Apple crumb muffins are a simple and delicious fall breakfast recipe! Moist apple cinnamon muffins topped with a cinnamon streusel topping and a sweet glaze. An easy muffin recipe for apple lovers!
Ingredients for Apple Crumb Muffins
Apple cinnamon muffins
- Light brown sugar: For sweetness and a touch of molasses flavor.
- Vegetable oil: You can also use canola oil or another neutral baking oil.
- Eggs: Large eggs, room temperature.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla extract adds great flavor to the muffins
- Apples: Grated apple melts into the muffin, almost like zucchini in zucchini bread. It adds great flavor but you would not know it is there. A bit of diced apple adds some texture.
- All-purpose flour: Regular all-purpose flour. Level your measuring cups.
- Baking powder: A leavening agent to help the muffins rise.
- Baking soda: Another leavening agent to help the muffins rise and bake golden brown.
- Salt: Salt enhances the flavors in the muffins.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is a warm spice that pairs perfectly with apple.
- Milk: Room temperature. Use what you have on hand.
Cinnamon streusel
- Unsalted butter: You can also use salted if that is what you have! Melted butter.
- Light brown sugar: Adds sweetness and molasses flavor to the streusel.
- All-purpose flour: Creates the structure in the streusel.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon adds more great flavor to the streusel topping.
Glaze
- Powdered sugar + milk = simple sweet glaze.
Tools & Supplies for Making Apple Crumb Muffins
How to Make Apple Crumb Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
- In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, milk, and grated apple. Whisk until combined and smooth.
- Add in the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon). Whisk until well combined and smooth. Stir in grated apples.
- Use a large cookie scoop to portion the batter into the muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, all-purpose flour and cinnamon. Mix until crumbly.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the muffin batter.
- Bake the muffins for about 22-24 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the muffins in the pan for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cooled muffins.
Apple Crumb Muffins Recipe Tips
Apples
I recommend a slightly tart, firm apple, such as Crispin, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, or Granny Smith apples. To grate the apples, use a box grater or food processor. The diced apples should be small enough to soften when baking!
Do not overmix the muffin batter
It is important not to overmix the muffin batter. Once the dry and wet ingredients are well combined and smooth, stop mixing. If the batter is overmixed, the muffins can become tough and chewy due to the development of gluten.
Bake in the center of the oven
For the best results, I recommend baking in the center of your oven to ensure even baking. If the pan is too close to the top of the oven, the streusel can burn, and if it is too close to the bottom, the bottoms can burn and the muffins may not rise as well.
Use a cookie scoop
To make things easy on yourself, invest in a large cookie scoop to portion out batter for muffins and cupcakes. A large cookie scoop typically holds about three tablespoons of batter, which is typically the perfect amount for a standard size muffin pan. Your muffins will bake up perfectly even and uniform!
Glaze when cooled
Hold off on glazing your muffins until they are completely cooled. If you drizzle on the glaze when they are still warm, the glaze will melt into the muffins. Although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, waiting to they are cooled to room temperature allows the glaze to stay more in tact, which is more aesthetically pleasing (in my opinion).
Storing
Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. I prefer the muffins the day they are baked, as the streusel topping stays crisp.
Apple Crumb Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin pans and muffin liners
Ingredients
Apple Muffins
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup apple peeled and grated
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup milk room temperature
- ½ cup apple peeled and diced
Streusel Topping
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
Apple Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine light brown sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and grated apple. Whisk to combine.
- Add in all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until just combined.
- Add in milk and continue to mix until the batter is well incorporated.
- Fold in the diced apple until well dispersed throughout the batter.
- Portion into the muffin liners using a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons).
Streusel Topping
- In a small mixing bowl, combine melted butter, all-purpose flour, light brown sugar, and cinnamon. Mix until a crumbly streusel forms.
- Sprinkle the streusel topping over the muffin batter.
Bake
- Bake the muffins for approximately 22-24 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are firm when gently touched.
- Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Glaze
- In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar and milk to create a glaze.
- Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the cooled muffins.
Notes
Made This Recipe?
Be sure to follow on Pinterest @Cakemehometonight and on Instagram @cake_me_home_tonight
Did you make this recipe or want to see more? Make sure to leave your review below and tag me on Instagram @Cake_Me_Home_Tonight so I can see your creations!