These bakery-style apple muffins are an easy recipe packed with sweet cinnamon apple pie filling and topped with a buttery crumble. They’re fluffy and super moist, perfect for fall!
If you love apple pie, this easy apple muffin recipe has all the cozy flavor with zero fuss. And if you’re looking for more breakfast treats to make this fall, try these pumpkin muffins and this ooey-gooey apple monkey bread, next.
Soft and Moist Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Anyone who knows me knows that muffins are my weakness. I’ll eat them all day long if no one stops me. This is an older recipe from 2018 and while the original was good, I’ve learned so much about muffins over the years that I’ve incorporated those changes into this revamped recipe. Fear not, there’s still a link to the original version in the recipe card.
You’ll still get everything you know and love from the original recipe. They’re moist and tender, bursting with cinnamon apples beneath a rich and buttery streusel topping which I have since perfected. I recently sent a batch of these home with a friend of mine (and her little boy), only to receive a text message 15 minutes later that said, “10 out of 10 on the muffins. I ate one and a half on the way home!”
A Classic Muffin Recipe You’ll Love
- Apple flavor. These taste just like my favorite apple crumble pie in the form of a fluffy muffin! They’re filled with juicy cinnamon apples and spice, and topped with streusel. I’m a firm believer that all muffins taste better with streusel and there’s plenty of that here.
- Bakery-style. These bad boys blow all other apple muffins away! People will be asking which bakery you got them from. Just wait for their reactions when you say you made them yourself.
- Moist, but still fluffy. Some apple muffin recipes have a dry, dense batter to compensate for the added moisture from the apples, but not this one! These apple pie muffins are soft and moist without being soggy because you precook the apple filling.
Important Muffin Ingredients and Substitutions
This apple muffin recipe uses my favorite homemade apple pie filling. Cooking the apples ahead of time gives them the perfect texture for baked goods. Here are some quick notes on the important ingredients. Scroll to the recipe card for a printable list with the full measurements.
- Apples – You’ll need your favorite baking apples (mine are Granny Smith and Honeycrisp). Peel and chop the apples into dime-sized pieces.
- Lemon Juice – Fresh is best, but bottled also works. The acidity freshens up the filling and keeps the apples from browning.
- Maple Syrup – I love the fall flavor of real maple syrup which is used to caramelize the apple filling. If you don’t have it, replace with additional brown sugar.
- Sugar –you’ll need both granulated and brown sugar for the various components of these muffins.
- Spices – Apple pie spice, plus extra cinnamon. To make your own apple pie spice, simply mix 2 tablespoons of nutmeg and allspice with 3 tablespoons of cinnamon. You only need 1 teaspoon for this recipe, so store the rest for later use!
- Buttermilk – If you don’t have buttermilk in the fridge, make a homemade buttermilk substitute from regular milk mixed with lemon juice or vinegar.
- Sour Cream – Another key ingredient for super-moist muffins. You won’t taste the sour cream, but it adds tons of moisture to the batter. Substitute Greek yogurt if you don’t have full-fat sour cream.
My Time-Saving Tips
There are a couple of ways to get a head start on this muffin recipe. First is to make the apple filling up to 2 days ahead of time and keep it refrigerated. Otherwise, I’ve made this recipe so often that I’ve picked up the following tips to save time on the day:
- Take out room-temperature ingredients, like the eggs and sour cream, before starting the apple filling.
- Prepare the filling first and while it’s cooling, prepare the muffin batter.
- During the 20 minutes that the batter is resting, make the streusel. The streusel needs time for the flour to absorb the butter so that it gets crispy.
- After the 20-minute rest, assemble everything and bake!
- Want to skip the streusel? Try adding a coarse sugar topping similar to my blueberry muffins.
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Muffins
There are a few important steps involved in making these apple muffins, but trust me when I say it’s worth it! It’s a very similar recipe to my peach muffins. Follow along below, and scroll down to the recipe card after the post for the printable recipe details.
- Make the apple pie filling. Toss peeled and diced apples with lemon juice, followed by flour, sugar, spices, and maple syrup. Simmer the apples on the stovetop for 15-20 minutes, stirring every so often, until soft. Let the apples cool completely.
- Make the muffin batter. Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients for the batter in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another. Slowly combine the two and fold in the apples. Afterward, let the batter rest for 20 minutes while you make the topping.
- Prepare the streusel. Combine melted butter with the dry streusel ingredients to make a crumble.
