Apple Spice Muffins are loaded with fresh apples and lots of cinnamon spice flavors! These light, moist, muffins are topped with a cinnamon streusel!
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Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg add so much depth to these muffins. Check out Porch.com for delicious ways to incorporate different kinds of spices into your baking. These muffins are popular with kids and adults for breakfast and snacks like my Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins and these delicious Lemon Muffins.
Why this recipe works
These apple muffins scream fall flavor and are the perfect treat to make during apple season, yet they're well-rounded and easy enough to make all year round. These muffins are made with simple ingredients like my Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins. Apple muffins have the perfect combination of warm fall spices. Homemade muffins are the perfect quick breakfast, after-school snack, or dessert.
Ingredients needed
- Apples: I like to use Granny Smith or Gala apples but any variety can be used.
- Flour: All purpose flour
- Baking powder, baking soda, and salt
- Spices: cinnamon and nutmeg
- Butter: unsalted
- Sugar: white sugar and packed brown sugar
- Eggs: room temperature large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Oats: old fashioned oats. This recipe was not tested with other oat varieties.
How to make Apple Spice Muffins
- Step 1: In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Step 2: In a separate large mixing bowl, cream butter, and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well mixed.
- Step 3: Carefully and gradually, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix everything well together.
- Step 4: Add in apple pieces and stir them in.
- Step 5: In a separate small bowl, add the streusel topping by mixing the sugars, cinnamon, flour, oats, and melted butter together.
- Step 6: Use a fork to mix the topping together.
- Step 7: Add muffin batter to the muffin tin wells. Don't overfill- just add enough to be just below the top. Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.
- Step 8: Add crumble topping to each well. Bake muffins and enjoy.
What Apples Are Best for baking?
When choosing the apples you want to use for these muffins, make sure you choose a more firm apple. In my opinion, the best apples for baking muffins are Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Braeburn, and Gala. All of these varieties of apples are firm enough to stand up to the heat of the oven without turning to mush. They also have a tart flavor that pairs nicely with the sweetness of the other ingredients in the muffin batter. Sweet apples, like Pink Lady, Fuji, or Red Delicious apples tend to be on the softer side and can break down quickly in the oven.
Recipe Tips
- Either spray each muffin well with baking spray or use paper liners to help make removing the muffins from the muffin pan easier.
- You could swap the cinnamon and nutmeg out for apple pie spice in these moist apple muffins.
- Sweeten these cinnamon apple muffins up even more by preparing a milk and powdered sugar glaze to drizzle on top of the crumb topping.
- Instead of diced apples, you could use grated apple to add to the muffin batter.
Recipe Faq's
Yes, you can make mini muffins! Follow the same instructions, fill your mini muffin tins, and just reduce the baking times. It will take about 10 to 12 minutes, but check them early.
Absolutely! Once the apple cinnamon muffins are cooled wrap each one in plastic wrap and place it in a large ziplock freezer bag. These apple cinnamon muffins should be kept for up to 2 months in the freezer. Let them thaw at room temperature
overnight before reheating and enjoying again. You can reheat these tasty muffins in the oven, or zap them in the microwave until warmed through.
Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days for the best freshness. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze, wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer bag or freezer-safe container.
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Apple Spice Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups apples finely chopped (I use granny Smith and Gala)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Streusel Topping
- 1/3 cup brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or use liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a separate mixing bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well mixed.
- Stir in apples and gradually add in flour mixture. Set aside.
Streusel Topping
- In a small bowl add the sugars, cinnamon, oats, flour, and melted butter and mix until combined.
- Fill muffin wells with batter to just below the top, then divide the crumble topping evenly over the muffins.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean after inserting into the middle of the muffin.
- Cool in pan about 5 minutes before removing. Continue cooling on the wire rack.
So happy you loved them Elyse. It should make 12 muffins if you fill the tins to the top with the batter 🙂
I can’t believe how amazing these turned out. Better than any muffins I’ve ever made before. I did have a ton of leftover batter and topping, not sure if it was meant to make 16. Amazing recipe.
Hope you love them, Terri!
These sound amazing! I'm going to the store today to buy the needed ingredients.
There is a print button on all of my recipe cards.
I want to print the rec[pes?