These Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins are a simple breakfast recipe for fall mornings.
Watch the short video showing you how to make these Apple Cinnamon Muffins, then scroll to the end of this post and print out the recipe so you can make them at home!
Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins
These muffins are wonderful because they have a delicious layer of crumb on the tops. If you’re anything like me, I like to eat the crumbly top before I devour the rest of the muffin! There are tips in the recipe below for flour substitutions and how to cut down on fat.
When my now 6 foot 4 giant child was a wee one, we used to pack the car with a picnic and head to the local San Diego mountains on fall weekends. Those weekends are full of great memories such as going to the pumpkin patch and running through the corn maze, standing on tippy toes near the fences to pat the horses and dig into sheep fur, and sipping hot apple cider when there was a good chill in the air.
We often took our family photo at the pumpkin patch– standing in the remains of a long-ago picked corn field. Those were the days. And they were days I likely won’t be able to get back since 16 year olds aren’t so hip on hanging out with their parents at pumpkin patches any more!
The best part of those fall weekends was our time at the apple-picking orchards. If you’ve never been apple picking, it’s one of those things you must do. It’s not even like the apples are the best apples you’ve ever eaten, but the experience of walking around with a bucket and picking apples directly from the trees is super fun. And it’s really a nice thing for the kids to experience too.
Be sure to investigate (Google!) to see if you have any apple orchards near you. Usually they invite the public in to pick their own apples for a certain dollar amount per basket or by the pound. It’s so much fun!
Kids have always read in books that apples come from apple trees. But to actually stand in front of an apple tree, pick apples and put them in a basket, that’s a completely different experience. They’re seeing the connection between plants and food and what we can create at home with that food. That’s so important!
The best part of the whole apple picking experience is coming home with loads of apples and deciding what you’re going to make. I always make a good batch of applesauce with my apples. And baking cakes, apple bread and these Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins is most often on the agenda too!
Ask your kids what they’d like to make with your bounty of apples, and get them in on the cooking and baking action. You’ll create wonderful memories!
Here are a few baking recipes to try if you have a bucket-full of apples!
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you will find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Recipe Details
Ingredients
MUFFINS:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 medium apples (peeled, cored & chopped)
TOPPING:
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Add oil, egg and milk and stir just until combined. Fold in apples. Divide batter between the 12 muffin cups.
- In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients, blending together with a pastry cutter or fork. Sprinkle over unbaked muffins.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
Video
Notes
- To lighten up the recipe a bit, fill the ⅓ cup measuring cup with ½ applesauce and ½ oil. The muffins will turn out just as moist.
- This recipe may also be made with white whole wheat flour in place of traditional whole wheat flour.
This is hands-down the best Apple Cinnamon Muffin recipe I have ever tried. Not only is the finished product super moist and flavoursome, but the addition of the crispy topping just brings it the the next level. I use this recipe as my go to for apple cake as well, and also a base for most of the other cakes I bake. Wonderful!
Not enough flour, should be 1 1/2. Cups all purpose flour !
It’s 1 cup all purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat.
I’ve just made this recipe with some old apples that could only have been saved by turning them into something. I used three apples as they were small and I cut the sugar a bit as I don’t really like using so much sugar, especially as the muffins are mainly for my little guy for afternoon snacks. I also grated the apple coz the boy is fussy with bits of things. They’re in the oven now and looking great! Thank you for the recipe:)
This was the best muffin recipe I had ever made! Seriously, my family ate it all in 20 minutes. (It’s a big family.) 10/10!
Oh my God. These are incredible. I used all AP flour because I didn’t have whole wheat, and a small dash of vanilla, but other than that I didn’t change a thing and they are incredible. Even my two year old who is incredibly picky is wolfing it down, saying, “These are so good, Mommy!” I made 18 muffins instead of 12 to cut down on calories, used honeycrisp apples, and baked them for 15 minutes. Absolutely perfect. Thank you so so so much!!!
YUMMY! I used applesauce instead of any oil, all purpose flour and added some walnuts. Love it!!
Totally awesome
These were so yummy and so easy!! I had some leftover apples and this was a perfect way to use them. I used grapeseed oil oat milk, because that is what I had on hand, with great results. At the last minute, I added some chopped walnuts to the topping, and I highly recommend that!! Thanks for the recipe :-).
