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.
What’s To Love About These Muffins:
- Soft & fluffy inside
- Punctuated with tart apple pieces
- That thiiiick brown sugar streusel on top
- No fuss, no electric mixer, no headache.
These muffins–these springy-soft and fluffy muffins (one of which I’m devouring as I write this) were inspired by a surplus of apples on my countertop. I’ve made apple fritters, apple butter and apple dumplings, but this morning I was craving apple muffins.
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). The contrast of the crisp crumble and the soft muffin reminds me of my favorite apple crisp.
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.
More Muffins to Try:
- Banana Muffins (hundreds of 5 ⭐️ratings!)
- Chocolate Chip Muffins (bakery style!)
- Blueberry Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
A few of you asked how I made those paper liners for my muffins, so I recently shared a tutorial on making parchment paper liners!
Apple Crumble Muffins
Ingredients
Crumble*
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- ¾ cup brown sugar (light or dark is fine, I usually use light) tightly packed (150g)
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter melted
Muffins
- ½ cup canola oil vegetable oil would also work (120ml)
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar (100g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
- ½ cup buttermilk (or ½ Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice stirred into ½ cup milk and allowed to sit for 5 minutes) (120ml)
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup peeled and chopped apples (215g) I prefer my apple pieces chopped smaller rather than larger. You can use your preferred apple, I like to use a sweet/tart kind like Golden delicious or Gala.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F (190C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners (or grease and flour).
Crumble
- Prepare the crumble first by whisking together flour, sugars and cinnamon.
- Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form. Set aside.
Muffins
- In medium-large bowl, whisk together oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and buttermilk. Whisk well until all ingredients are well combined (about 1 minute).
- Add eggs, whisking until combined.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- In separate, medium-sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Gradually stir flour mixture into wet mixture until just combined (do not over-mix!).
- Gently fold in apple pieces.
- Divide batter into prepared muffin tins (filling each about ¾ of the way full).
- Top with crumble topping, splitting evenly among muffins.
- Bake on 375F (190C) for 25 minutes (toothpick inserted in center should come out mostly clean with no wet batter on it).
- Allow muffins to cool before eating.
Notes
Nutrition
Sandy
I made this recipe but had some leftover streusel. How would I be able to store it, as I’m not sure when will be the next time that I use it. Or can it only be stored for a short amount of time?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Sandy! You can store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. We suggesting adding it to a batch of banana muffins or pumpkin muffins 😊
Vicky Wallhausen
Morning Sam I have a new devotee can I use Tinned Apples
in the muffins and what would i have to alter or nothing. Yes I
normally use fresh sometimes not possible.
Thanks
Sam
Hi Vicky! I’m not sure I understand the question here. Are you using canned apples? The ones that are typical in a syrup? I’m not sure how well they would work here.
David Alexander
This is such a great recipe! I did end up using only half the streusal and that was enough for me, also added some oats to the streusal for some more texture which worked well. This will definitely be a regular recipe and its very affordable to make.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, David! 🙂