Easy Apple Crumb Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Crumble
These apple crumble muffins were passed on from a friend back when I lived in Santa Barbara. I’m convinced every muffin should have a crumb topping, especially apple cinnamon muffins! Get out your muffin tin, set out a wire rack, and enjoy apple season with the best apple crumb muffins!
A Little Story
Do your favorite recipes come from a book on your shelf, or are they those that were handed down and written for you on a recipe card? There’s something about the handwritten recipe cards and passed down recipes that are simply the best. The card not only holds with it ingredients and instructions, but there are memories I can imagine around the food as well.
While I have fond memories with the friend who originally gave me this recipe, I never met the originator of it. This friend knew my love for good recipes and good food. We’d go for walks on the beach in Santa Barbara as young twenty-somethings talking about life and work and food. She knew it would be a good idea to pass along this easy muffin recipe and that I wouldn’t only enjoy the gesture, I’d love it!
We originally made the muffins in a very large muffin tin, one that resembles the size of muffins you’d get at a bakery. If you have a muffin pan like this, I highly recommend trying these in there. I love using a large cookie scoop when it comes to making muffins. Scoops are some of my favorite utensils when he comes to kitchen tools. You’ll need to adjust the baking time, cooking a little bit longer until the streusel topping and muffin batter is cooked perfectly.
As with most recipes, I have made some adjustments from that original recipe card to make this apple muffins recipe my own. Fresh apples are of course key and if you’re baking, I’d always recommend Granny Smith apples. Most apple recipes will call for the same kind! Their more firm and tart eaten plain, but once cooked in a muffin or pie they hold up well and their sweetness come through.
This recipe hails from Canada, land of the Butter Tart. This means they’re not my healthy breakfast muffin, they’re my “company is coming over these will wow them” muffin. The wet ingredients are decadent with buttermilk, pecans, and lots of cinnamon. I don’t believe in skimping on flavor, so feel free to add pumpkin pie spice if you like, maybe some nutmeg, or even a pinch of all spice here too.
These are also my afternoon snack muffins and muffins I like to make a whole bunch of to stock in my freezer. A well-stocked freezer is a priority for me so that our family can have good homemade meals even on nights when we’re going between school and sports, and everything else in between!
Having items in my freezer for breakfast like these tender apple crumb muffins is an added bonus. I love pulling them out the night before an early morning knowing a grab-n-go breakfast is ready and waiting!
Fall is Apple Season
While apple pie sounds good in theory, once you’ve come home from a morning of apple picking, or apple tree climbing, if kids were present, this will be a great recipe to use. No homemade pie crust required.
If your family is anything like mine, I’m sure you picked far more than you planned on and luckily for us all, apples aren’t like peaches. Your abundance of apples won’t go to waste! I love the amount of chopped apples you need here giving you the best results and a very moist muffin!
Apples provide you with a much longer window of when you’ll need to use them and they won’t all ripen on you at once! This alone makes me want to go apple picking all September long!
Tools You’ll Need
I love how batter looks in a large bowl and this recipe is no different. You’ll want a separate large bowl for your dry ingredients and a medium bowl for the tender crumb. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, forks will work but using this tool will help. I mentioned the scoops I love, and really think they’re the best when it comes to muffin and cookie making.
Variations You Can Make
Make these your own! You can take out the nuts, add other spices or even try raisins in here as well if you’d like. If you didn’t pick Granny Smith apples don’t worry, try what you have. When you are picking be sure to ask for the best baking apples. There are so many varieties out there!
How to Make Homemade Buttermilk
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand did you know you can add a splash of white vinegar to whole milk? No need to run to the grocery store. Do this first and by the time you’re ready for the milk it’ll be just curdled enough to resemble buttermilk!
I hope you make these and enjoy them after apple picking, either on a farm, or at the store! If you make them, would you let me know? I’d love to see on Instagram if you tag me! Happy baking!
Apple Crumb Muffins
Equipment
- 1 cupcake tin
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup whole milk buttermilk
- 1/2 cup butter melted, plus 2 T for topping
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cup diced peeled apples from about 2 Granny Smith apples
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
Crumb Topping
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tbsp. melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375. Take out a dozen muffin tin and coat with baking spray or butter. If you’re doubling the recipe and using multiple racks, I like to cook on convection.
- Mix the dry ingredients, flour through salt. In a separate bowl mix the egg through vanilla. Combine the wet and dry ingredients then stir in the apples.
- Stir until just combined and then using a little muffin scoop or tablespoon, divide into greased muffin tins.
- It’s time to make the crumb topping. Mix the brown sugar through butter and spoon onto muffins evenly.
- Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until center comes out clean when tested with a toothpick.
