Applesauce Muffins
Learn how to make bakery style applesauce muffins with simple everyday ingredients! This easy applesauce muffin recipe will impress everyone with those big domed muffin tops. It’s the perfect apple muffin recipe for fall!
I am pumped to be adding a recipe for applesauce muffins to our muffin collection. I really do love muffins because I consider them an anytime food. Breakfast, snack, late night snack, they are perfect anytime.
Our muffin recipe has a few unique steps so your muffins will turn out nice and domed – think bakery style apple muffins at home! It requires a 15 minute rest than bake the muffins at a higher temperature for 7 minutes, then drop it to 350.
Ingredients
- all purpose flour: flour is necessary to build structure
- baking powder & soda: helps to leaven and lift the batter
- salt: just a pinch to balance the sweetness and enhances the other flavors
- cinnamon & nutmeg: adds warm spice flavor
- applesauce: adds moisture and flavor
- brown sugar: adds sweetness and flavor
- vegetable oil: adds fat and moisture
- eggs: binds the batter together by providing structure
How to Make Applesauce Muffins
- In a small mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs, whisk together.
- Gently mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Fill each muffin cup almost to the top with batter. Sprinkle with raw sugar or sparkling sugar (coarse sugar crystals) if desired. Bake at 425ºF for 7 minutes. Then keeping the muffins in the oven, turn the oven down to 350ºF and bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Total Time Required
- 10 minutes to make the batter
- 15 minutes for the batter to rest
- 7 minutes at 425ºF
- 10-12 minutes at 350ºF
- 10 minutes to cool
How To Create Bakery Style Apple 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 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. You can also cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour or overnight before scooping into the pan. The longer the batter has to rest, the thicker the batter will become – meaning more DOME!
2. BAKE AT HIGH TEMPERATURE INITIALLY
Bake the muffins at a high temperature (425ºF) for 7 minutes then lower to 350ºF. Starting the muffins off at a higher temperature causes the batter to rise rapidly, producing a domed shaped.
3. FILL THEM TO THE TOP
Fill your muffin liners to the top with batter. Yes, this goes against everything you’ve heard but it’s important in helping the muffin gain that height.
How To Make Gluten Free Muffins
I’ve made these muffins with both regular and gluten free flour with awesome results on multiple occasions. I recommend King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour. Use it as a one for one substitute for regular flour.
Plus these applesauce muffins are naturally dairy free!
How To Freeze Applesauce Muffins
Allow the muffins with applesauce to cool completely. I like to wrap two muffins together (the bottoms of the muffins touching) in plastic wrap, then place all the wrapped bundles in a ziplock bag.
To thaw, either let them come to room temperature on the counter or place as many as you need in the microwave for 15 second intervals.
Tips
- Use the spoon and sweep method to measure the flour.
- Allow the batter to rest for 15 minutes.
- Fill the muffin liners full with batter.
- Bake at a higher temperature initially to cause the muffins to rise quickly.
More Fall Recipes
Applesauce Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup applesauce, unsweetened or regular
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- coarse sugar, for topping muffins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line a regular sized muffin pan with liners.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a separate larger mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs, whisk together. Using a spatula, gently mix in the dry ingredients until just combined. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Fill each muffin cup almost to the top with batter. Sprinkle with raw sugar or sparkling sugar (coarse sugar crystals) if desired.
- Bake at 425ºF for 7 minutes. Then keeping the muffins in the oven, turn the oven down to 350ºF and bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the muffin pan.
My daughter and I made these today for a rainy day treat. They are good – The texture is great, my daughter loves them and there isn’t too much sugar so it was a nice snack. I wish the apple flavor was stronger (may be the apple sauce I used) and will probably use a little less salt next time.
Tried these today, was looking for recipes to use up jars of applesauce I have… I haven’t had much luck finding a recipe that turns out for it, until now!! They turned out very well! Thank you!
These muffins are very tasty and I picked the recipe because I liked the idea of 3 eggs for extra nutrition for my picky grandson.
However, I don’t know who calculated the nutrition info for you for the recipe as written (1/2 c. of oil) but the nutrition info is way off. Just thought I would let you know.
I would like to make these but looking for a lower carb count. Can these be made using Almond Flour?
Hi Kim! I haven’t personally tired using almond flour, so I can’t offer an accurate answer if it would work.
We love applesauce muffins, any time of the year! They were moist, had good flavors and had nice domed tops! Recommend!