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After testing and perfecting muffins recipes for half a year, I am spilling all my secrets to making the absolute best apple cinnamon muffins, complete with the perfect size apple pieces and just the right amount of spice. Plus, you’ll learn how to make tall, bakery-style muffin tops!
I was so afraid of baking with apples thinking it would not bake fully, but these baked amazing! I forgot the vanilla extract but it didn’t make it any less delicious! I used granny smith apples.
-Mariah
While testing this recipe I took every element into account, even down to getting the apple pieces to just the right size (not too big or too small). I extensively test my recipes so I can provide easy-to-follow steps that take out all the guesswork and make even a novice baker successful the first time.
Keep reading, because you’re going to learn how to make domed muffin tops that will seriously impress your family and friends, get all my best muffin tips, and more!
These easy-to-make apple cinnamon muffins are perfect for breakfast with a warm cup of coffee, to take on the go, after school snack for the kids, or to curb that late night snack craving, my personal favorite.
Chunks of apples inside the batter make the most perfectly moist and flavorful muffins. Your whole family will beg you to make a double batch after they try these for the first time!
Muffins hold a top spot on the list of my favorite things, and I’m pumped about adding these apple cinnamon muffins to my muffin recipe collection.
This recipe is also perfect for freezing, so you can make them ahead of time and pull them out whenever you have a muffin craving! More on that and how to make gorgeous bakery style muffins below!
Why You’ll Love These Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Easy recipe
- Perfect for breakfast, snacks, or desserts
- Made with real apples
- Can be made ahead and frozen
Apple Muffin Ingredients
These muffins have the perfect balance of cinnamon flavor, sweetness and tartness. Keep scrolling to get the full measurements in the recipe card below.
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Eggs
- Buttermilk
- Vegetable oil
- Vanilla extract
- Diced apples: You can use any kind of apples you like. Fresh apples, especially during apple season, are best! Even better if you can go apple picking and use fresh picked apples!
Cinnamon Sugar Topping Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
- Cinnamon
- Granulated sugar
How to Properly Measure Flour
The most accurate way to measure flour is to use a kitchen scale, weighing it in grams.
If you don’t have a kitchen scale, follow this method.
- Aerate the flour with a whisk or spoon. Flour becomes heavy and compact as it sits. Aerating is the same as fluffing the flour, but not the same as sifting it. Do not sift the flour unless the recipe specifically calls for it.
- Use a spoon to sprinkle the flour into the measuring cup. Do not tap the cup against the counter, as this will compact the flour.
- Use the back of a butter knife to level off the excess.
How to Make Apple Muffins
These easy apple cinnamon muffins only take 15 minutes of prep time. Find the full instructions in the recipe card below.
- Prep apples. Dice about 1 & ½ apples into ½ inch chunks. Set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Stir with a spoon to combine and set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine with a fork or spatula.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients and the apple chunks, mixing just until combined. The batter will be very thick!
- Allow batter to rest. Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- Add muffin batter to muffin tin liners. For bakery style muffin tops, line a 12 count muffin pan with 6 muffins liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Filling every other well allows the muffins to spread and dome without running into each other. Fill the liners to the top with batter. Yes – to the top! Use a butter knife to smooth the tops of the muffins if lumpy.
- Bake. Bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF, then keep the muffins in the oven, and turn the temperature down to 350ºF and bake for 16-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and your muffins are golden brown. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing. Repeat with the remaining batter, making sure to bump the temperature back up to 425ºF.
- Assemble cooled muffins. Once the muffins are cool, assemble the cinnamon sugar topping. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Use a pastry brush to brush the melted butter on top of the muffins. Roll the top of each muffin in a bowl of cinnamon sugar.
How to Create Bakery Style Muffins
Bakery style muffins are known for their domed tops. Plus who doesn’t love them? I used a few techniques to help “lift” these muffins so they would have large, domed tops!
1. The Rest Period
Let the batter rest for 15 minutes after it’s mixed and before you scoop it into the muffin pan. During the resting period, starch molecules in the flour are absorbing the liquid in the batter, causing them to swell and giving the batter a thicker consistency (ref the kitchen whisper). Our 15 minute rest is just a quick rest.
2. Fill Every Other Muffin Cup
This tip has been a game changer! For bakery style muffin tops, line a 12 count muffin pan with 6 muffin liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Filling every other cup allows the muffins to spread and dome without running into each other. This technique also encourages the muffins to brown, creating a golden muffin top.
3. Fill Them To The Top
Fill your muffin liners to the top with batter. Yes, this goes against everything you’re heard but it’s important in helping the muffin gain that height.
4. Bake at High Temperature Initially
Bake the muffins at a high temperature (425ºF) initially, then lower to 350ºF. Starting the muffins off at a higher temperature causes the batter to rise rapidly, setting the outer surface of the muffin, producing a dome shape.
