Apple Muffins
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These wholesome apple muffins are full of spice and everything nice.
Adapted from King Arthur Flour, a wonderful resource for bakers, these apple muffins are made partially with whole wheat flour, which gives them a wholesome, nutty flavor and toasty-brown color. They’re also chockfull of tart apples and enriched with low-fat yogurt, so no one could ever accuse them of being cupcakes pretending to be muffins. The recipe calls for a full tablespoon of cinnamon along with a hint of nutmeg and cloves, so your house will smell amazing while the muffins bake. But the best part of these apple muffins might just be the simple brown sugar topping, which gives the lids an irresistible crunch.
What you’ll need to make Apple Muffins
It’s important to pick apples that are good for baking: Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Gala, Jonagold, Jonathan, and Golden Delicious all work nicely.
SteP-by-Step Instructions
To begin, combine the butter, sugar and brown sugar.
Beat until light and fluffy.
Add the egg.
Then beat again.
Add the yogurt.
Beat again.
Add all the dry ingredients right to the bowl.
Mix until just combined. Note that the batter will be very thick.
Add the diced apples.
Then stir them in.
Use an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter to a muffin tin.
Sprinkle the tops generously with brown sugar.
Bake for about 25 minutes.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
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Spiced Apple Muffins
These wholesome apple muffins are full of spice and everything nice.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt or Greek yogurt
- 1 cup whole wheat flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 cups peeled, cored, and finely chopped baking apples (you'll need 2 large apples)
For Topping
- 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan with butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the egg and mix well, stopping to scrape the bowl if necessary.
- Beat in the yogurt. The batter will look grainy.
- Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Beat on low speed until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
- Add the chopped apples and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
- Use an ice-cream scooper or large spoon to divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. The cups should be full. Sprinkle the 6 tablespoons of brown sugar evenly over top.
- Bake the muffins for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven, cool them for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn them out onto a rack to finish cooling completely.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 – 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 221
- Fat: 9g
- Saturated fat: 5g
- Carbohydrates: 33g
- Sugar: 16g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 4g
- Sodium: 207mg
- Cholesterol: 37mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Comments
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Hi Jenn,
Can I use turbinado sugar rather than dark brown sugar for the muffin topping?
Thank you!
Yep!
I made these and they are so light and fluffy. Used AP flour only, full fat yogurt and grated the apples (Honeycrisp). So good. Definitely a keeper!!!!
The muffins were very delicious. Thank you. I added chopped walnuts to the brown sugar mixed with melted butter. Great flavor. And the muffins were very moist.
The only problem I had is that ,at 375F, the brown sugar burnt a little. Is it okay to lower the temperature to 350F?
Thank you Jenn.
Hi Lucy, Glad you liked them! You could lower the temperature and keep them in the oven a bit longer or, when you see the sugar starting to burn, gently lay a piece of foil overtop of the muffins.
Delicious! A great fall muffin recipe. Thank you Jenn 🙂
Can I use light brown sugar instead of dark, maybe use all light for both kinds of sugar. Do you think this we’ll work?
Sure, Heather, that will work. Enjoy!
Wow, are these good! So fluffy and light! I made muffins and a 8×8 pan. Now, I had to adjust for a low sugar/high altitude home, but these rock! We love big. bold flavors and I added more spice (nutmeg). I didn’t have yogurt but looked online to see a substitution. With all of my adjustments, there were tons of room for error but these came out scrumptious. And I’ve never even been to this website, either. I am bookmarking this site!!
Hi Jenn,
Do I need to make any adjustments if I were to use 2 cups of whole wheat flour instead of 1 cup of all purpose and 1 cup of whole wheat flour?
Susan
Hi Susan, No other changes necessary – should be fine. Enjoy!
Lovely light moist muffins! Even my husband who doesn’t have too much of a sweet tooth loved them!
I probably put half the amount of dark brown sugar over the top.
Very dry:(
Hi,
Do you think these muffins would be ok in mini muffin tins? If yes, could you recommend a baking time?
Hi Lorraine, Mini muffins would work here, just make sure to chop the apples into small chunks. I’d bake them for 10-15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Could I do this in a loaf pan? And can I do the brown sugar like with your cinnamon swirl apple bread? Got some greek yogurt I need to use. Thank you in advance Chef!
Yes and yes — hope you enjoy!
Hi Jen,
I made these muffins without the brown sugar topping and regretted it. The muffins did smell wonderful but tasted bland. It surprised me since the spices diffused a wonderful scent in my home.
Hello Danielle,
I included the brown sugar topping and the muffins tasted bland to me (sweet but bland).
Felicia B.
I only use Gluten Free flour because of celiac disease. This recipe calls for partial wheat
flour. Can I just substitute regular GF flour?
Sure!
Question: If I only have K.A. unbleached A.P flour, would the liquid measurements be the same? I THINK?? Whole wheat flour recipes use a hit mire liquid?? Not sure though
Hi Jo, all the measurements will be the same. Enjoy! 🙂
Made this as a 9×5 loaf and it turned out wonderful. I lowered temp to 350 and baked 45 minutes. I used a hand chopper to chop the apples into fine bits based on some comments mentioning grating the apples. Substitutions due to what I had on hand. 1/2 c. sour cream, 1/2 c. 2% yogurt. allspice vs cloves.
Turned out very moist. We really liked the flavor. Thanks, Jenn, for another great recipe.
These are in the oven now, they smell delicious. I did use sour cream though, I picked up vanilla yogurt by mistake. would this be okay in these muffins? Thanks!!
Hi Char, because vanilla yogurt has sugar added to it, going with sour cream was the right choice. Hope they taste as good as they smell!
Would adding raisins and chopped pecans work with this recipe or change the texture too much? If it would not be a bad match could you recommend amount of each. Thank you for your wonderful recipes and this easy to use site! Viki
Hi Viki, both would be nice here. I’d suggest 1/2 cup of each. I’d love to hear how they turn out!
I made these gorgeous muffins, they are easy to make, so very light and tasty. Perfect for the autumnal or winter season. I had to substitute ground cloves for mixed spice but this seemed to work well.
I am interested in making these muffins, and was wondering if I can substitute sour cream for the yogurt?
Sure!