Studded with apples & topped with cinnamon sugar, these healthy apple cinnamon muffins are a warming, cozy breakfast or afternoon treat.
It’s my birthday today, which is timely, because I couldn’t be more excited to share that this apple cinnamon muffin recipe kicks off a series of posts I’ve been working on for Anthropologie(!!). Pinch me.
First up are these sweet apple cinnamon muffins that I baked up in this super sweet ceramic muffin pan.
How to Make Healthy Apple Muffins
These healthy apple muffins are pure apple-cinnamon-ey goodness coming out of the oven. With their full flavor, you’d never guess that they’re on the healthy side. Here’s what makes them a good-for-you treat:
- Sunflower oil takes the place of butter. If you can’t find sunflower oil, olive oil or canola oil would also work.
- Applesauce subs in for some of the sugar & oil and makes them wonderfully moist.
- Whole wheat flour adds whole grain power to these healthy apple muffins.
- Cinnamon is said to have anti-inflammatory properties, but it also adds delicious apple/cinnamon fall flavor here.
- And chunks of apple boost the fiber content and up the moisture and texture.
Mix together the wet and dry ingredients separately, stir them together until just combined, divide the batter among the holes in a muffin tin, and sprinkle the tops with chopped apple and cinnamon sugar. Pop them in the oven, and you’ll have delicious healthy apple cinnamon muffins in no time.
What to Serve with Apple Cinnamon Muffins
These apple cinnamon muffins are meant for pairing with a hot beverage. White hot chocolate, coffee, tea, or hot apple cider would all be great choices. They would also be delicious with matcha white hot chocolate, a matcha coconut latte, a turmeric latte, or superfood hot chocolate!
If you love these apple cinnamon muffins…
Try these banana chocolate chip muffins, these lemon muffins, or these corn muffins next!
Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup sunflower (or canola) oil
- ¾ cup cane sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup spelt or whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large gala apple, diced
- 1 tablespoons cane sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, or spray lightly with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. Set aside
- To the medium bowl with the almond milk, add the oil, sugar, eggs, applesauce and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour the wet mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in two-thirds of the chopped apples. Use a â…“ cup measuring cup to fill each muffin cup. Top with the remaining apples and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
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I’m gonna try it out today for sure…
Those apple muffins look so good–and I have everything to make them! How wonderful.
The recipe made more batter than was necessary for 12 muffin cups, using a standard muffin tin. Perhaps it is meant for a jumbo muffin pan. I made 12 nicely sized muffins, plus an entire mini loaf with the batter. Be prepared for extra.
It’s a regular sized muffin pan, but I filled them nearly to the top of each cup (because they rose well vs/ spilling over). I also noticed that each time I made them the size of apple I used made a difference in my final batter amount. Hope you liked them even though you had a little extra!
The chunks of apple look like jewels in the muffins. What a beautiful concoction =)
Juju Sprinkles http://jujusprinkles.com
Happy birthday sweet Jeanine! And to celebrate with these muffins + anthro?! Too perfect. xoxo
Thanks Jessie! xoxo
These muffins look delicious, but I’m seriously geeking out over white hot chocolate. It looks gorgeous and sounds amazing, and my mind is exploding with the possibilities white hot chocolate opens up.
Happy Birthday! Working with Anthropologie and getting to bake with their beautiful muffin pans is definitely a gift! These look delicious, but alas, I am GF. Could you come up with a GF version of these muffins? Or make a suggestion for flour substitutions? Thank you!
Happy Birthday 🙂 I loooove that muffin pan! and the muffins look delicious too!
Any substitutions for making this wheat free? I can have spelt wondering if gluten free flour will sub well. Thank you and happiest of birthdays.
I made these using GF flour exclusively – 1 c of Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose GF flour and 1 c of Bob’s 1-for-1 flour. Came out great.
ooh, thanks for sharing – that’s so helpful, I’m glad they came out great 🙂
Molte Grazie :))
Happy Birthday! This seems like an absolutely cosy and warm way to spends ones birthday! I can’t wait to try both the muffins and the hot choc, perfect for a rainy day! Thank you for all the lovely recipes and photos 🙂
These muffins are beautiful! Almost to pretty to eat! Almost 😉
HI:
Just found your blog and love it! Could you post the nutrient value of these muffins? I am following WW and I would love to convert to points!
Most importantly, Happy Birthday!! Both of these recipes look incredible. I love the healthy tweaks to make the muffins healthier
thanks Gaby!
Yum yum yum…these look delicious and I love that they’re healthy!! xo
Congrats on your collaboration with Anthro and your b-day! Both are amazing!! My b-day was on Monday love that you are from January as well.
Happy Birthday! What better way than to celebrate with muffins and hot cocoa!
Love the chunkiness of those muffins! I can just imagine how amazing your kitchen smells while cooking them. Wishing you all the best for a wonderful birthday. 🙂
These muffins sound so tasty! I love the simple flavour of these.
Beautiful muffin pan, beautiful muffins. Wishing you a beautiful birthday too!!
thank you!!
What could I sub for the oil? I usually sub applesauce but the recipe has applesauce in it ..
I would try coconut oil. In my baking experience, it is fragrant, but the flavor profile of the muffins should remain basically the same.
you could try using more almond milk – but I do like a little oil (it’s not that much for 12 muffins) to keep them moist. Yes, melted coconut oil would work here too (although make sure the rest of your ingredients are at room temperature first).