Apple Muffins Recipe Substitutions & Variations
- Add Ins: Add other ingredients you love, like walnuts, raisins, and more!
- Apple Bread: Put your muffin batter in a bread pan instead of muffin cups! Adjust cooking time as needed.
- Gluten free Apple Cinnamon Muffins: Instead of all-purpose flour, you can use a gluten-free flour blend. I recommend King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour. Use it as a one for one substitute for regular flour.
Storing and Freezing Muffins
Muffin Storage
If you’ll be eating the muffins within 24 hours of baking, you can leave them uncovered on the counter. The muffins will not dry out while left at room temperature for 1 day.
In fact, muffins are so moist they can become soggy and those crunchy, sugary tops can disappear when stored in an airtight container.
But I have a trick to help that – paper towels.
For longer storage, 2-4 days, line the bottom of an airtight container with paper towels. Place the muffins in a single layer in the container then cover the muffins with any additional layer of paper towels. The paper towels will act like a sponge, absorbing the moisture they release while they are stored.
If the paper towels become too moist around day 2 or day 3, replace them with fresh paper towels.
How To Freeze Muffins
Individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap. Then place them in a ziploc bag or airtight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To thaw, leave them at room temperature until defrosted, about 1 hour. Or unwrap them and microwave at 20 second intervals until defrosted.
Apple Cinnamon Muffin FAQs
Granny Smith apples are the best apples for muffins because they have a great balance of sweetness with tartness. The tartness helps tone down the sweetness muffins tend to have. You can definitely use other apples, like gala apples or pink lady apples, but you’ll have a different flavor and consistency from each type.
Not only are these muffins easy and delicious, they can also be really convenient because you can make a whole batch and freeze them for later. Just make sure you keep them in a freezer safe container so they don’t get freezer burnt and stay good longer.
To make nice fluffy muffins, start with all your ingredients at room temperature. Having all the ingredients at room temperature helps them blend together more smoothly and creates air pockets that will make them bake up nice and fluffy.
You can store these cinnamon apple muffins in the fridge, but you don’t have to, and it may alter the flavor some. Keep them in an airtight container, out of direct sunlight, in a cool dry room for best results.
More Muffin Recipes
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Apple Cinnamon Muffin Recipe (with Apple Chunks)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour, 360 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups diced apples, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ½ tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Dice about 1 & ½ apples into ½ inch chunks. You want 2 cups diced apples. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Stir with a spoon to combine and set aside.
- In a larger mixing bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Stir to combine with a fork or spatula.
- Gradually mix in the dry ingredients and the apple chunks, mixing just until combined. The batter will be very thick!
- Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes. During this time, preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- For bakery style muffin tops, line a 12 count muffin pan with 6 muffins liners, meaning you’ll only fill every other muffin well with batter. Filling every other well allows the muffins to spread and dome without running into each other. Fill the liners to the top with batter. Yes – to the top! Use a butter knife to smooth the tops of the muffins if lumpy.
- Bake for 7 minutes at 425ºF, then keep the muffins in the oven, and turn the temperature down to 350ºF and bake for 16-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing. Repeat with the remaining batter, making sure to bump the temperature back up to 425ºF.
- Once the muffins are cool, assemble the cinnamon sugar topping. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Use a pastry brush to brush the melted butter on top of the muffins. Roll the top of each muffin in a bowl of cinnamon sugar.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
I can’t wait to bake the apple cinnamon muffins and coffee cake muffins. Thanks for the tips. My go to favorite is also muffins.
These are the best muffins ever!! Made them for my sister when she had a cold and I haven’t stopped making them since!!
These were soooo good. I cannot wait to make them again.
This muffin is delicious and comes out perfectly! I used fresh milled flour, 50/50 soft white and hard white and they were just wonderful. I did sauté the apples for about 5 min but that was my only change.
If I make these into mini muffins do I have to change the cook time at all?
I have made these before as regular muffins and they are amazing!!!
For mini muffins, I suggest baking them at 400ºF for the entire time, which might be 8-12 minutes, but it could be longer, it just depends on how full you fill them! I still do recommend doing the every other method when filling the pan if you overfill the holes!
Absolutely perfect recipe when you have freshly picked your own apples from your orchard. So flavoursome and moist.
I was so afraid of baking with apples thinking it would not bake fully, but these baked amazing! I forgot the vanilla extract but it didn’t make it any less delicious~ I used granny smith apples.
Could you bake one day and add topping the next day before serving?
Yes, you can do that!
here is just a little hint for those who don’t have buttermilk I used this substitute and came out tasting delicious you will want to mix 1 tablspoon of viniger sorry for my spelling and 1 cup of milk and that is the substatute I used.
Here is my DIY buttermilk tutorial: https://thefirstyearblog.com/how-to-make-buttermilk/
These muffins are delicious! Perfect balance of cinnamon sugar and apple. Tastes like fall