An old friend from high school sent me this recipe months and months ago. I finally tried it out last week and oh my. Oh my. These are by far some of the best muffins that have ever graced my home. I have to confess I’m not a huge muffin maker – I think it is because I always have high hopes for the outcome and it is generally a disappointment (either in overflowage or flavor) so when these turned out to be incredible, I was thrilled. My family and I honestly ate the whole batch in less than 24 hours. I am making them again this afternoon. The tart granny smith apple (be sure to finely chop the apple!) adds great texture to the smooth spice of the pumpkin. These are fabulous. Thanks, Melissa!
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice**
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice**
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Directions
- Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine pumpkin, butter, and eggs in another bowl and add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chopped apple and spoon into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; sprinkle evenly over muffins.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.
Notes
**My tip: if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use the following combination: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. Mix together and woila! – you have the equivalent of 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (and it is much cheaper than buying it premade).
Recipe Source: from Melissa F.
Apple and pumpkin together?! Yum, yum, and yum!comforttable.wordpress.com
Oh my… these look amazing! Definitely going to be on my “to make” list and will probably go to the top of the list since my kids LOVE muffins. Thanks for sharing!
Great choice- they look so seasonally delicious. And that blue background… wow! Great !
I made these yesterday, and they were fabulous! I can’t say how long they’ll stay fresh either, because they were gone by the end of the day. I’ll be making them again soon!
I also made some of these yesterday to bring some to work and some to daycare with my daughter and they were a HIT! They were SOOOO GOOD!! YUM! Thanks for the recipe!!!!
Pumpkin and apple, so perfect for fall!
These look fantastic. I love pumpkin recipes.
These muffins look so good. I love anything pumpkin and my fam would definitely eat these in 24 hours too! Great recipe!
Two of my favorite fall ingredients! PLUS pumpkin pie spice – yum!
Leslie – my family and I ate the entire batch within 24 hours – so they definitely stayed fresh that long! I would say if you aren’t going to eat them within a day, pop them in a freezer bag and reheat when you want one.
mmm.yummy! How long did they keep fresh for?They look FAB!
oh the moistness of it all. what a stellar muffin, and thanks for the tip about the actual components of pumpkin pie spice!
I too am not a muffin baker galore . . . I see all these incredible recipes and think “they will just end up frostbitten in the freezer.” (sad I know) But this recipes sparked my interest! It sounds perfect for breakfast in the fall! Yum-E!
Patti – yay! I’m so glad they turned out. And I’m glad I’m not the only one who devoured them before they had a chance to get stale.
Hi Stephanie – a streusel topping sounds delicious! Thanks for letting me know you liked these muffins!
These sound like a great combination. I actually just made pumpkin muffins today for next week’s Tuesdays with Dorie and they were really great. Now that I’m discovering that I might like pumpkin more than I though I will have to give these a try.
I love your recipes!!! I thought I would say hello, Ive been looking at all your awesome recipes for a few days now. I will for sure be back more often
Stephanie
Well, I am a muffin lover, and these look wonderful! I especially like chopped up apples in muffins. I can’t wait to try these, Mel.
This looks great! I love all the pumpkin recipes popping up
I can’t get canned pumpkin over here in the UK – will have to see if I can order some online – they look fantastic
I have a pumpkin/cranberry coffeecake that is good — am anxious to try a pumpkin apple muffin.I love the flavors of fall!Martha
I made these muffins on Thursday, adding a streusel topping. They were delicious! Very light and fluffy, moist, and so yummy – thanks for the great recipe!
Stephanie – thanks for saying hello! Your comment was sweet and I appreciate it. Check back in as often as you like!
Martha – oh, pumpkin and cranberry together sound great! The flavors of fall are so fun!
Those look so good! I agree that I don’t often make muffins. But I’ll for sure be trying these!
Those muffins look so moist and yummy. There are so many apple recipes floating around right now… I’m never going to get through them all!
Annie – thanks so much for checking back and letting me know these were a hit. I’m so glad!
Yum! Pumpkin and apple!!
Pumpkins and apples in the same recipe! Delicious!!
I made these this morning for a playdate brunch and they were a big hit with the kids and the mommies!
rachel – I’m glad you liked these! Thanks for letting me know!
Hi Melanie,
While I was rounding up some Pumpkin & Apple recipe links to include in a post I did for National Pumpkin Day, I came across your yummy looking muffins in my search engine. I hope you don’t mind that I included your link in my post. Thank you so much for sharing…Now, I must take a look at those Hoagies of yours!!!
Right before I made these I was going to hop on and see if you had “freezing” instructions. Unfortunately (only for my waistline) over half the batch was eaten by my husband and I last night and he brought a bag of them into work and after breakfast there won’t be any left! Muffins have never dissapeared so fast at our house! Mmmm
Steph – I have frozen these before and they freeze great, although it sounds like you have the same problem we do – they usually don’t last that long! Thanks for letting me know you and your husband liked them!
