Fall Apple Muffins with Crunchy Cinnamon Topping
This recipe was created in collaboration with Midwest Dairy as part of the dairy community’s Undeniably Dairy campaign . I was compensated for my time, but the content and opinions included are my own.
It’s fall, ya’ll…or can we agree it’s basically winter already?? It’s currently 16 degrees outside as I write this. Holy moly, summer transitioned into winter quickly! But to be honest, I’m loving cozy sweaters and pajama pants, candles, hot coffee, and pumpkin spice EVERYTHING. If you follow me on instagram, you know that I’m already listening to Christmas music. There’s no shame in my game.
So in light of the changing weather, fall produce, and the upcoming holidays, I am bringing you these delicious fall apple muffins with crunchy cinnamon topping!!
My neighbor recently had a baby (I promise this is a relevant story), so I wanted to bring her family some snacks to eat on while they figured out a rhythm for taking care of a newborn. I know when we had Camden that meals brought to us was so helpful. And I also know that my hunger was like none other, so snacks and substantial meals were essential. I found an apple muffin recipe that I made for them, but found them to be super dry and dense, and they weren’t sweet enough for my preference. So I decided I needed to perfect my own apple muffin recipe. After a few tries, I found a recipe that brings the right amount of sweetness (it’s there, but not overly so) and is tender and moist.
A few of my tricks for this recipe is the buttermilk, almond flour, and preparation technique. Now, I’m sure you could use regular milk (you know, because thinking AHEAD to get buttermilk doesn’t always happen), but buttermilk gives it moisture and a nice fluffy texture. Leftover buttermilk is great for pancakes, biscuits, scones, and even oven fried chicken nuggets. The majority of the flour used is white whole wheat and all purpose, but I added a little almond flour to make them more moist. It’s actually a trick I use in a lot of my baked goods. Lastly, I made sure to not over mix the batter. The instructions included help to minimize mixing so that your muffins don’t turn out like a rock. You’re welcome. 😉
Oh and that crunchy cinnamon topping? It’s optional, but not really optional, if you know what I mean. It reminds me of coffee cake…which is why I think you should make them for a thanksgiving/friendsgiving/special-family-gather brunch. And if you want to make them a little more fancy, just drizzle some powdered sugar icing or cream cheese frosting on top!
I’d love to hear if you made these and what you think!!
Fall Apple Muffins with Crunchy Cinnamon Topping
Ingredients
- 1 C buttermilk (warmed in microwave for 30 seconds)
- 1 egg
- 1/3 C melted coconut oil
- 1/4 C maple syrup
- 1 1/4 C white whole wheat flour
- 2/3 C all purpose flour
- 1/3 C almond flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 C finely diced apple (granny smith, pink lady, or honeycrisp)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 3 Tbsp white sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Finely chop apple and combine with remaining dry ingredients. Mix together.
- In a separate bowl, microwave the buttermilk to warm it slightly. If not, the melted coconut oil will solidify and make mixing difficult. Add the egg, maple syrup, and coconut oil.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, being careful to not over mix the batter (that makes them dry and dense). Grease a 12 muffin tin and divide the batter evenly—the tins will be full.
- Microwave the butter and add the sugar and cinnamon and mix. Top muffins with a teaspoon or so of mixture.
- Bake for 5 minutes, decrease temperature to 400 and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean.
For more dairy inspired recipes, you can check out https://dairygood.org/recipes.