Apple Cinnamon Muffins
These delicious apple cinnamon muffins are so soft and stay moist for days! A one-bowl recipe, they can easily be made with whole grains.
A simple, homey muffin, these apple cinnamon muffins are lightly sweet and perfectly spiced with cinnamon making them the quintessential fall muffin.
One-Bowl Muffin Batter
The apple cinnamon muffin batter is a classic case of wet ingredients meets dry ingredients.
After which: the apples enter the picture and are stirred into the batter.
Pro Muffin Tip: don’t over mix the batter. Stir just until ingredients are incorporated. Over mixing can mean death to a light and fluffy muffin. So don’t do it, ok?
Best Type of Apples to Use
These muffins taste best when the apples are firm and crisp, sweet and tart.
I prefer using Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples for this recipe. The best batch ever included half of each! The muffins are adaptable to any number of apple varieties, but stay away from mealy-textured apples or apples that don’t have a lot of natural flavor.
The size of the chopped apples is a matter of personal preference.
In the batter picture above, the size of the apples is a bit deceiving – the pieces look bigger than they are, because the bowl is small. I prefer a small chop/fine dice for this muffin recipe. You might even try grating the apples if you want a more subtle texture.
Whole Grain Option
The apple cinnamon flavors work very well with whole wheat flour for a slightly heartier and nuttier taste and texture.
If using whole wheat flour, stick to a white wheat variety (for a lighter texture). Adding half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour is a great place to start. The muffins will be more dense and a bit heavier if using 100% whole wheat.
It’s important always, but especially with whole wheat flour, not to pack too much flour into the measuring cup or over measure the flour. Fluff the flour really well before measuring. Then scoop and level off (or better yet, use a kitchen scale {aff. link} to weight the ingredients!).
These apple cinnamon muffins stay soft and moist much longer than other muffins thanks to the fresh apples in the batter. And they freeze great, too.
They are perfect for breakfast, packing in school lunches, for an after-school snack and everything in between.
Even though apples often get pigeon-holed into fall baking, these muffins are a fantastic quick baking option all year round.
Welcome to the world, little apple cinnamon muffins. You make life better (and a lot yummier). 😍
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Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, melted (see note for using oil)
- ⅓ cup (71 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (71 g) packed light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup buttermilk (see note for regular milk)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅔ cup (237 g) all-purpose or white whole wheat flour (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 ½ cup (160-170 g) small-diced apples (see note)
- Coarse, turbinado or brown sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and vanilla until well-combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Whisk until just combined (it's ok if there are a few dry streaks).
- Add the apples and stir until evenly combined – don't over mix.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tin, filling the cups 2/3 full.
- Sprinkle the top of each muffin with a bit of coarse, turbinado or brown sugar, if using.
- Bake for 17 to 18 minutes until the tops of the muffins spring back lightly to the touch.
- Remove the muffins from a tin to a cooling rack to cool completely. These muffins are tasty warm, but even more delicious as they cool and the flavors have time to deepen.
These are amazing! So fluffy and moist, even with whole wheat flour. The apple flavor really shines!
Glad you liked these, Vicky! Thanks for the review!
These are absolutely delicious! They came together quickly and taste fantastic. Will definitely make again!
Thanks, Brooke!
Really delicious muffins! My whole family loved them. I was worried because my batter was super thick, like cookie dough and I kept checking to see if I messed up an ingredient. But they came out great. I used half white whole wheat flour and half all purpose.
Glad they worked out well for you, Jenny – thanks for letting me know!
Super tasty muffins. I used 1/2 whole white wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour, a whole tablespoon of cinnamon (I didn’t want them lightly spiced), and I didn’t peel the apple. I diced the apple so small the peel isn’t noticeable. Delicious!
Love the changes, Melissa!
These are excellent! No idea yet how they are cold, because we just devoured half the pan right out of the oven. I sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. Yum!
Great idea on the cinnamon sugar!
Would this recipe be suited for a quick bread instead of muffins? Any changes needed if so?
I haven’t tried making this recipe as a quick bread. Definitely worth a try, but it would have to be an experiment. The recipe itself doesn’t need any changes. I’m guessing a 9X5-inch loaf pan should work well (maybe a smaller one, but I don’t want it to overflow!)
I made it into quick bread today and it turned out great! Baked for 45-50 minites.
Fantastic! Thanks for letting us know!
Sometimes, especially when I make a recipe for the first time (and because we’re retired and I don’t want an entire dozen of something) I’ll make half a recipe.
Do you have a recommendation and/or suggestion for ‘half of an egg’. I usually beat it, weigh it on my digital scale and only use half of it. If I’m lucky I’m also making something I can throw an extra half an egg into – or give it to our kitty 🙂 I’d appreciate any thoughts or ideas you may have ….
Hi Melanie, if you have a use for the egg white, I’d suggest adding the egg yolk for a half recipe.
I made these the day you posted them and already they’re gone! My kids have asked for these to be added into our breakfast/snack rotation, along with your blueberry muffins and banana chocolate chip mini muffins. Apple cinnamon is such a comforting combo.
I skipped the muffin liners and just greased the cup and it worked just fine for me.
(Side note, I love it when you post a recipe and I magically have all the ingredients. Somehow I had just enough buttermilk and two smallish apples. It felt meant to be.)
Yay, Tristin! So happy your kids loved these so much! It was definitely meant to be!
Holy moly these are amazing! I am not ashamed to admit that I licked the bowl clean, lol. I made these tonight for a staff potluck tomorrow and they turned out so delicious! I did make them dairy free with vegan butter and almond milk, but had zero problems. Thanks for another great recipe!
Haha, this is a safe space for all sorts of admissions! 🙂 Glad the substitutions worked out well!
I just made these today and they are delicious! Very soft and very tasty! Will definitely make them again.
Thanks, Tanya!
Lo voy hacer espero que me queden bien
Mel, I make muffins (from your recipes) 3-4x every week, so I was super excited to see a new muffin recipe and made it today. Delicious! All of my kids enjoyed these muffins and one of my teens said they should be called Apple Pie Muffins. I doubled this recipe and subbed half the butter for applesauce and used mostly white whole wheat flour with about a cup of AP flour. Thank you for another delicious muffin recipe to add to the rotation!
Thanks for the review, Kate! Glad they were a hit with everyone (and love the adapted name!). Thanks for including your changes!
Didn’t make these yet but I swear you read my mind Mel! Went apple picking over the weekend and made some healthy apple muffins from a different site that the kids won’t touch. Going to make yours and change their minds!
Hey Ashley – hope you like these ones if you try them. Apple picking sounds so fun!
I was going to make these in the morning for my kids for breakfast, but when I read they were better cooled I thought I’d make them tonight to serve in the morning.
I ate one.
Oh. My goodness. These are quite possibly my new favorite muffin.
Yay, Katrina! Loved reading this…so happy you liked them! Hope your kids enjoyed them, too.