These apple cinnamon muffins start with an easy muffin batter that’s flavored with cinnamon, brown sugar, and plenty of juicy apples. We use the same base recipe when making blueberry muffins because the simple batter produces moist, soft, and cakey muffins with tall muffin tops. They’re always a favorite! Enjoy the muffins plain or top them with crumb topping before baking and smooth vanilla icing before serving. If you love apple cinnamon bread, you’ll enjoy these apple muffins!
These crumb-topped apple muffins have been a personal and reader favorite since I published the recipe in 2014. When you crave a big slice of apple pie for breakfast, these apple-studded muffins fill the gap 🙂
Tell Me About These Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Flavor: These are buttery muffins where apple and cinnamon flavors take over. It’s always disappointing when you bite into a muffin and there’s hardly any “stuff” like blueberries, chocolate chips, etc. Today we’re using extra apples so you get the delicious fruit in nearly each bite. If you’re looking for a fall baking recipe where apples shine, this recipe fits the bill!
- Texture: The apple cinnamon muffins are moist because we add yogurt or sour cream to the batter. just like we do when making sour cream coffee cake. And because we start with creamed butter and sugars, the muffins are soft, light, and cakey like a cupcake. We don’t overload the batter with milk (use only 1/4 cup (60ml)), so you still have a slightly dense texture. I like to describe these muffins as having the perfect harmonious balance between soft and dense!
- Ease: I categorize this recipe as a beginner baking recipe because you use simple ingredients and easy mixing methods. An electric mixer is key for creaming the butter and sugars together and if you decide to add the icing, you just need a whisk. Some crumb toppings require cold butter and a pastry cutter to mix, but we’re using melted butter here so you just need a fork. Easy! All of the ingredients used are baking staples, so there’s nothing new or difficult. I love easygoing recipes that produce consistently delicious results and know you appreciate that too!
Why This Apple Cinnamon Muffin Recipe Works
Today’s muffin recipe uses my all-star muffin batter. This batter can be used to create endless muffin varieties and you’ll see it again in my blueberry muffins, peach muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, cranberry orange muffins, and more. In fact, this “Master Muffin Batter” has become such a hit with readers that I created a separate page dedicated to all its possibilities: Best Muffin Recipe. It starts with basic dry ingredients like flour, baking powder + soda, and salt. More often than not, I add ground cinnamon and you’ll see its addition in today’s apple cinnamon version. The wet ingredients are just as straightforward—creamed butter with sugars, plus 2 eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream/plain yogurt, and milk. I use either plain Greek yogurt or sour cream based on what I have and the same goes for the milk. Use whole milk, 1%, almond milk, buttermilk, oat milk, etc. I’ve made these muffins what seems like 1,000x with various milks and trust me, they all work!
- By the way, if you’re a muffin aficionado, you might also love my bakery-style muffins, which are denser, jumbo in size, and have a distinctively tight crumb.
Overview: How to Make Apple Cinnamon Muffins
I like to make the crumb topping first so it’s ready as soon as the batter comes together. The crumb topping, while certainly optional, comes together with ingredients you use in the muffin batter—very convenient. (It’s the same crumb topping we use on peach muffins.) After that, you can peel and chop the apples into roughly 1/2-inch pieces. Pictured below is 1 cup plus several chunks on the side. You need 1 and 1/2 cups (about 180g), which is about 2 medium apples. Fold the apples into the batter.
How to Create the Perfect Tall Muffin Tops
Press crumb topping into the tops of each muffin before baking. For tall muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:
- Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
- Fill your muffin tins/liners all the way to the top with batter.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial high temperature, and then lower the temperature.
This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of these muffin recipes.
By the way, if you want to skip the mixer, try these applesauce muffins, pumpkin muffins, & healthy apple muffins.
Best Apples to Use in Apple Muffins
Firmer apples are ideal for baking so avoid soft, mealy, and mushy apples. If you’re baking a recipe that calls for many apples such as apple crisp or apple crumble pie, use a mix of tart apples and sweet apples. These apple cinnamon muffins only need 1 or 2 apples (just like apple cupcakes), so it’s fine to use tart apples like Granny Smith or sweet apples like Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Pink Lady.
