These soft and fluffy Apple Cinnamon Muffins make a delicious fall breakfast or snack. They’re filled with the flavors of apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla and baked to perfection.
Along with our apple fritter bread, these muffins are one of our favorite ways to start a fall morning. This recipe comes together quickly and easily and it’s filled with warm and cozy flavors.
Recipe overview
Muffins: This muffin batter comes together in minutes. Freshly grated apples, apple cider, vanilla, and cinnamon gives these muffins fantastic flavor. The muffins themselves are mildly sweet since they also have a cinnamon sugar topping and an optional icing.
Topping: Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar right before baking. This topping gets a little crunchy and adds a sweet-cinnamon flavor to every bite.
Icing (optional): Looking to add a little something extra to your muffins? A simple mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and cinnamon creates a delicious cinnamon icing.
Recipe tips
For added apple flavor this recipe uses apple cider and fresh apples. If you don’t have apple cider you can replace it with apple juice or milk.
Grating the apples ensures that there is apple flavor running all throughout the muffins. The grated apple also bakes more quickly than chopped apple.
Use your favorite baking apples. I like honeycrisp, fuji, or pink lady apples for this recipe.
After grating the apples use only the grated apple flesh, NOT the excess juice that might accumulate while grating. The extra juice might make the muffins too wet.
Don’t overmix the batter, as this can make the muffins tough. Mix just until each step of the ingredients is combined.
Use an ice cream scoop to add the batter into the muffin cups.
Serving and storage
Serving: Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. These muffins are extra delicious topped with honey butter or maple butter.
Storage: Leftover muffins can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The muffins can be frozen for up to 2 months. Split and heat or toast lightly before serving.
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Recipe
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 2 cups all purpose flour*
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup apple cider, preferred or apple juice or milk
- 2 medium sized apples peeled and grated**
Topping:
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Icing (optional):
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 12-count muffin tin or line with paper liners.
Muffins:
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until combined and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add half the dry ingredients, beating until just combined. Add the cider/milk, beating until combined, then beat in the remaining flour. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon stir in the grated apples (leaving out any excess juice that accumulated when grating the apples).
- Scoop the dough into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup almost all the way to the top. I use an ice cream scoop for this.
Topping:
- Combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon for the topping, then sprinkle it on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 22-26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out without raw batter on it. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes then remove the muffins from the pan and place directly on the rack to finish cooling. Once cool, add icing (if using).
Icing:
- Whisk all ingredients until smooth, increasing the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Adjust the consistency by adding more powdered sugar (to thicken) or more milk (to thin). Use a small spoon to drizzle icing over the tops of the cooled muffins.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Natasha
Hey! Could I substitute the amount of whole wheat flour with all purpose flour (so I’d have 1 cup and 1/4) if I wanted to have regular apple cinnamon muffins?! Thank you.
Celebrating Sweets
Hi Natasha. Yes, that substitution should be just fine. Enjoy!
Janis
I served them with apple butter. They were delicious.
Rona Ehlers
What does fluffing the flour mean. This is a new one for me.
Thank you.
Allison
Use your measuring cup (or a spoon) to scoop and fluff the the flour. The flour settles when it is stored and this lightens it up so that it isn’t over-measured.
Vicky
Why not leave out the cider/juice until the apples are grated, then use the excess juice from the apples instead? Less wasteful and you have fresh juice in them.
Allison
Hi, Vicky. Two grated apples won’t produce enough juice. Yes, you could reduce the cider and use the grated apple juice but the exact amount would be hard for me to determine since the amount of juice an apple produces can vary. If you’re an experienced baker and you’re comfortable playing around with it, go for it! Enjoy!