I love these so much! I’ve made them 3 times now. The last 2 times I doubled the batches and froze them. The first time I froze them I individually wrapped each one in saran wrap after they cooled and placed them in big ziplocks-this made it easy to put in lunches or throw in my purse for a snack. The second time I froze them I didn’t get to it until the next day and just put them in a ziplock. I found that they didn’t taste as fresh this way. I would recommend freezing right after they cool down. Thanks for the recipe! My husband says it’s his favorite muffin ever!
Shante – thanks for your comment! I’m so glad to know about freezing them. I have frozen them before and used the latter method so it looks like next time I’ll try individually wrapping them.
I have leftover pumpkin to use… so it looks like I’m making this today too! Yum!
Thanks!
I made this yesterday and my kids loved them. They really are moist and were easy to prepare. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa – glad you liked these! Thanks for letting me know.
I wonder… do you think you can take this and turn it into a pumpkin apple spice BREAD instead of muffins just by pouring it into a different pan?
Lisa – yes, I think that it could easily be adapted into a loaf pan. You would have to be careful as you fill the pan to only fill it 2/3 full so I’m not sure how many loaves (maybe only one) this would make. Also, adjust the baking time to much longer. Let me know if you try it!
The verdict: This cooks up as an *excellent* bread! The amount the recipe makes is the perfect amount for the pan, and I let it cook for about an hour. It’s soft and not dried out at all. The apple gives it just the right amount of kick.
I’m looking forward to surprising the family when they come home!
Lisa – thank you so much for checking back in to let me know how the bread experiment worked out. I’m thrilled it worked out because I will be making it like that this week. Thanks!
Made these this morning to share at playgroup… DELISH!!! Came home with an empty container! Great recipe!
Thanks, Meredith!
how big is the can of pumpkin for these? The BIG can(32/36 oz?) or the medium size one?
Megan – you can use any size can of pumpkin as long as you are ok with leftovers because the recipe just calls for 1 cup canned pumpkin – so I just measure it out of the can and use the leftover canned pumpkin for something else. Hope that helps!
So so good! I made them exactly according to directions and got RAVE reviews. Apples and pumpkin–what a combination!
Hi Mel,
I was thinking of instead of making cupcakes I could make this into a bundt cake. Do you think I should double it for that?
Thank you!
I have tried and loved so many of your recipes! I am planning on trying these and wondering if shortening or oil could be used in place of butter for my dairy free friend, any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
JenH – hmmm, that’s a good question. Yes, I’d probably double it but you may not use all the batter in the bundt pan (don’t want it to overflow!). I guess you’ll have to judge the size of your bundt pan and see. You could always make a few muffins with the leftover batter, if you have it. Let me know how it goes!
Lesley – I’d probably substitute canola or vegetable oil over the shortening. I bet they’ll still turn out delicious. Good luck!
Thanks for the quick answer, I made them today with canola oil and they were great! I only got about 12 muffins though, i must have filled the cups to full
I also made the pumpkin cream cheese muffins which were also wonderful! This is my go to site for great recipes, thanks for sharing so many!
In this recipe, how much canned pumpkin? (from what size can?)
Thanks.
Oops. I found it. Not reading correctly. Can’t wait to try these.
Mmmm I am eating them as I type.
These are delish! We are going on a road trip tomorrow and I made them for the car. They are so moist and I love the texture of the apple chunks in there. Oh and the pumpkin spice seasonings, mmmm it’s like Fall has bursted open inside my mouth. LOL Love it!
My kids think these are the best muffins. I made some minor changes to reduce the sugar, added some whole wheat flour and made them as mini-muffins. I never would have thought of this combination!
Wow… I love pumpkin so much that I didn’t understand the phrase “leftover canned pumpkin” in an earlier comment — it just must be only me that’ll finish up the can with a spoon if it’s not all needed for a recipe. LOL These sound amazing, can’t wait to try them — even if it is June and wayyy early for Fall!
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If we have a babysitter and the kids are crazy they get cottage cheese for breakfast the next day. If they are good listeners & polite, they get to have Pumpkin Apple Spice Muffins. I am pleased to report 3 muffins mornings and counting! Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you so much! I have been making muffins for about 9 months trying to find one that my picky 4 year old will eat. This is THE one!! It’s the only muffin he has been willing to eat … and he wants them all for himself! My 18 month old and 6 year old love them as well (not to mention my husband). Thank you for the perfect recipe! I’ve been looking a long time …
Just made them- they were easy and the whole family (including the toddler) loved them. I wish I could comment specifically on Rae’s comment- she said she made some modifications to reduce the sugar- would love to hear how she did that… Will be making again