A divine combination, apple and cinnamon is delicious in these moist and flavourful muffins
Our apple tree is largely neglected for several months of the year, only the fittest survive in our garden! Thankfully this year we are rewarded with a bumper crop of delicious red apples. I no longer know what variety they are, it is a dwarf apple tree so perfect for our size back yard. With hundreds of apples I am sure to come up with some good recipes!
These muffins are based on my Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe with a few amendments. Brown sugar muffins with a little extra cinnamon added and both diced and grated apple. Everyone prefers one over the other so I added both! You can choose the size of your apple chunks, sometimes smaller is better. And the grated apple ensures that every mouthful has the lovely sweetness of apple.
I have created these muffins to showcase two styles, one with and one without a topping. I have made a simple streusal topping to add to half the mixture before baking, this takes them from good to great! But the flavours are really good without, so up to you. I will add the instructions for both below.
Making muffins is so simple and you are rewarded with a glorious smelling house – especially with this combo. You simply mix the dry ingredients and then pour over the wet. There are a few key tips to getting a perfect muffin.
How to Bake the Perfect Muffin
- You want your muffin to be big, crunchy on the top, and moist underneath – never dry.
- If you are adding extras, such as blueberries, chocolate, or apple make sure you are generous! No one wants a single blueberry in their blueberry muffin!
- For the perfect crunchy top you want to fill the muffin hole to at least 2/3rd full, that way the top bursts out and develops a nice crunchy finish
- DO NOT OVERMIX YOUR BATTER, this results in tough and misshapen muffins
- You can eat muffins for breakfast, this makes them far superior to cake which is frowned upon as a breakfast food.
- Adding toppings to your muffins is definitely recommended, this could be anything from a sprinkling of sugar, streusal or a glaze. They make that all important top of the muffin even better
- Do not overbake the muffin, this makes them dry and tough. You want it to just spring back to the touch then remove from the oven
I love using apples in baking, there are several varieties that are perfect for baking, such as Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Gravenstein and Ballarat. If you need your apples to hold their shape then you will find Granny Smith and Golden Delicious the best for that.
If you, like me, have loads of apples to use up try these other recipes too
Apple Pie
Grandma’s Apple Shortcake
Apple Crunch Muffins
Caramel Apple Pie
Apple Spice Cake
Rolled Oats & Apple Breakfast Cups
Healthy Apple & Maple Syrup Muffins
So onto the recipe, absolutely delicious and so simple, the perfect way to use up all the autumn apples.
The Best Apple & Cinnamon Muffins
Delicious moist apple and cinnamon muffins with or without a crunchy streusel topping. Easy to make and freeze well,.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 Cups Plain White Flour
- 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
- 4 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon, ground
- 1 Cup Grated Apple, peeled and cored, approx 1 1/2 apples
- 1 Cup small Apple Chunks, peeled and cored, approx 1 1/2 apples
- 1 Cup Milk
- 2 eggs
- 125 grams Butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
Topping ~ Optional
- 1/4 Cup White Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons Flour
- 28 grams softened butter, 2 Tablespoons
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C Bake and grease a 12 cup muffin tray, I use cooking spray to coat the inside of the cups and the top of the muffin tray.
- The first thing to do is to melt the butter and set it aside to cool slightly.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl; flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
- Peel the apples, working quickly so they do not brown. Dice 1 1/2 apples and grate other 1 1/2 apples, add to the dry ingredients and work well into the mixture, you may wish you use your hands to disperse all the grated apple.
- In another bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla essence, then add the butter at the last minute just before combining.
- Add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and using a large wooden spoon stir until just combined.
- Divide mixture evening into muffin tray, about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until risen and light golden.
- If using the streusel topping make this now, combine the sugar, cinnamon, flour and softened butter and using your fingers combine this into a paste.
- Sprinkle this evenly over the muffins before baking, it will spread more than not using a topping but a well greased muffin tin is the best thing here.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the muffins spring back to the touch.
- Stand muffins for 5 minutes before removing from tins by sliding a knife carefully around the edge of each muffin and cooling on a wire rack
- Once cool store in an airtight container
- Will freeze well.
- Enjoy!
Notes
If using the streusel topping be sure to coat the inside and top of the muffin tray
Allow the muffins to set for at least 5 minutes before removing from the tray
If you make more than 12 muffins you will need to use the multi bake function to cook two trays on different tray levels
Different sized muffin trays will require different cooking times. Check often from 15 minutes.
Thank you so much for stopping by to check out my latest recipe and others on my blog. If you are not already be sure to follow me on Facebook or Instagram for more deliciousness, and you can register your email in the subscription box below to receive all my recipes as I publish them.
Happy Baking!
Anna
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Sue Mackenzie says
Made these, and they’re great! We had lots of Crofton apples from our tree here in Tasmania, which worked really well. Thankyou for such a wonderful recipe, so easy to follow. Now I’ll be able to make these delicious muffins each year from our own apples. Sue?
justamumnz says
Wonderful! Our tree is overflowing this year too, enjoy those muffins ?
Gail Seviour says
Delicious, I didn’t have quite enough apple, so I added sultanas…..very yummy!
justamumnz says
Great idea
Gail Rowley says
Love the combination of apple and cinnamon.
Emily says
These are really ? yummy.