These spiced apple crumble muffins are so perfect for Autumn – soft, tender muffins with a generous amount of chopped apples, warming spices and topped with a crunchy, buttery crumble. The vanilla glaze icing makes them even better!
If you’re looking for a really good apple crumble muffin recipe, then look no further.
These crunchy crumble topped apple muffins are everything you could want in an apple muffin. Isn’t is disappointing when you bite into a muffin that looks so good, but there’s just air inside?
This is not the case here. They are packed full of apples. You’ll get a piece of apple in just about every single bite. If you’re a fan of apple pie, you will love them!
spiced apple crumble muffins
I’ve also added some warming Autumnal spices to these muffins. The first time I made them, I only added cinnamon. They were good, but I felt something else was needed. So I introduced ground mixed spice and nutmeg. A little freshly grated nutmeg works wonders in a muffin recipe.
Just like my favourite pumpkin spice muffins, these muffins are so, so good with a cup of coffee or tea. They really are the perfect easy Autumn bake. If you’re lucky enough to have an apple tree in your garden, you really have no excuse not to make this recipe!
why you’ll love this recipe
- This tried and tested recipe is an adaptation of my strawberry and white chocolate muffins. It’s a great base recipe for playing around with and trying new flavours.
- Sour cream is my not so secret ingredient in baking – it makes super tender and moist (sorry!) muffins.
- They are quick to mix up – once you’ve gathered your ingredients together, the batter takes no more than 10 minutes to make.
- Like all muffin recipes, they are so easy to make. It’s simply a case of combining your dry ingredients in a bowl, whisking together your wet ingredients, and then combining them together. Child’s play!
- When you smell the warming, comforting aroma of the muffins baking in your oven, you will not be sorry you made them!
- What makes these apple muffins extra good is the crunchy crumble topping and vanilla glaze – technically you could skip the glaze, but it really adds that special touch.
ingredient notes
- Fresh apples. Any eating apple will work well in this recipe.
- I wouldn’t use cooking apples – they tend to turn super fluffy in the oven and melt down to almost nothing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you won’t get those big chunks of apple. Save cookers for your apple crumble!
- Spices – ground cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice are the perfect spice blend for this recipe.
- vanilla extract. I used vanilla bean paste because I ran out of extract, but either is fine.
- using vegetable oil or sunflower oil instead of butter adds moisture to the muffins and if I’m not mistaken, they seem to last a little bit longer.
- Sour cream makes these muffins super tender. I also add a small amount of milk.
- granulated sugar adds structure and soft light brown sugar adds a wonderful caramelly note that goes so well with the spices.
- plain (all purpose) flour
- baking powder and bicarbonate of soda helps the muffins rise high and tall. A little salt is also needed to lift the flavours.
how to make apple crumble muffins
keep scrolling to the end of the post to find printable recipe card with ingredient amounts and instructions! For recipe success, I highly recommend you have a quick read through the step by step and recipe notes below.
make the crumble topping
- It’s best to start off by making the crumble. Place plain flour, a pinch of salt and cold diced butter in a small bowl. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the demerara sugar.
- Place the crumble in the fridge while you make the muffin batter.
make the muffin batter
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180Fan/400F. Line a 12 hole muffin tin (or 6 hole jumbo muffin tin) with paper liners.
- Place the chopped apples in a small bowl. Add one tablespoon of plain flour and one teaspoon ground cinnamon. Stir until the apples are coated in flour and spices.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt in a large bowl.
- Whisk together the white and brown sugar, oil, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and quickly stir together to make a batter. Don’t be too concerned about getting lumps out – a little light stirring is all you need to do.
bake the muffins
- Spoon the muffin batter into the lined muffin tins. I like large muffins, so I fill the cases almost to the top. This works really well in my PME jumbo muffin tin. If you’re scared to do this for fear of overflowing, just fill them two thirds full.
- Scatter the cold crumble topping over each muffin. I like a pretty generous amount of crumble.
- Bake regular sized muffins for around 20 minutes and jumbo muffins for 25 minutes.
TOP TIP! When making muffins, I always bake at 200C/180Fan for the first five minutes, then I turn the temperature down to 180C. The initial burst of heat causes the muffins to rise nice and tall!
Make the vanilla glaze
- The final flourish is drizzling the cooled muffins with a delicious vanilla glaze icing.
- Simply beat together sieved icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract over bean paste (see recipe card below for measurements).
- drizzle the glaze over the muffins or for a thicker coverage, dip the tops right in the bowl of glaze. Place the muffins on a wire rack while the icing sets.
recipe Notes
The muffins are best made and eaten within a day, but they are still pretty good on day two.
If you aren’t expecting all of the muffins to be eaten in a day or two, they are great for freezing (ideally without the glaze). They’ll be good in the freezer for up to three months. Defrost overnight at room temperature.
If you like, you can warm the defrosted muffins in an oven (180C) for about 5 minutes. They will taste freshly baked!
more apple bakes
more easy muffin recipes to try
did you make this recipe?
I hope you loved it! Let me know what you thought by leaving a comment below and if you have any questions, please just ask.
If you share any photos of your muffins on Instagram, don’t forget to tag me #sweetsavouryblog – I love to see what you’ve been making!
Spiced Apple Crumble Muffins
Spiced Apple Crumble Muffins are a perfect Autumn bake! They are so quick and easy. Best served on a damp, chilly day with coffee or tea.
Ingredients
- FOR COATING THE APPLES
- One tablespoon plain (all purpose) flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 250g chopped diced apples
- FOR THE CRUMBLE
- 50g cold butter, diced
- 100g plain flour
- pinch of salt
- 25g demerara sugar
- FOR THE MUFFIN BATTER
- 320g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground mixed spice
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 100g granulated sugar
- 80g soft light brown sugar
- 180ml (3\4 cup) sour cream
- 60ml (¼ cup) milk
- 2 large eggs
- 180ml (¾ cup) vegetable or sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- FOR THE VANILLA GLAZE
- 100g icing sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/180Fan/400F. Line a 12 hole muffin tin (or 6 hole jumbo muffin tin) with paper liners.
- Start by making the crumble. Place plain flour, a pinch of salt and cold diced butter in a small bowl. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the demerara sugar. Place in the fridge while you make the muffin batter.
- Place the chopped apples in a small bowl. Add one tablespoon of plain flour and one teaspoon ground cinnamon. Stir until the apples are coated in flour and spices.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt in a large bowl.
- Whisk together the white and brown sugar, oil, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and quickly stir together to make a batter. Don't overbeat.
- Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins. For jumbo muffins, fill them almost to the top. Scatter the cold crumble over the top of each muffin. Bake at 200C for the first five minutes, then turn the oven down to 180C and bake for a further 15-20 minutes. Regular sized muffins take about 20 minutes and the jumbo ones take about 25 minutes.
- When the muffins are baked, remove the tin from the oven and leave them in the tin for five minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, sieve the icing sugar into a medium bowl. Add the vanilla extract and the milk. Beat together until you have a smooth glaze that’s neither too thick or thin. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled muffins or for thicker coverage, dip the top of each muffin right in the bowl of glaze. Apply to face.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 356Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 212mgCarbohydrates: 65gFiber: 2gSugar: 34gProtein: 5g
Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.