Soft and fluffy apple crumble muffins are stuffed with apple pieces and piled high with a buttery crumble topping.
Of all of the different dessert recipes that I make for this site, my favorite thing to make (as of late, anyway) is a batch of muffins.
I think it’s because I’ve sort of developed a knack for making them. A while back, after a lot of trial and error, I developed the perfect basic muffin recipe. Perfect in my opinion, anyway, which means soft, fluffy and flavorful muffins every time.
My basic recipe is just that: the plain, basic fundamentals for a light and fluffy muffin, so each time I set out to create a new muffin recipe, I spend some time tweaking it to best suit the ingredients I’m trying to highlight that day, changing a few things here and here to properly develop the taste and texture I’m looking for.
Not once has my muffin base let me down.
These muffins–these springy-soft and fluffy muffins (one of which I’m devouring as I write this) were inspired by Friday’s Caramel Apple Cheesecake dip. As often happens, one recipe on the blog will beget another, if only to use up excess ingredients and not have to throw them away.
So, to use up the pile of apples sleeping on my countertop, I chopped them up and tossed them into my slightly altered muffin base. This time, I added a generous addition of cinnamon to complement and draw out the apple flavor, and a buttery, irresistible, sky-high pile of brown sugar and cinnamon crumbles (which are nice and gently crunchy against the soft apple base).
They are the ultimate breakfast muffin. The ultimate misty Monday morning pick-me up muffin. The ultimate anytime muffin.
Now excuse me, I think I’ll go have another.
Apple Crumble Muffins
Fluffy apple studded muffins with a mile-high streusel topping.
Ingredients
Crumble*
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar tightly packed
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 6 Tbsp salted butter melted
Muffins
- 1/2 cup canola oil vegetable oil would also work
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice stirred into 1/2milk and allowed to sit for 5 minutes0
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cup peeled and chopped apples I prefer my apple pieces chopped smaller rather than larger
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 F and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners (or grease and flour).
Crumble
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Prepare the crumble first by whisking together flour, sugars and cinnamon.
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Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form. Set aside.
Muffins
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In medium-large bowl, whisk together oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and buttermilk. Whisk well until all ingredients are well combined (about 1 minute).
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Add eggs, whisking until combined.
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Stir in vanilla extract.
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In separate, medium-sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
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Gradually stir flour mixture into wet mixture until just combined (do not over-mix!).
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Gently fold in apple pieces.
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Divide batter into prepared muffin tins (filling each about 3/4 of the way full).
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Top with crumble topping, splitting evenly among muffins.
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Bake on 375F for 25 minutes (toothpick inserted in center should come out mostly clean with no wet batter on it).
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Allow muffins to cool before eating.
Recipe Notes
*Please note that this crumble recipe makes a lot of crumble -- as much as you see in the photos. I use all of it when I make these muffins because I like a lot of streusel, if you don't like a lot of streusel, please halve the crumble.
You May Also Like:
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Cranberry White Chocolate Muffins
Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Carolyn says
Just made these and they were really tasty. Easy to follow instructions, thanks for the recipe!
Sam says
So glad you liked them! Thanks for commenting, Carolyn! 🙂
Alyson says
We loved these, Sam!! Thanks so much for this recipe. I used the extra crumble topping on banana bread. Fantastic!
Sam says
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed! Thank you for coming back and letting me know that you liked them, Alyson! 🙂
Judy says
Crumble topping is excellent crisp, crumbly, bits of sweet sugar and biscuit like bits. The muffin very moist and tasty. I wanted a muffin and apple crumble so this hit the spot. Thanks excellent recipe particularly the crumble. Normally I rub butter into flour but this melting butter first then mixing is much better.
Sam says
So glad to hear that you enjoyed, Judy! 🙂
Maria says
Tried it today and I overly trusted the recipe. I followed the recipe exactly, but I wish I read the comments beforehand. First the crumble mix was too much and I hate wasting. Second, 1/3 of the bottom of the muffin was burnt after checking it at 20 minutes less than 5 minutes of the suggested baking time. I baked them in the middle rack on recommended oven temp. I guess, I can lower the oven temp, but I’m hesitant to try this recipe again. Giving it 2 stars just because the muffins top look really nice and the muffins are kind of moist, but not moist enough for a keeper recipe. Sorry.
Sam says
Sorry they didn’t turn out for you! Yes, it does make a lot of crumble! They definitely shouldn’t have come out burnt, if you used significantly less crumble they may have needed less time than the suggested baking time, or it’s possible that your oven may be running hotter than it’s reading. Did you use paper liners when baking? If not the baking tin may have also contributed to the burning.
Veritable Senior Housing Seattle website says
Loved the: it’s not at all a boring health-food kind of muffin.
I know those too well… 😉
great post, Sam!
tina fox says
what kind of paper did you use for your liners? is it just parchment paper cut into squares? thank you tina.
Sam says
Exactly right. I hope you love the muffins! 🙂
Bria says
Turned out great! I tweaked it a bit to suit our household. I doubled the muffin recipe and left the crumble so it made two dozen muffins. I used whole wheat flour, half applesauce and half oil, added walnuts, and about three times the amount of cinnamon. Still yummy but a little healthy. Lol.
Sam says
I love the healthier substitutions! Glad to hear they were such a hit!! 🙂
Elsie says
Loved how the classic, basic ingredients came together to make something really special! Changes I made:
– half the crumble
– added chopped walnuts
– used half unbleached white flour and half white whole wheat
– used a little less sugar than called for
– did not peel apples first
Next time, I plan to press the crumble into the batter, just slightly, so it doesn’t fall off the finished muffins as readily.
Very delicious! Thank you!
Sam says
Glad to hear that you enjoyed them, Elsie!
Geena says
Fabulous muffins! I wanted more muffins to share with our friends, so I made 1.5 x the recipe, and added 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg to both the muffin batter and crumb topping (which I only made a single size batch of – thank you for the note about crumb portion preference).
Delicious and moist, perfect amount of sweetness and tart (I used royal gala apples). Thank you so much for the recipe, looking forward to trying more! You inspire me to bake 🙂
Geena says
5 stars!
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed them so much! Thank you so much for coming back and commenting to let me know how they turned out for you, Geena!! <3
SUPRIYA says
The cupcakes turned out soft and moist and delicious. The crumble was great.
My baking time was 20 mins and it turned out good.