These moist, streusel top apple muffins are packed with juicy apples and a crunchy streusel topping! Perfect for breakfast and easy to make!
Don’t you just love a delicious muffin with a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning? These streusel top apple muffins are to die for! They’re great with coffee or on their own!
They’re also perfect for lunch boxes or snacks!
And I absolutely LOVE baking with apple and cinnamon! It just makes the whole house smell so good!
These muffins are guaranteed to satisfy ALL your muffin cravings!
Why you’ll love these streusel top apple muffins:
They’re incredibly soft, and SUPER moist.
They’re full of sweet, juicy apples.
They’ve got an AMAZING crunchy, streusel topping.
They’re so simple to make and it’s all made by hand - you don’t need a mixer.
They taste like they’re fresh from the bakery!
You only need a few basic pantry ingredients to make these muffins:
Flour
Brown and white sugar
Spices
Leaveners
Salt
An egg
Milk
Butter
Apples
Each ingredient is important in its own way:
Flour: I use all-purpose. For a richer, nuttier flavor, you could use whole wheat flour, too. The texture would be a bit coarser compared to all-purpose flour, but it would be a lot healthier. If you want, you could use half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.
Sugar: I use a combination of packed brown sugar and granulated white sugar. The brown sugar gives a nice caramel touch which really compliments the apple and spices. Brown sugar also adds moisture and helps keep the muffins moist longer.
Spices: I use ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg.
Leaveners: I use both baking powder and baking soda, because I wanted to add more lift to the muffins since I added the topping. Both leaveners also help to give the muffins that cute little dome!
Salt: I always use a bit to boost all the flavors.
Egg: I use 1 large egg. I found that using more than 1 egg for this recipe tends to make the muffins a little drier.
Milk: I use fresh low fat milk, but you could use full fat milk. I’m not sure of how nut milks would affect the overall flavor, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t make that big of a difference.
Apples: I use Gala apples because they’re sweet. I don’t really like tart apples, but you could use your favorite apple variety for this recipe.
Butter: I use unsalted butter. If you want to use salted butter, just omit the salt from the recipe.
How to make streusel top apple muffins in 6 easy steps:
Whisk together the dry ingredients.
Whisk together the wet ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Gently fold in the chopped apples.
Make the streusel topping.
Sprinkle the muffins with the topping and bake.
4 WAYS TO MAKE THE STREUSEL TOPPING:
These are 4 different ways I’ve used to make the streusel topping. Use whichever method works best for you!
Food processor
This is the fastest and easiest method. Just put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture becomes crumbly.
Fork
You can mash all the ingredients together using a fork until the mixture is crumbly.
Pastry blender
Just like the fork, you can also use a pastry blender to cut the butter and mash everything together until it’s crumbly.
Fingers
You can use your fingers to rub the butter together with the other ingredients until it looks like coarse crumbs.
TIPS FOR SUCCESS
- Don’t overmix the batter,otherwise the muffins could get dense instead of fluffy.
- Don’t fill the liners all the way to the top, otherwise the muffins will overflow. Fill them about ¾ full.
- This recipe includes just the right amount of streusel topping for each muffin. If you put a lot of topping on the muffins, they’ll create an unattractive uneven top. A little really goes a long way!
- These muffins spoil faster than regular muffins because they contain fresh fruit. If you don’t plan on eating them within a day or so, put them in the refrigerator in an airtight container or storage bag for up to 3 days. Keep in mind that once refrigerated, the streusel topping will begin to lose its crunchiness due to the moisture.
- You can easily reheat these muffins the next day. Just pop them in the oven (350 °F / 180 °C) for about 10 minutes.
MORE MUFFIN RECIPES!
Let me know how these streusel top apple muffins turn out for you in comments below! I'd love to hear from you!
Enjoy!
~Voula
Streusel Top Apple Muffins (No Mixer)
Equipment
- a 12-cup muffin or cupcake tin
- 12 muffin or cupcake liners
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 2 cups (254 g / 9 oz) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar (100 g / 3.5 oz)
- ½ cup granulated white sugar (100 g / 3.5 oz)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅓ cup (80 ml / 2.7 fl oz) vegetable oil
- ½ cup (125 ml / 4 fl oz) milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 medium apples, (cored, peeled and cubed or cut into small pieces)
For the streusel topping
- ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar (50 g / 1.75 oz)
- ¼ cup all purpose flour (30 g / 1 oz)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz) cold butter
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F / 205 °C.
- Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners. Set aside.
Make the muffins
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, whisk together the brown and white sugar, the vanilla, and the spices. Add the milk, oil, and egg and mix until combined.
- Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture and whisk until just combined. Don’t overmix.
- Gently fold in the chopped apples.
- Fill the liners ¾ of the way full. Set aside.
Make the streusel topping
- Put all the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture becomes crumbly. OR Add the topping ingredients to a small bowl and mash them together using a fork, pastry blender, or your fingers, until they resemble coarse crumbs.
- Sprinkle the muffins with the topping.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack for another 10 minutes to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- These muffins spoil faster than regular muffins because they contain fresh fruit. If you don’t plan on eating them within a day or so, put them in the refrigerator in an airtight container or storage bag for up to 3 days. Keep in mind that once refrigerated, the streusel topping will begin to lose its crunchiness due to the moisture.
- You can easily reheat these muffins the next day. Just pop them in the oven (350 °F / 180 °C) for about 10 minutes.
Tina
These muffins were so moist! Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing.
Voula
I'm so happy you liked the recipe, Tina! 🤗