- Line the pan. Line a 12-well muffin tin, leaving an empty well in between each muffin (as pictured) so that the muffins have room to expand while they bake. I learned this trick from my friend Beth at The First Year Blog!
- Fill the pan and bake. Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin liners, right to the top. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with streusel, and then bake at 375ºF for 16-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Cook the apples! Cooking caramelizes the apples to bring out their flavor, and ensures that they cook through in the finished muffins. To cool the apple pie filling faster, pop it into the fridge while you prepare the muffin batter.
- Keep the pie filling saucy. As the apple pie filling cooks, stir occasionally and sprinkle in a little water (as needed) to keep the sauce from sticking.
- Avoid a watery muffin batter. When adding the apples to the muffin batter, make sure to leave out most of the excess sauce/juices.
- For a crispier streusel, allow it to rest. The flour in the streusel needs time to absorb the butter, producing a crisper topping. So, I recommend preparing the topping right after you finish the muffin batter as it needs 20 minutes of rest time. Then when the time is up, you’re ready to assemble.
- Make high, domed muffins. The secret to tall muffins with a round dome is filling the muffin liners to the very top. Be careful not to overfill, though, since you’ll need to leave room for the streusel topping.
- Want to skip the streusel (and save time)? Try adding a coarse sugar topping similar to my blueberry muffins.
- Add nuts. Try adding pecans or walnuts for an additional crunch into the muffins or the topping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any firm, crisp apple makes a good baking apple. Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Fuji, and Gala are all great choices. Softer varieties will become mushy or release too much liquid when baked. If you prefer a softer, sweeter apple pie filling, go for Golden Delicious apples.
My tip for big, bouncy muffins with high domes is to fill the muffin liners right up to the top. In testing this recipe at various baking temperatures, a slightly higher temperature also helps the muffins rise and stay that way once cooled.
There are a few tricks to extra fluffy muffins. First, make sure to use room-temperature ingredients, for a smooth batter that bakes up evenly. Second, don’t overmix! Overmixing will make the muffins dense, not fluffy, so only mix the ingredients until they’re just combined.
How to Best Store Muffins
- Room temperature. These apple pie muffins are at their freshest within a day or two. If serving the same day, simply leave them on the counter, uncovered for the best results. Otherwise, store the cooled muffins in an airtight container and keep them on the counter. To keep the muffins and streusel from getting too soggy, line the bottom of the container with a paper towel. After two days the topping will soften.
- Freezing. Freeze the baked muffins in a single layer in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Let the muffins thaw at room temperature before serving
More Apple Recipes
Print
Apple Muffins
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 18 minutes
- Yield: 12-13
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft and fluffy, bakery-style apple muffins are an easy fall recipe packed with apple pie filling, plenty of cozy cinnamon spices and topped with a buttery crumble.
Ingredients
For the Apple Filling
- 1 ½–2 cups chopped apples (about 3 medium apples, peeled and chopped)
- Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) Pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon (7.5g) All-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon (28g) Light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Apple Pie Spice
- 1–3 tablespoons water, as needed
For the Muffins
- 3 cups (360g) All-purpose flour
- 3 ½ teaspoons (14g) Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Salt
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (95g) Granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (56g) Light brown sugar
- 2 Large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (59ml) Vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons (28g) Unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (236ml) Buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (64g) Full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
For the Streusel
- 4–5 tablespoons (56-70g) Unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (95g) Granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (90g) All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
Instructions
For the Apple Filling
- Peel and dice the apples into small pieces (about the size of a dime) and squeeze a lemon over top and stir to combine.
- Combine the dry ingredients and then toss together with the apples until fully coated. Pour the maple syrup over top and gently stir.
- Heat apples on the stove over medium heat for 15-20 minutes until soft. Stir occasionally, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time as needed to prevent sticking. Cook until the apples are fork-tender and the sauce has thickened. Set aside and allow to cool before adding to the batter, refrigerating if necessary.
For the Muffins
- Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs until fluffy then add oil, butter, buttermilk, vanilla, and sour cream and beat until well combined.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat just until the flour starts to incorporate. Fold in the apples with a spatula and finish mixing the batter by hand. Take caution not to add too much of the apple juices to the batter. Rest the batter for 20 minutes, cover with plastic wrap.
- Prepare the streusel by combining the melted butter with the dry ingredients until well combined. Allow the dry ingredients to absorb while the muffin batter rests.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with 6 paper liners, altering them with an empty space in between. Use a large cookie scoop to fill muffin liners to the very top. Top each muffin with streusel.
