Last night I was craving some apple cinnamon muffins. The kind I had almost a year ago at a quaint little café in New York. It was loaded with Granny Smith apples and a whole lot of cinnamon. The gigantic muffin made for a perfect breakfast with a cup of hot chocolate. Going to bed with such sweet thoughts in my head, there was no way I’d be doing anything besides baking these when I woke up this morning.
The genius of muffins is that they can be thrown together in about 5 minutes, without the need of your hand or stand mixer. It’s especially perfect for those that are intimidated by the idea of baking or for those lazy mornings when you’d rather be curled up in bed with a cup of coffee.
For the recipe, I looked up Ratio (this is one book I wish I used more of!) and adapted the muffin recipe to include apple and cinnamon. I cut up the apples into chunks, leaving the skin on, just like the ones at the café. I also tossed the apples in some freshly ground cinnamon (nothing better than a Microplane to help you through this task – I sliced a layer of my skin as well, but that’s another story.)
And you know what the best part of the muffin is? The streusel topping. The crunchy, buttery topping amplifies the taste of the muffin and after eating this, I don’t think muffins should ever be made without the streusel topping. In fact, I’m going to increase the quantity of it the next time I make muffins.
Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Adapted from: Ratio, Michael Ruhlman
Yield: 12 muffins
For the streusel topping:
4 oz / 112g butter, softened
4 oz / 112g flour
2 oz / 55g caster sugar
2 oz / 55g soft brown sugar
For the muffins:
8 oz / 225g flour
4 oz / 112g brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
8 oz / 225g milk
2 eggs
4oz / 112g butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
3 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped into cubes
1 ½ tsp cinnamon, divided – 1 tsp for the batter and ½ to toss the apples with.
- Preheat oven to 350F/175C.
- For the streusel topping: In a food processor or by hand, mix together the ingredients for the streusel topping until it is evenly combined. Let it rest in the fridge while you prep the muffin batter.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
- In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients thoroughly: milk, eggs, butter and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold it in, until just incorporated.
- Fold in the apples(tossed with ½ tsp cinnamon).
- Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins.
- Top it with the crumble mixture.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
The muffins looks scrumptious. And what a lively layout!
You put together some delicious looking muffins! That photo of the one broken open….yummee!
And I agree…. more streusel topping, please.
Muffins look fantastic! eye catching pics!
Your muffins look wonderful – I'll have to try your recipe soon! Love the flowers in your photo
Gorgeous muffins! I love that they have generous chunks of apples. I had such a baked apple craving this past week and make an apple tart tartin but instead of a pastry I used pancake batter.
Now I think I'm going to go to sleep dreaming about these gorgeous muffins and have to make them tomorrow!
Yum! I've bookmarked this!
Oh if only I could have woken up to this! Looks so yummy with that gorgeous streusel topping.
Bring on the streusel!
Yummy – loving the colours in your photos as always. Those muffins look divine!
I love muffins to an unhealthy extent, and I definitely approve of the idea of adding a streusel topping. Yum!
Your photos are so colourful and bright! Those muffins look absolutely delicious!
Yum! These were delicious!!! I made them before school – quite a feat, considering school starts at 7:45 AM. Anyways, thank you for the amazing recipe, they were insanely good.
Lovely photos. These muffins look delicious – I love streusel topping on muffins but unfortunately not many seem to bake them that way in NZ. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
What a lovely way to eat muffins!..The topping looks lovely!!. Streusel muffin with my south indian coffee .. oh i cant wait to make this one!
Hi Shaheen! I tried making these yesterday but it seems they came out all wrong. The texture was not muffin like at all, and my muffins seemed very greasy. I followed your recipe to the T, so I'm wondering if you have any ideas about what caused this? Your thoughts would be great
Your muffins look wonderful! I love Ratio… One of my favorite books!
I want these but just the tops
These are muffins that my children would love.
Btw, I love your new look & Orangefoodie did a GREAT job on his post!
~ingrid
oh good! let me know how it turns out for you!
let me know how it turns out for you!
Hi Shilpa! it sucks that these didn't come out as expected. Mine were moist and delicious. I'm not sure why it got greasy for you…
Shaheen, your muffins look amazing. I always love muffins but never think of making them and they make sure a great morning time treat. They actually remind me of a cookie my friend, Evelyn, just made, similar, except she drizzled caramel sauce over the tops.
First time here…lovely blog u have and beautiful clicks!
Thank uuu this recipe is surely a keeper!! i made these last nite! didnt have a weighing scale so i used online oz to cup converter… and baked in a loaf tin (didnt have muffin cups T.T too). But boy were they GOOOD! thanks for sharing! oh btw it was my first time making the streusel topping.. i made the crumbles way too small.. next time i would have big n small chunks of crumbles … looks better (like urs)..
here's mine:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=11935005&l;=a9763c5865&id;=772360709
Thank you!!! this recipe is definitely a keeper! I made them last nite, didnt have a weighing scale so i used online oz to cup converted and baked them in a loaf tin (didnt have a muffin tray T.T) but boy were they yummylicious!!! It was my first time making streusel topping .. made the crumbs too small.. maybe next time i would have big n small chunks (uneven and looks nicer, like yours)
here's mine:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=11935005&l;=a9763c5865&id;=772360709
thanks again! love ur blog
I made these last night. I had to find a website that converted oz to cups, teaspoons, etc. but it worked out pretty well. I'm happy to report that these muffins were fantastic. The big apple chunks reminded me of apple crisp. Thanks for the lovely recipe
TOI doesn’t know the difference between an aster and a chrysanthemum!!. The pics are beautiful…..
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