For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties, and when to use each, you can visit my post The Best Apples for Baking.
PrintApple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 14 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These apple cinnamon muffins start with an easy muffin batter that’s flavored with cinnamon, brown sugar, and plenty of juicy apples. Enjoy the muffins plain or top them with crumb topping before baking and smooth vanilla icing before serving.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup (84g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Muffins
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk (any kind), at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) peeled & chopped apples (1/2-inch chunks; you need about 2 medium apples)
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream (or milk for a thinner consistency)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. You may need a 2nd pan as this recipe makes up to 14 muffins, though you can always bake in batches using 1 pan. Set aside. *See note about jumbo size & mini muffins.*
- Make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter, and then gently mix in the flour using a fork. Keep the mixture as large crumbles and do not over-mix. If over-mixed, this will turn into a thick paste. Set topping aside.
- Make the muffins: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and mostly creamy. (It’s ok if it appears somewhat curdled.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Fold in the apples.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each cup or liner, filling each all the way to the top. Spoon crumb topping on each, gently pressing it down so it sticks.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20–23 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm or cooled muffins.
- Iced or plain muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled muffins for up to 3 months. It’s best to freeze the muffins without the icing and add the icing after thawing and before serving. (Freezing them with the icing on is completely fine, but the muffins taste better with fresh icing.) Thaw muffins in the refrigerator or at room temperature before icing/serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Rubber Spatula | Cooling Rack | Peeler
- Yogurt or Sour Cream: You can use either regular or Greek plain yogurt in this recipe (any fat content) or sour cream. The same amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana may also be used if needed.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- For a jumbo muffin pan: Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for 22–25 minutes, for a total of 27–30 minutes. Makes about 6. For mini muffins: Bake at 350°F for 12–14 minutes. Makes about 36–40.
- Quick Bread: Here is apple cinnamon bread, which is close to the same recipe and baked in a loaf pan.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
Great recipe! Nice texture & not too sweet.
Oh my goodness. My son sent me this recipe today and coincidentally I had just gone apple picking. Baked these right away and boy are they delicious.
I make these often during apple picking season in New England. I use honeycrisp apples. Also, I’ve never put on the glaze all the times I’ve made these. I just don’t think they need even more sugar, they’re great without it.
These were a hit at the office. So good!
I made these today, and they turned out great! I worried because my oven temp is all wonky, but the toothpick test always works. Followed the recipe exactly, using yogurt in the muffins and half and half in the icing. Have a tree full of Fuji apples, so that’s what I used. Delicious!
These muffins were delicious! I swapped out all-purpose flour with whole wheat and chose sour cream vs yogurt. Will make them again and again.
I made these muffins today, followed the recipe to a T but I used a silicone muffin tray, after the initial 5 min at 425 and then 18 min at 350, they’re still completely unbaked. Not sure what went wrong, I had to bake an extra 10 minutes.
The muffins tasted great! Some of the best I have ever made! But the only thing is that it only made 11 muffins instead of 14. Some tips for the muffins are to use applesauce instead of yogurt to bring out the apple flavor, also but 1 1/2 cup of apples instead or 1 because I did 1 cup and some muffins didn’t have apples in them. Last tip is to add a little bit more cinnamon in the muffins. Sally’s apple crumble muffins are a perfect autumn morning treat!
I have gotten so many compliments and had so many friends ask me for the recipe. SO good, and such an easy recipe to follow!
Hello can I use apples that were frozen? I’d fully thaw in the fridge first.
Should I attempt to pat them dry ?
Hi Danielle, we haven’t tried this with thawed apples, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I think patting them dry sounds like a good idea. Let us know how the muffins turn out!
I enjoy eating muffinsthis recipe but i forgot put in milk but it turned out good
I made these last night and they were gone by morning! The kids ate two each last night and packed the rest for snacks at school. Highly recommend this recipe. I added 3T of caramel vanilla coffee creamer to the powdered sugar for the icing instead of heavy cream and vanilla. Came out awesome!