- Bake both trays in the middle rack of the oven for 16-20 minutes. Test the muffins for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the muffins. If the toothpick is clean, the muffins are done. Cool before serving.
Notes
- Looking for the original recipe? You can still download it here
- Apples: You’ll need your favorite baking apples (mine are Granny Smith and Honeycrisp). Peel and chop the apples into dime-sized pieces.
- During the 20 minutes that the batter is resting, make the streusel. The streusel needs time for the flour to absorb the butter so that it gets crispy.
- If you wanted to make smaller muffins, you could stretch this batter about to make around 16 muffins instead of 12, filling the liners only 3/4 full.
Substitutions:
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk in the fridge, make a homemade buttermilk substitute from regular milk mixed with lemon juice or vinegar.
- Sour cream: Plain or Greek yogurt is best
Storing
- These apple pie muffins are at their freshest within a day or two. If serving the same day, simply leave them on the counter, uncovered for the best results. Otherwise, store the cooled muffins in an airtight container and keep them on the counter. To keep the muffins and streusel from getting too soggy, line the bottom of the container with a paper towel. After two days the topping will soften.
- Freezing. Freeze the baked muffins in a single layer in an airtight, freezer-safe container. Let the muffins thaw at room temperature before serving
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Muffin
- Calories: 377
- Sugar: 26.2 g
- Sodium: 287.9 mg
- Fat: 13.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 59.1 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 6.1 g
- Cholesterol: 52.3 mg
Es una maravillosa receta muchas gracias. Pero me gustaría saber en qué momento le agregamos la miel de maple
En el relleno de manzana se añade en el paso 2
These are the perfect muffin. A little bit of everything, apples and a cinnamon streusel top. I made them with whole wheat flour and they were so moist and delicious. My family loved. Can’t wait for the morning to have one with a cup of coffee.
Thank you so so much Alyssa!
I pre-made my apple pie filling in the fall. How much should I be using in the is recipe? 1 C, 2 C? Thanks for your help.
Hi Jen, sorry I don’t have an exact measurement, 3 medium apples makes about 2 cups of filling.
the apple pie filling burnt really fast and was hard to soften the apples, what am I missing?
Sounds like the heat was up too high and perhaps you need to add a little more water if it was sticking to the pan
of course streusel is a must, but that filling YuM! that would be my favorite part for sure
Thanks Heather! I love the filling too! 🙂
I want to come by YOUR bakery!! These look amazing! 🙂
HAHA! Thanks Renee. I would like to say “one day maybe” but running a bakery is so hard!
Love the streusel topping! Seriously, these look WAY better than bakery muffins girl! Pinned!
Thanks Trish! i love sky-high muffins!
These muffins are perfect for fall and so easy to grab with a cup of coffee.
1 cup of coffee = 2 muffins! haha.
I don’t know how you do it all, girl! Seriously…catering too! And you still have time to dream up and make gorgeous apple pie muffins!!
On Saturdays, I sleep till noon 🙂
Oh gorgeous muffins! Bakery style indeed!
Thanks Jessica!
Catering events are defo best when over, I have an afternoon tea catering event coming up and I am dreading it lol!! So much to do!! These apple pie muffins sound awesome, apples are for sure one of my fave kind of muffins!
The afternoon tea catering sounds pretty cool! What kind of desserts are you making?
Catering a wedding sounds like a ton of work, but so satisfying! These muffins truly do look like they came from a bakery and I’ll be trying them soon:) Thanks for sharing the recipe…
A ton of work is an understatement! I don’t know how people do this for a full time job. Thanks for your kind words!
My chai tea is looking mighty lonely right now!!! Would be great with one of these muffins. Yum!
These would be AMAZING with Chai tea! I wish I had a glass!
Streusel is a must!
These muffins look so delicious. Love that you guys are doing an Apple Week! So excited to see what’s next!
Thanks Graham! Apple weeks is a great week!
I’m totally gawking over these. So delish!
Pinned.
Have a beautiful week!
Thank you Melanie! And thanks for sharing!
Your muffins are killing any bakery muffins I have seen and that’s the truth!
Thanks girl! I can’t resist a good muffin!
These muffins look incredible! I love the apple pie flavor and topping on these cuties! Pinned!
Thanks Gayle!
I completely agree that muffins are better with streusel – love the stuff! These look absolutely perfect for fall! Yum!
That’s why we were meant to be friends! LOL
Better than any bakery, I am quite sure! I love bakeries, but these muffins are something else. I’m loving the apple theme week so far!
Thanks Mir! I think homemade muffins are much better than any bakery!