My husband & I loved these muffins! I did use all white whole wheat flour, melted coconut oil and added about 1/3 cup chopped walnuts. Needed to add an extra splash of milk since batter seemed a little thick. Also shredded one of the apples & chopped the other. I thought after the fact that I could’ve reduced the sugar since I used Pink Lady apples which are already sweet. But in any event they turned out great and I’ll make again!
I must have done something wrong followed the recipe I thought perfectly and mine after cooking 14 mins are just hard and inedible they are so thick and not moist at all so not sure what I did wrong haha
Hello. Just made this recipe just now but I did something wrong when mixing the topping ingredients. Pretty sure I followed the recipe right but the end result ended with a creamy mixture and not crumby. What did I do wrong? Could I use different toppings to avoid this mess up again?
Hmmm, well it sounds like the butter was quite soft. It should be a crumbly mixture– so perhaps a little more firm for cutting into crumbs.
This was a hit even with our Korean friends! They don’t like as much sugar as Americans, so I reduced the sugar by half. The apples, my husband reminds me all the time, really add the sweetness. Also, on some of the muffins I just sprinkled a little sugar and cinnamon on top and thought it was just as good (also a little easier than making the topping).
Finally, I didn’t have any wheat flour so used only all-purpose. Wondering how it would be with some almond flour?
Thanks for the great recipe!
I made mine with almond flour instead of wheat flour and they turned out very good. They were very moist and had a really good flavor!
I just tried this recipe for the first time and it’s a keeper! SO moist and very easy to make. I love a good muffin and this is it!
I wanted to love these muffins. But the after taste of baking powder is awful. I don’t know if I did something wrong or what. But it’s so strong it burned mine and my husbands throat. I followed the recipe to a T. Maybe if I had sifted the dry ingredients. I did double the recipe too.
Something must have gone wrong with doubling the recipe- I haven’t heard this from anyone else!
About 1/2 of my muffins collapsed in the middle… they look like donuts… Anyone else have this difficulty?
Not sure what happened there!
This recipe is sooooo freaking easy and simple!!!! Oh, and delicious!!!!
Hey, my name is Claire Teague and my family does a lot of baking around the house. I live in the countryside of Wooster, Oh. and I go to a college called wcscc in the countryside, for hospitality, and I was suppose to be at school baking today. However, i had a sore throat, and my sisters and i came across this Apple cinnomin muffins recipie. And it was fabulous, I used a little bit of half/half because we didn’t have any milk. So, it still was delicious. Thanks so much. Keep on baking!
Wow!!! These were so easy and the BEST apple muffins I have ever made!! My kids loved them too!
I did this for a school foods project. At first we were extremely doubtful as the batter looked very thick and dry. We trusted the process and baked the muffins , they ended up turning out great! We even added glaze
These apple and cinnamon muffins are the best, absolutely delicious and very moorish..
I made these knowing I would love them because I love anything apple cinnamon but my mom wasn’t too sure because she’s not much of a cinnamon fan. She tried one and she absolutely loved it!! These are so tasty and so easy to make
These were the best apple muffins I have ever made. Tasted like apple pie. The only change I made was using all purpose flour and baked at a 350 for 22 min. I made a double batch & am so happy that I did! My family devoured these!
If I bake in a 9×5 loaf pan, what do you suggest for cook time?
I haven’t tried baking this batter into a loaf, but usually loaves take between 45 and 60 minutes to make.
I have a wheat intolerance so can these muffins be made with plain all purpose flour. Also to make them a little healthier you said to put 1/3 cup of applesauce in the tin. Just want to make sure that I am not substituting the applesauce for something else in the recipe.
Probably on the flour. And on the applesauce… instead of using 1/3 cup oil, fill that 1/3 cup with half applesauce and half oil. That’ll just cut down on the oil a little bit.
I can’t follow a recipe exactly to save my soul. I used some applesauce for half the oil. I went heavy on the apple pieces. The batter seemed very thick before I added the apples so I added maybe a quarter cup water to it. Was tempted to sub in some allspice or mace for the cinnamon…maybe next time? I didn’t need the extra calories so subbed out the granulated sugar for Trivia sugar cane blend. Lastly, I didn’t make the crumb topping. I’m currently waiting for thm to cool enough that I don’t burn my mouth. Smells and tastes delicious!
Any experience swapping canned pumpkin for some or all of the apple? I loved the apple ones, but my husband is a pumpkin enthusiast.
I have not tried that…