These Apple Muffins are incredibly soft, moist, filled with chunks of fresh apples, and topped with an easy crumb topping. Perfect for breakfast or dessert!
Do you love baking with apples? I love apples because they add so much moisture and flavor to baked goods. So today, I wanted to share one of my favorite apple creations this fall – these apple crumb muffins!
These muffins are incredibly simple to throw together and a great way to use up any extra apples you may have on hand this time of year. I topped these with a crumb topping and a vanilla glaze, but you can easily leave them off for regular apple cinnamon muffins.
These muffins will also freeze well, so you can keep some in the freezer for a rainy day. Plus, who doesn’t love a recipe that doubles as breakfast or dessert?!
How To Make Apple Muffins
To make this easy apple muffin recipe, you’ll start out by whisking together your dry ingredients:
- All-Purpose Flour: The base of any good muffin recipe! Just make sure to use the spoon & level method when measuring your flour.
- Baking Powder & Salt: The baking powder helps the muffins to rise nice and tall and the salt balances out the sweetness.
- Ground Cinnamon & Nutmeg: Apples and cinnamon pair so well together so this one is a must! I love the flavor a little ground nutmeg adds too, but feel free to leave it out if you don’t have any.
Next, you’ll mix together your wet ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter: As always, I stick with unsalted butter because it allows you to control the amount of salt in your baked good. If you only have salted butter on hand, just reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
- Sugar: Since brown sugar pairs so well with apples, there’s a mix of brown sugar and granulated sugar in these muffins. The brown sugar adds flavor and moisture too.
- Eggs & Vanilla Extract: Make sure your eggs are at room temperature before getting started.
- Sour Cream: This helps to keep the muffins moist! You can replace it with plain Greek yogurt if you don’t have any sour cream.
- Milk: I used whole milk here, but any kind will work fine. I prefer to mix the milk into the wet ingredients at the same time as the dry ingredients.
Once you’ve mixed up the dry and wet ingredients, you’ll mix them together until just combined, then you’ll fold in your chopped apples. For these muffins, I used a chopped Fuji apple but any other baking apple will work fine. Once the muffin batter is mixed up, just divide it evenly between 12 muffin liners.
At this point, you can either go ahead and bake the muffins or add a crumb topping before you pop them into the oven. I actually prefer to make the crumb topping first, then refrigerate it while I prep the muffin batter.
To make the crumb topping, you’ll whisk together some flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Then, you’ll cut in a few tablespoons of butter until the mixture is nice and crumbly. This recipe makes quite a bit of batter, so the muffin liners will be really full. It helps to gently press the crumb topping down onto the batter.
After the muffins have baked and cooled completely, you can also top them with a glaze. For the vanilla glaze on these muffins, I just used a simple mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and a little vanilla extract. I’ve included the recipe for the glaze as well in case you want to add it.
FAQ’s
Which apples are best?
Any kind of baking apple will work fine! I used a Fuji apple for these muffins, but some other great options are Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Braeburn apples.
Can you freeze these muffins?
Yes, these muffins will freeze well! Once the muffins have cooled completely you may freeze them in a freezer bag/container for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, just thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the microwave for 20-30 seconds if desired.
Baking Tips For Apple Muffins
- When measuring your flour, make sure to spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife. Too much flour can lead to really dense muffins.
- Make sure all of your ingredients, including the sour cream and milk, are at room temperature before getting started.
- If you’re adding the crumb topping, I suggest preparing it first and placing it in the refrigerator while you prepare the muffin batter.
- This recipe will make 12 large muffins and each liner will be very full with the batter. Feel free to use two muffin pans and make 14 muffins if you prefer though.
More Apple Recipes To Try!
Apple Muffins
Ingredients
For the crumb topping:
- 1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour spooned & leveled
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- tiny pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) cold unsalted butter cubed into small pieces
For the apple muffins:
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour spooned & leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) sour cream or plain Greek yogurt room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk room temperature
- 1 cup (125 grams) chopped apple
Optional: Vanilla Glaze
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 ml)milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the crumb topping:
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Add the cold cubed butter. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the butter into the mixture until it's crumbly and starts to come together.
- Transfer to the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the muffin batter.
To make the apple muffins:
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with 12 liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream until well combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the dry ingredients and the milk and mix until just combined. Fold in the chopped apples.
- Evenly distribute the batter between all 12 muffin liners in the prepared muffin pan, filling them all the way to the top of the liners.
- Remove the crumb topping from the refrigerator and sprinkle on top of each one, gently press it down if needed.
- Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the muffins from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the optional vanilla glaze:
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until well combined and no lumps remain. If the glaze is too thick, add more milk, and if the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar until it has reached your desired consistency.
- Evenly distribute the glaze on top of all 12 muffins once they have cooled.
recipe sounds delicious but could you use applesauce instead of apples and if so, how much to the cup of apples?
thanks
I wouldn’t suggest replacing the apples with applesauce. You may be able to swap out the sour cream for the same amount of applesauce, but I haven’t tried it.