Grab your bushel of apples and start baking! If you’re as excited as I am about apple season and fall baking, then you’ll love these apple cinnamon crumble muffins. This recipe uses sour cream to give your muffins a fluffy and moist crumb, topped with a spiced cinnamon crumble.
Whether you’re apple picking at a U-pick orchard or have found the perfect Granny Smith apples at the market, this recipe is great for kicking off the fall baking season.
Why You’ll Love This Apple Cinnamon Crumble Muffin Recipe
Is there anything worse than a dry muffin? I’m sure there is, but we’re not having that around here! We love these muffins in my household each fall. Even my “picky eaters” love this apple muffin recipe! Our family enjoys them for breakfast and a little afternoon treat.
After all, don’t they sound scrumptious alongside a cup of tea or coffee? I love to kick off fall baking with these apple muffins; it’s a chance to enjoy autumn spices if you’re not in the mood for pumpkin.
You can bake these muffins year-round, but I find that they’re best during the fall when Granny Smith apples are in peak season. In the winter, you can use Cosmic Crisp apples, which ripen a bit later. Both are excellent options!
Ingredients for Apple Cinnamon Crumble Muffins
To start baking, add these ingredients to your shopping list. If you don't have some of these ingredients, you can use the recommended substitutions mentioned in the recipe card.
- Granny Smith apples
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder & baking soda
- Ground cinnamon (optional nutmeg)
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Salt
- Room temperature butter
- Eggs
- Sour cream (full-fat recommended)
- Buttermilk
- Vanilla extract
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Crumble Muffins
This easy-to-follow recipe will have you enjoying warm, spiced apple muffins in about 30 minutes!
1. Make the cinnamon crumble
In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, flour, and salt. Using a fork, mix everything together, pressing the butter bits into the dry ingredients. Once the crumble resembles small pea-sized bits, cover it and refrigerate while preparing the muffin batter.
2. Prepare the dry ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk well and set aside. Note: you will need 1 tablespoon of dry ingredients for your apple mixture, so don't mix together with wet ingredients quite yet!
3. Make the apple cinnamon filling
Core, peel, and dice one large Granny Smith apple. Peeling is optional, as I bake my muffins using unpeeled apples. In a small bowl, toss the apples together with cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, and 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients, and set aside.
4. Cream the butter and sugar
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the room-temperature butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Using a stand or hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, eggs, sour cream, and buttermilk. Continue to mix until completely smooth.
5. Fold the wet and dry ingredients
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Using a rubber scraper, gently fold the two mixtures together until they form a batter. Be careful not to overmix the muffin batter. Add half of the cinnamon apple filling and gently fold apples into the muffin batter.
6. Fill the muffin tin
Line the muffin tin with cupcake liners. Using a cookie scoop, add two scoops of batter (¼ cup) to each baking cup. Top with the remaining apple filling and cinnamon crumble.
7. Bake the apple muffins
Bake apple cinnamon crumble muffins at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and bake an additional 9-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Types of Crumble Topping
You can choose the type of crumble you want on top of your muffins. If you prefer something different, experiment with these variations until you find the one that suits your taste!
- Crunchy Top: Add an extra tablespoon of flour to the crumble recipe for an extra crunchy topping.
- Softer Crumble: Reduce the flour by two tablespoons and use melted butter. Chill the mixture, and use a fork to break it up before topping.
- Caramelized Crumble: Press the crumbles into the batter to create a caramelized, baked-in texture.
- Spice Swap: Experiment by substituting cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cloves, or your choice of other spices.
Best Tools for Baking Muffins
You don't need anything special or fancy to bake muffins, but these kitchen tools will make things much easier!
- Muffin tin & baking cups
- Mixing bowls
- Rubber spatula
- Cookie scoop (with trigger)
- Apple peeler
- Apple corer
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
Moist Apple Cinnamon Crumble Muffins
A fall baking treat! Sour cream gives these muffins a light yet moist crumb. Top them with a cinnamon crumble for the ultimate apple cinnamon muffin.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Baked Goods
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Muffins
Ingredients
Cinnamon Crumble:
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Muffin Batter:
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine kosher salt
- ½ cup butter (8 tbsp), room temperature
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup sour cream*
- ¼ cup buttermilk**
Apple Filling:
- 1 large Granny Smith apple, diced
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon dry ingredients from muffin batter (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and make the cinnamon crumble.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, flour, and salt. Use a fork to mix everything together, pressing the butter bits into the dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate. Prepare the dry ingredients.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk or sift together and set aside. Prepare the apple cinnamon filling.
- Core, peel, and dice one large Granny Smith apple. In a bowl, toss diced apples together with cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and one tablespoon of the dry ingredients. Prepare the wet ingredients.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together for 3 to 5 minutes or until the sugar and butter is pale, light, and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, vanilla, sour cream, and buttermilk to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat on medium speed for an additional one minute.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with dry ingredients. Using a rubber scraper, gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together until there are no dry bits left. Be careful not to overmix the batter. Fold in half of the apple cinnamon filling.
- Line a muffin tin with muffin or cupcake liners. Add ¼ cup batter to each cup. This is equivalent to one ice cream scoop or two cookie scoops, if using a trigger scoop.
- Remove the cinnamon crumble from the refrigerator. Gently break up the crumble with a fork, if necessary. Top muffins with remaining apple filling and then the cinnamon crumble.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 9 to 12 minutes.
- Carefully move the muffins to a cooling rack and let cool before enjoying or transferring to an airtight container.
Notes
*If you don't have sour cream, you can substitute it with whole milk plain yogurt
**If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute it with whole milk.
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