosh if you prefer!
- Tools For This Recipe: You’ll need a muffin tin, muffin liners, a whisk, a box grater (for shredding your apples), and a pastry cutter (to get your butter properly incorporated into your crumble) for this recipe.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Apples: A good rule of thumb is to only use apples you like the taste of yourself. If you like a firm apple in your muffin, make sure to reach for a baking variety, like the Northern Spy, Honeycrisp, or Braeburn varieties. For softer apple pieces, go for Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, or Cortland varieties. McIntosh and Golden Delicious apples are also great choices, but make sure that the fruit is crisp and not mealy!
White and Brown Sugar: Using a mixture of white and brown sugar makes for the best balance of flavour, texture, moisture, and fluffiness!
Spices: Make sure that your spices, like ground cinnamon and nutmeg, are stored in airtight containers away from light and dampness to keep them tasting their best!
Butter: You’ll need melted butter for the muffin batter and fridge-cold butter for the crumble mix!
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Muffins
This is a quick overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and line or grease a 12 well muffin tin. Then whisk together your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine your egg, melted butter, and milk in a measuring cup, then add to the dry ingredients, combining well.
- Add your prepared apples to the muffin batter and mix in.
- Divide the muffin batter evenly between 12 muffin cups.
- Prepare your streusel by whisking together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the crumble reaches the consistency of wet sand.
- Top the muffins with your streusel mixture evenly and bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick or pastry tester comes out clean.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for the Perfect Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- That’s Just Grate: To make it easier to incorporate your cold butter into your streusel mixture without running the risk of it melting, make sure to use the coldest butter you can! Grating the butter ahead of time and putting it back into the fridge to firm up before incorporating it into your dry ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter will help!
- Crumbs Aplenty: Although you can absolutely make this recipe without the streusel and still have a batch of tender, fluffy muffins! However, the crunchy, sweet, and spicy topping adds a delightful textural contrast that I’m sure you’ll enjoy!
Storage Instructions
After letting your muffins cool completely, you can store them at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
Freezer: Let your muffins cool completely and put them in a freezer-safe, airtight container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months. To reaheat them, you can either let them thaw at room temperature, or heat them from frozen in the microwave in 10 second increments to enjoy warm!
More Delicious Muffin Recipes
- For another cozy classic, why not try my Banana Nut Muffins?
- Looking for a more sophisticated bite? Check out my Cranberry Orange Muffins, guaranteed to give your local coffee shop’s offerings a run for their money!
- My Strawberry Muffins are a fantastic way to use up fresh strawberries!
- Looking for more great fall flavours? Try my decadent Double Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins!
Not only are these muffins the perfect accompaniment to your afternoon cup of tea or coffee, they’re also excellent additions to a lunchbox! I’m sure you’ll be adding streusel to more of your favorite muffin recipes once you realize how easy it is to make, too!
Give this recipe a try and let me know how it turns out for you in the comments below!
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 medium apples , peeled cored and shredded
Streusel Topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup salted butter, cold
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line a 12 well muffin tin with liners, or grease well.
- Whisk together all your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine your egg, butter and milk in a measuring cup .Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, combining thoroughly.
- Add in your prepared apples and mix in.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups.
- For the streusel, whisk together the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Grate the cold butter into the mixture, then use a fork to combine and make it as crumbly as possible
- Top the muffins with the streusel mixture, dividing it evenly between the 12 muffins.
- Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean,
- Remove and cool on a baking rack, then store in a closed container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Notes
- Change it up by using my apple pie spice in the recipe!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Di carbis says
Sounds really great .I will make them soon,will love to taste them soon.
Judy says
I will try these muffins without the topping. Less sugar for me. Love apples and cinnamon.