Apple Muffins
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These apple muffins are packed with fresh apples and warm spices, with a tender crumb and crunchy brown sugar tops.
I’ve made a lot of apple muffin recipes the years, but I especially love these because they strike a nice balance between wholesome and indulgent. The recipe, adapted from King Arthur Baking, uses a combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flour, which gives the muffins a little more substance without making them heavy. Yogurt keeps them moist, while a generous amount of chopped apple ensures you get fruit in every bite.
The finishing touch is a sprinkle of brown sugar before baking, which bakes up into a deliciously crunchy crust on top. They’re especially good warm from the oven, but they stay moist for days, making them great for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
“A perfect muffin recipe! The house smelled marvelous, too!”
What You’ll Need To Make Apple Muffins
- Butter & Egg: The butter adds richness and helps keep the crumb tender, while the egg provides structure.
- Granulated & Brown Sugar: Sweeten the muffins and help keep them moist. Brown sugar is also sprinkled over the tops before baking to create a sweet, crunchy crust.
- Plain Yogurt: Keeps the muffins moist and tender and works with the baking soda to help them rise. Plain low-fat or Greek yogurt both work well.
- Whole Wheat & All-Purpose Flour: The combination gives the muffins some of the nutty flavor and substance of whole wheat while keeping them tender. Using all whole wheat flour can make them dry, but white whole wheat flour can be used in place of both flours.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Work together to give the muffins lift.
- Cinnamon, Nutmeg & Cloves: Cinnamon leads the way, with nutmeg and cloves adding extra warmth and depth.
- Apples: Use firm apples that hold their shape when baked, such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gala, Jonagold, Jonathan, or Golden Delicious. The chopped apples add moisture and ensure you get pieces of fruit throughout the muffins.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Apple Muffins
Mix the wet ingredients: Beat the butter and granulated sugar until noticeably lighter in color and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the egg until well combined, then add the yogurt. The mixture may look a little curdled or lumpy after the yogurt goes in; that’s normal.
Add the dry ingredients: Add the flours, leaveners, salt, and spices, and mix just until no streaks of flour remain. The batter will be very thick and scoopable.
Fold in the apples: Gently fold in the chopped apples until evenly distributed. It may look like a lot of apples at first, but they’ll work their way into the thick batter. Stop folding once the fruit is evenly dispersed.
Fill the muffin cups: Divide the batter among the muffin cups. They should be quite full, with the thick batter mounded slightly above the rims. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the tops.
Bake: Bake until the muffins are well risen and golden brown, with slightly domed tops. A tester inserted into the center should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no wet batter. Let the muffins cool briefly in the pan before transferring them to a rack.
If you love baking with apples, be sure to try my apple bread or apple cake. The bread has a sweet cinnamon ribbon running through it, while the cake is buttery, tender, and packed with fresh apples.
More Muffin Recipes You May Like
Spiced Apple Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt or Greek yogurt
- 1 cup whole wheat flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 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 (packed) dark brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). 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 to 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 a little curdled—that's okay.
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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.
Add a Comment
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Can I use 2 cups of whole wheat flour?
Hi Eileen, Using all whole wheat flour may make the muffins dry. If you have white whole wheat flour, that would work. If not, I’d probably go with 1.5 cups of whole wheat and .5 cup all purpose flour. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jen,
I noticed there is no need to line the muffin pan, do you mind explaining why? Thank you!
Hi Ana, some muffins are more prone to stick without liners, but I haven’t had a problem with these as long as I thoroughly grease the muffin tin. Hope that clarifies! 🙂
Cant wait to try this recipe. What type of apples work best?
Hi Nan, I’d recommend any of the following (and I’d use one of each for the best flavor): Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, Gala, Jonagold, Jonathan, or Golden Delicious. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn
My boys love your cinnamon swirl apple bread, so I am excited to make these for them. I have whole milk plain yogurt, will that be okay to use?
Thank you so much
Melissa
Sure, Melissa, that’s fine. Hope you enjoy!
This was another good recipe. I thought the 6 tbs brown sugar for the topping seemed excessive, but once baked seemed just fine.
I have apple trees so I am always looking for recipes to use lots of apples. I would make these again!
Hi Jenn – I am so excited to bake these muffins tonight. How much can I reduce the sugar in the recipe without compromising the muffins?
Thank you in advance – my family and I love your recipes!
Hi Taylor, So glad you like the recipes! I think you could get away with cutting a total of 1/4 cup of sugar. I’d love to hear how they turn out. 🙂
Delicious, as always! Thanks, Jenn!
Hi – Can use my cupcake pan for this or do I need to buy a muffin pan? I think the muffin pans have bigger slots.
Yes (they’re actually the same). Enjoy the muffins!
Can I substitute canola oil for butter?
Hi Margot, canola oil won’t work here, but you can use (solidified) coconut oil if you’d like. 🙂
Wow, Jenn. Another great muffin recipe. You have the best muffin recipes ever! I love the banana nut, pumpkin nut and now this. I did it exactly the way you have it and it was delicious.
However, I love nuts and I was wondering if I could add walnuts in it? I was thinking of adding chopped walnuts with honey and cinnamon as a topping. What do you think?
Lucy Conway
So glad you like the muffin recipes! Yes, I think you could add the topping you’ve suggested. Please LMK how they turn out with it!
Can I substitute sourdough discard for half of the flour?
Hi Marion, I wouldn’t recommend it – sorry!
Hello, we love, love, love the muffins!
How do I best store them and for how long will they hold?
Thank you!
So glad you like them! They should last for several days. To store them, line a sealable container with a sheet of paper towels. Arrange the muffins in a single layer and cover them with another sheet of paper towels to absorb any excess moisture. (And they can be stored on the countertop.)