Apple Ginger Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for more information.
Delicious warm apple muffins with ginger and autumn spices are the perfect cozy breakfast food! You will love these soft and delicious muffins because they turn out perfectly moist and fluffy every single time. These perfect apple muffins are made with a delicious brown sugar cinnamon streusel topping. They are a delightful autumn breakfast treat!
ingredients for apple ginger muffins:
Flour. For this recipe, I like to use all-purpose flour as its extremely versatile. However, if you want a more cake-like muffin, I would suggest using pastry flour or even substituting about half of the flour with cake flour.
Apples. This recipe incorporates fresh apples. It’s a perfect autumn recipe, but it can be enjoyed any time of year if apples are available to you! These muffins taste the best with a sweet apple like Honeycrisp or Jonathan.
Ginger. To give these muffins an extra boost of flavor, I added ginger into the batter. The pairing of fresh apples and ginger gives these muffins the perfect little tang!
Sour Cream. To make these muffins extra soft and fluffy, sour cream is folded into the batter. This helps activate the baking soda in the batter as well as creates a lovely moist texture to the final muffin crumb.
how to make super fluffy muffins:
To make super fluffy muffins, this recipe really does the trick by adding the moisture from fresh apples and tangy sour cream. To make super soft and fluffy apple muffins, try these methods:
Add Sour Cream. Sour cream is acidic, which helps activate the baking soda in the batter. This causes the muffins to rise. The sour cream also adds moisture and texture to the final muffins. If you do not have sour cream, you can substitute it 1:1 with buttermilk or even some milk mixed with lemon juice.
Eggs. Eggs always help add moisture and texture to a recipe. They also bring a richness to the flavor of the muffin. The more eggs the better. If you want, you can even add in a third egg to this recipe and it will still taste amazing.
Fresh Apples. The fresh apples in this recipe are what make these muffins incredibly soft and sweet. The water from the apples cooks into the muffins, making them soft, fluffy, and delicious.
choosing the perfect apples:
To make the perfect apple muffins recipe, you need to use the perfect apples! While any apple works for this recipe, I think the sweeter the apple the better. These are some of my favorite apples for making apple muffins.
Honeycrisp. You really cannot go wrong with a honeycrisp apple! Sweet as honey, this variety of apple is always my go to for baking and cooking.
Jonathan. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely adore Jonathan or other Jonathan hybrids like Jonagold. I had never had this variety of apple until I moved to Iowa, and they are now my all-time favorite apple. Sweet and crunchy, these pretty apples with yellow speckles are perfect for making muffins.
Envy. These are a new-to-me variety of apples that are even sweeter than honeycrisp. They are firm, too, though not as firm as a Granny Smith.
how to make apple ginger muffins:
Preheat the oven to 425° F (218° C). Grease and flour two standard 12-cup muffin tins and set these aside.
In a small bowl, combine the ingredients to make the streusel: the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Then, cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it forms coarse crumbs that are moistened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Set this aside for now, or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Next, begin making the muffin batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. In a separate large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Then, begin to alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream until the batter is thick and a bit foamy, another 3 to 4 minutes. Fold in the apples.
Divide the batter between the muffins tins. Bake the muffins at 425° F (218° C) for 5 minutes. Then, lower the oven temperature to 375° F (191° C) and bake for another 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let the muffins rest in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
recipe notes:
I have baked many muffins over the years. Do you find that your muffins fall flat while baking? Often, this is due to the temperature being too low for these little quick breads.
To ensure that your muffins rise and have a lovely little domed muffin top, you will want to increase your oven temperature to around 400° to 425° F (204° to 218° C), then decrease the temperature to around 350° to 375° F (177° to 191° C) to keep the inside soft and moist.
The addition of buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt can truly transform your final muffins as well! These acidic ingredients react with the baking powder and baking soda to help those muffins truly pop out of their pans! They also bring a really lovely texture to the crumb.
final thoughts:
This recipe for apple muffins with cinnamon streusel is such a wonderful quick and simple autumn bake! I love using the beautiful apples on our farm and playing around in the kitchen making lots of apple recipes. I am truly looking forward to our red apples being ready to pick so that we can make pink applesauce again this year!
What are your favorite apple recipes to make? Let me know in the comments!
xoxo Kayla
Apple Ginger Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (195 g) all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (145 g) brown sugar, packed
- 1 1/2 tsp (4 g) cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (116 g) salted butter, cold and cubed
- 2 1/4 cups (293 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 1/2 cup (116 g) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240 ml) sour cream, room temp
- 3 medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into thin chunks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° F (218° C). Grease and flour two standard 12-cup muffin tins and set these aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the ingredients to make the streusel: the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Then, cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it forms coarse crumbs that are moistened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Set this aside for now, or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Next, begin making the muffin batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. In a separate large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Then, begin to alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream until the batter is thick and a bit foamy, another 3 to 4 minutes. Fold in the apples.
- Divide the batter between the muffins tins. Bake the muffins at 425° F (218° C) for 5 minutes. Then, lower the oven temperature to 375° F (191° C) and bake for another 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Let the muffins rest in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
310Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
more posts you may enjoy!
This moist, flavorful pumpkin bread is packed with all the warm spices we crave during the autumn months—cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—all perfectly paired with the earthy sweetness of pumpkin.