Apple Crumble Muffins
With flavors of apple and fall spices, plus a tasty streusel topping, these moist and delicious Apple Crumble Muffins will rock your fall!
What would fall be without apple treats–complete with spices like cinnamon and ginger? And these Apple Crumble Muffins are so yummy they will bring the best of fall into your life from breakfast to dinner.
Yes back in the day when I first made Apple Streusel Muffins, I knew I was onto something good. That week, my mother and stepfather kept stopping by for different reasons and finally confessed they were after my muffins!
Driving across town for more delicious muffins? I totally get that!
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. If apple cinnamon muffins alone aren’t enough, these have a streusel topping too, to make them over the top special. ‘Cause how could you top Apple Muffins with crumb topping!
Easy. Muffins are everywhere because they’re easy to make and practical to have on hand. Can’t beat easy and versatile paired with flavor!
Healthier. Apple Crumble muffins are made with part whole wheat flour, less butter, and more apples than most. So, they’re healthier than your average muffin!
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
- Egg. This helps moisten, enrich and lighten the muffins.
- Buttermilk. This helps moisten the muffins. See here for buttermilk substitutes.
- Butter. This helps moisten and enrich the muffins. It is also used in the topping.
- Brown sugar. This sweetens the muffins and the crumb topping.
- All-purpose flour. With the whole wheat flour, it forms the bulk of the muffin. It is also used in the topping.
- Whole wheat flour. This adds extra nutrition and fiber.
- Vanilla extract, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice. These add fall flavor to the muffins. There is also cinnamon in the crumble topping.
- Baking soda. This helps the muffin rise.
- Chopped apples. This provides the apple-y goodness to the muffins.
- Rolled oats. This adds texture and crunch to the topping.
Special Tools
- No special tools required!
Step by Step Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
In a large bowl or mixer, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and brown sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Chop the apples using a food processor or by hand.
Mix flour, baking soda and spices until well combined.
Add to the liquid mix and mix until just combined.
Gently fold in apples. Don’t worry if the mixture seems somewhat “fluffy.”
Divide the batter even to fill each muffin cup a generous ¾ or more full.
To make the topping, stir together brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix in the melted butter (I used my fingers) until well blended. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed. Do not overbake.
How to Serve
Apple Crumb Muffins are tasty and versatile. Serve them for breakfast, as a side with lunch or dinner, or as a snack.
For breakfast on the go, you could do worse than grabbing a muffin and a glass of milk Or go more upscale and serve them for a nice brunch. They’d be perfect for a baby or bridal shower or a holiday like Easter or Mother’s Day.
For lunch, muffins can round out a hearty bowl of soup or an entrée salad and turn it into a complete meal. Yes, the right muffin can make even a light midday meal special.
And for a company dinner (or even for a regular meal), I love serving a bread basket. Here these muffins would be right at home among some sliced sweet potato bread or honey wheat bread.
Variations
If it’s all about the apple streusel for you, take a look at my Betty Crocker French Apple Pie. It’s a classic recipe that’s stood the test of time. And you’ll get even more healthy apples!
Or make this with peaches instead of apples for Peach Streusel Muffins. Just substitute is the same amounts–and you don’t need to peel the peaches either!
Craving a glaze? This is your warning that this will add a fair amount of calories but if you’re not counting, I include a delicious vanilla glaze with my Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake.
And for some other lovely muffins, consider my Classic Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffins or my Award Winning Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins.
Leftovers
With all the moisture in these apple-filled muffins, they are best eaten within about 2 days of baking. But they’re so good, that isn’t hard, even in a small household!
If that’s too much of a challenge, you can freeze what you don’t think you’ll use. They are best frozen the first day, after they’ve cooled.
Tips & FAQs
Apples are regularly featured on the EWG dirty dozen list of most contaminated fruits and vegetables. So go organic if you can.
For less work and less waste, consider skipping peeling the apples. Besides less waste, unpeeled apples are healthier–and you can barely tell the difference in this recipe. How do I know? Because my princess-and-the-pea daughter can spot an apple peel in a food a mile away and she loves these.
Is one variety of apple better than another in these? While I do have my favorite eating apples, when it comes to these muffins, I’ve never met an apple that wasn’t good.
My muffins didn’t have a high rise—did I do something wrong? If your muffins have a rounded top like my picture above, you’re probably fine. This muffin recipe uses half whole wheat flour which doesn’t give you the high muffin tops that all white flour does. But I think it’s worth a slightly flatter muffin for the extra health value!
Delicious Apple Recipes
-
- Apple Almond Vada from Magical Ingredients
- Apple Biscuits from Jen Around the World
- Apple Butter from Palatable Pastime
- Apple Cider Mimosa from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
- Apple Crumble Muffins from Art of Natural Living
- Apple Walnut Snack Cake from That Recipe
- Easy Skillet Apple Crisp from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Maple Apple Pie with Walnut Crumble Topping from The Spiffy Cookie
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Apple Crumble Muffin
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 1 egg
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups chopped apples 1 med apple = 3/4 c chopped, so about 2-3 apples, depending on size
Topping:
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and brown sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
- Use a food processor to chop the apples.
- Mix flour, baking soda and spices until well combined. Add to the liquid mix and stir until just combined.
- Gently fold in apples. Don’t worry if the mixture seems somewhat “fluffy.”
- Use a scoop or tablespoon to fill each muffin cup a generous ¾ full.
- To make the topping, stir together brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix in the melted butter (I used my fingers) until well blended. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed. Do not overbake.
Updated from original, published on Dec 7, 2011.
The streusel topping is the best! These muffins will be loved in our home!
that streusel topping looks just so delicious!! It’s making my mouth water. I’m adding these to the menu.
These would be the perfect on the go muffins!
These Apple Crumble Muffins sound absolutely delightful! The combination of apple, fall spices, and that tasty streusel topping has me craving one right now. It’s clear that they’re not just muffins; they’re a slice of fall heaven.
I’m bookmarking these for Thanksgiving weekend — our guest (especially our 10-year-old grandson — will love these!
Yes, he will!
Apple muffins are perfect for fall and that streusel on top sounds amazing!
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I can see why this is a new favourite – they look so moist and warm 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Yes… dangerously good 😉
We’ve made these muffins for weeks, with a slightly different multi-grain flour blend each time. We have made them with sucanat and coconut sugar instead of dark brown sugar. We have tried soy milk and rice milk instead of buttermilk. We have used olive oil, coconut oil, and melted butter in place of the grapeseed oil. In the latest batch, we used a chia seed slurry (1 teaspoon of ground chia seeds and 3 tablespoons of hot water for every 1 egg) to make these egg-free for a friend. And we have enjoyed apricots, raisins, and apple chunks, along with pecans, pine nuts, and pistachios.
They do sound divine. I was just calculating how many extra miles I’d have to run to enjoy. =)
I don’t think these are as bad as some muffins which may have double the fat in these–if that helps 😉
I’m so glad you (and your family) loved these muffins! I truly can’t believe how delicious they are. Now I want to make another batch!
Oh, um… sorry about that. But thanks so much for the recipe! Stepfather was over again today–can he smell them across town?