Awesome recipe! My husband is a huge texture person and hates diced apples in desserts so I used the idea of grating the apples from another recipe I found and it was delicious! Makes the apple flavor more subtle which I love
Good recipe but leave out the baking soda if you have a sensitivity to bitterness. I’m super sensitive to bitterness and the baking soda + baking powder made this inedible for me and left me with a gagging aftertaste. However, everyone else loved it. I re-made the recipe without the baking soda and it tasted so much better. The only difference is that the center of the muffins won’t rise to the level of ordinary bakery muffins, but it’s hardly noticeable with the crumb topping.
Any chance you have the nutritional facts on hand?
Hi Trish! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Where is the 1/4 cup of milk used?
See step 4! With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain.
I’m planning to add chopped walnuts – should I reduce the quantity of apple?
Hi Libby! Yes, we would keep the total amount of add-ins to 1 and 1/2 cups.
I loved this recipe. Added more apples but cut smaller. I wanted to let you know in your directions you leave out when to put the milk in. You might want to change that. I will be using this recipe again for sure!
Hi Debbie, we’re glad you enjoyed these muffins! See end of Step 4: “With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain.”
I missed the milk too! In the oven now. Hoping they turn out!
I’m no baker… but I made following the recipe to the T… i did not have heavy or sour cream so i substituted with cream cheese… no regrets. I even made the crumb.. I’m definitely feeling some pride!!!
Yunmmmmm
Can you use whole wheat flour?
Hi Catherine, you can, but the muffins will be much denser/heavier. You may like these healthy apple muffins instead.
I made these for brunch this past weekend. BUT since I knew other people where bringing apple dishes, I HAD to amp them up just a little. First I added just a sprinkle of oats to the topping (just for aesthetic reasons) then I think I commit A crime, I used brown butter for the topping, that took these muffins to the next level!
Crazy good! Made GF with KA GF flour and made crumb topping with oats instead of flour, no icing. These are incredible, would be fantastic as a desert topped with ice cream and caramel sauce. Thank you for this recipe!
This was the best muffin I’ve ever made. It tasted like it came straight out of a bakery. The only problem is mine made 12 instead of 14. But again these were light and sponge and not overly sweet. Perfect fall treat.
This recipe turned out great ! Nice and light and moist! Not too sweet.
I made these last week minus the crumb coating and icing. Just a sprinkle of Demerara sugar on top.
They are so moist and tasty
These are very good as written, but easily move into best muffin ever territory with a few additional ingredients. This time I used 1 1/2tsp vanilla and 1/2tsp fiori de Sicilia and added 1/2 cup King Arthur apple cinnamon jammy bits and 1/3 cup of their Cinnamon Sweet bits with the diced apple. WHOA!!!! Worth it! To those who enquired about grating the apple instead of dicing, I don’t recommend it having made them both ways. Grated apple doesn’t give you the same apple intensity and alters the texture not in a good way. I highly recommend this recipe!
Made these for Sunday breakfast last week, so no icing. Still, everybody loved them. The recipe is spot on.
I bake a lot and bring them into work for colleagues or clients and my collegue said this was the best thing I brought in so far. It’s always shaky trying out new recipes, but this was a hit
These are cooling on the counter as we speak! Of course we couldn’t wait to taste test and they are scrumptious! My husband says the crumb topping is the best he’s ever had! Also, the cupcake is very tender.
I frequently serve for our church fellowship coffee hour and always use one or more of your recipes. Everyone I have tried is delicious and there are never any leftovers! I’m sure that will be the case with these Apple muffins too!
I made this with Asian pears from a nearby orchard instead of apples, and added a quarter teaspoon of cardamom. I also subbed in a half cup of whole wheat pastry flour for same amount of white. Really yummy. I might add pecans to the crumb next time.
I absolutely love the recipe, although when I attempted to make the muffins, I did not have all the ingredients so I had to make some substitutions. For butter I had to use shorterning since that was what I had in the fridge. I’m not sure if it’s the same thing but for sugar I used brown granulated sugar. Overall the results were fantastic. My husband and I absolutely loved them