Easy Apple Muffins

Bursting with bits of apple, cinnamon, and topped with a simple glaze, these apple muffins are a great way to start your day or as a delicious snack. They are a little like a homemade apple fritter without the frying.

Introduction and My Rating

I love apple fritters and muffins, even more than chocolate covered chocolate donuts. So, it is time to make my own. But I don't want to fry them, so I'm going with muffins. I don't like to fry things; I see the oil as wasted in a small home cooking, and I don't think most of you would make them either.

I started this recipe last week. I had a plan. I would bake fritters instead of frying. I get away with that frequently with meat. It worked but not quite good enough. My wife suggested muffins instead. So muffins it was.

I started with Cook's Country Apple Fritter Recipe. The batter of apple fritters is very close to muffins. It is a relatively simple and straightforward recipe. Like all Cook's Illustrated recipes, it is well thought out.

One point they make is to "keep it dry," meaning the apple needs to be dried some. This was accomplished by paper towels and mixing the apple in the dry components of the recipe to pull moisture out of the apple.

Of course, the big change was converting to muffins from deep frying. Actually, it was not a big deal. The batter of fried apple fritters is like a muffin batter. So I just cooked until done.

The last change was the glaze. They used an apple cider based glaze that I felt was just too much apple. I used a milk-based glaze.

My Rating

I think a very high 4 or lower 5. I love apple, so I'm going 5.

🍎The Apples

Some good choices are Cortland, Gala, Roma, Honeycrisp, Northern Spy, Pink Lady, Fuji, Granny Smith, or Ida Red. But I’m not very picky about my apples.

There are many good apples for cooking and a few not so good, but I believe you use what you have. Delicious Apples are probably the only common poor choice.

Here is a list from The Kitchn that includes most apples.

🧁Jumbo and Mini Muffins

This recipe is for 12 standard size muffins, but you can make different sizes. Make them like you want: mini, regular, or jumbo just cook to the endpoint and not by time along.

Generally, bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes.

⏰Cooking Time

Cooking time will vary by the oven and even the pan used. Generally, the muffins will take 23 to 25 minutes but always bake to the endpoint.

The good old toothpick test is generally always good to determine when the muffins are done. Also, done is about 200° on an instant-read thermometer can be helpful if in doubt.

🖊️Notes

These are low fat and low in calories, so a relatively "healthy" treat to fit many diets.

Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.

📖Muffin Recipes

Strawberry Cinnamon Muffins

Cinnamon Nut Muffins

Really Good Banana Nut Muffins

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

🖼️Photo Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Prep a 12 muffin pan with liners.

Peel 2 medium apples and chop into 1/4 inch pieces (about the size of a peanut). Spread over paper towels and firmly pat with more paper towels to dry some.

Mix dry together. 2 cups of flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Mix well, add apple, and mix to coat the apple.

Combine wet ingredients. 3/4 cup apple cider, 2 eggs, and 2 tablespoons melted butter—wisk to combine.

Add wet to dry and mix to combine.

Fill the muffin liners to about 3/4 full.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. About 23-25 minutes.

Mix glaze of 2/3 cup powder sugar, a few drops of vanilla, and about 2 teaspoons of milk.

After muffins cool on a rack for about 10 minutes, coat with glaze.

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📖 Recipe

Editor's Note: Originally Published November 1, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.