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
Enni
Hi Sam , first time following your written only recipe, muffin still came out good, thank you!
Melissa
I don’t normally comment on stuff but these are the best muffins I have ever made. AND to top it all off, I made the parchment paper wrappers – I have never done this before – amazing!! My only comment is that the crumble recipe makes more than what you need. But no biggie. So delicious. Thank you very much!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you loved them, Melissa! Thank you so much for trying my recipe! 🙂
Jill
Delicious apple crumb muffins. Will be making your apple cake very soon. Your recipes never disappoint. Thanks Sam.
Sam
Thank you so much, Jill! I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins and I hope you love the apple cake just as much. 🙂
Krista
I think I’ve made these atleast 8 times now! I have 7 kids and 11 of us that live in my house. Such a simple great recipe that I can double. I’ve also baked and sent them to my step mom and my dad in Arizona. As said in a previous comment, Wisconsin gets cold, we love to bake and these muffins never fail. And that’s due to such a great recipe. Thank you very much for all your great treats.
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Krista! 🙂
Amy
I’m wondering if you could add bananas to this recipe?
Sam
Hi Amy! I haven’t tried it. Without having tried it, it’s really too hard to say if you’d need to change anything. If you try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Liz
It’s been rainy and cold here in Wisconsin, perfect weather for baking. Just made these muffins two days ago just for the two of us and we ate the last ones this morning for breakfast. They were so good, moist and very flavorful. Also made your white bread which I’ve done several times and it’s also always delicious. Your recipes never disappoint. Looking forward to trying the apple crisp recipe soon.
Sam
Thank you so much Liz! I am so glad you have enjoyed everything and the muffins in particular. 🙂
Nancy Harms
If I don’t have buttermilg and add vinegar to regular milk, how much milk do I use. It just says 1/2 milk. Did you mean 1/2 cup milk?
Sam
Hi Nancy! You will need 1/2 cup of milk. 🙂
Lisa d
I love your recipe. I’m going to add some chopped walnuts to the crumble topping next time
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Lisa! 🙂
Hannah
Made these this morning and they were absolutely delicious! The crumble was perfect and the apples came out moist.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Hannah! 🙂
Courtney Bryson
How long do they last ive cooked today and stored in an air tight container. Ps they are insane!!! 😍
Sam
They should last about a week at room temperature if you don’t eat them all first. 😉
Bruce
Also, muffins freeze very well in a zippered freezer bag. They stay fresher that way, in case you have to keep them more than two days.
mary kelly
Just in the oven now the crumble tastes amazing even before its baked waiting longingly for them to be baked
Sugar Spun Run
The wait time is the worst, but I promise it will be worth it. 😉 I hope that you love the muffins, Mary!
Mary
Omg i’v made a lot of cupcakes/muffins but these are up there amongst the best I love the contrast between the crunchy crumble topping and the moist full on flavour muffin definetly a keeper thank you for sharing
Sugar Spun Run
That is wonderful. I am so glad that you enjoyed them, Mary! 🙂
Alicia
These muffins are delicious! A favourite in our house
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy to hear that they have become a family favorite, Alicia! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
ARIANNE
THESE MUFFINS ARE GREAT!!! I just had one freshly baked muffin a minute out from the oven coz I just can’t wait! I lost my sweet tooth probably wen I was a kid, so I halved the sugar as I’m using my homemade chunky apple jam that already had sugar in it. Only used light brown (raw) sugar as that’s what I only have at the moment. Also, I only have olive oil and I’m not sure if that can substitute canola/veg oil, but I know a lot of recipe calls for butter so I made a little less than half a cup of butter:olive oil. I had to less a bit of liquid coz my jam has sauce in it. Despite all of the adjustments MUFFINS CAME OUT GREAT!!!!!! Much love from Singapore Sam <3
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Arianne! For the oil, I really recommend a neutral oil. Olive oil has a little bit of a stronger taste, but you may have been able to mask it with the jam you used. Either way, I’m glad they turned out! 🙂
Angela
These are the best muffins I think I’ve ever made! I have never commented on a recipe before, but this recipe needs to be praised! It’s a very well-written recipe, every step is laid out perfectly. As for the finished product, it came out exactly the way it should have…the muffin was moist, the topping was crunchy and the taste was absolutely delicious! These will be baked again!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Angela! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I really appreciate it. 🙂
Simone Cheong
Muffins came out awesome! I doubled the muffin recipe and added one bag of dark chocolate chips to the batter. I made only one recipe of the topping, and it was enough for the 27 muffins the double muffin recipe yielded.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Simone! 🙂
Sandra Gay Duffey
These muffins were easy to make and lovely and moist but they just were not sweet enough. Don`t think I will make them again
Simone Cheong
Sandra, I added chocolate chips and it brought the sweetness level up without being too sweet. You could also try semi-sweet chocolate chips.
ARIANNE
Uh-oh… I made some chunky apple jam out from left over apples. Thot of making them into muffins and so I found this recipe. I even Halved the sugar as the apple jam already has a bit of sugar in it. But generally I’m not a huge fan of sweets. Updating later once the muffins are done.