This small batch of Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins is moist and flavorful, packed with small delicious chunks of apple, chopped walnuts, and warm flavors of cinnamon and nutmeg. To bring it all together, pair it with a sweet, crumbly streusel topping and vanilla glaze!
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Reasons You'll Love These Small Batch Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
- It's a small batch recipe, but you can easily double it
- Incredibly soft and moist
- They're packed with chopped gala apples and chopped walnuts
- Warm, flavorful spices of ground cinnamon and nutmeg
- Topped with a sweet, crumbly cinnamon streusel topping and vanilla glaze
- Easily adaptable from using gala apples to either granny smith or McIntosh apples
- A wonderful breakfast or brunch treat for fall
- Absolutely delicious
Here's What You'll Need to Make Them
To make these fantastic apple streusel muffins, you will need the following ingredients:
All-Purpose Flour. Needed for the muffins and the cinnamon streusel.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda. These trusted leavening agents give these warm apple muffins their lift and slightly domed tops. Make sure these babies haven't expired!
Spices. You'll need ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and salt for the muffins. For the cinnamon streusel—just the cinnamon.
I used Vietnamese (or Saigon) ground cinnamon from King Arthur Baking which I love because of its stronger, sweeter flavor. Regular ground cinnamon will work equally as well, though!
Granulated Sugar. Needed for both the apple cinnamon streusel muffins and cinnamon streusel topping. You can use regular white granulated sugar or organic pure cane sugar.
Unsalted Butter. For the muffins, you'll need the butter to be melted. For the streusel, you'll need it to be cold and cubed.
I don't recommend using salted butter as a substitute because it's tough to tell exactly how much salt is added. If it's the only type of butter you have access to, then omit the salt listed in the recipe.
1 Large Egg. Yep, just one is needed—make sure it is at room temperature. This helps to make sure the ingredients are fully incorporated properly.
Buttermilk. Or you can use whole milk. If you would like to use a buttermilk substitute, visit my lemon blueberry streusel muffins recipe.
Vanilla Extract. Helps to round out the flavors in this apple cinnamon streusel muffins recipe. Pure vanilla extract is best.
1 Gala Apple. This should be cleaned, peeled, and diced into small chunks. You can also use a granny smith or McIntosh apple as a substitute.
Chopped Walnuts. This is an optional ingredient that can be added to the batter, to the top as a garnish, or left out entirely. Chopped pecans can also be used as a substitute.
Vanilla Glaze. Also optional is the vanilla glaze that's made with powdered sugar, milk (any dairy type), and vanilla extract. If a thicker glaze is preferred, add one tablespoon of sifted powdered sugar at a time until the desired consistency is achieved.
The Best Baking Tools
You can choose to use your hand mixer or stand mixer to make this apple cinnamon streusel muffin recipe, but honestly, the easiest way to go here is by using a few mixing bowls and the following tools:
- Whisks
- Spatulas
- Vegetable Peeler
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Large Cookie Scoop
- Standard Muffin or Cupcake Liners (tulip style can be used too—yields even fewer muffins)
- 12 Cavity Muffin Tin
Here's How to Make It!
Step 1 - Make the streusel topping. First, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. With either your clean hands or a fork, blend together with the unsalted butter until you have small streusel crumbles. Having a few big crumbles is perfectly fine too.
Step 2 - Peel and chop up the apple. Keep the apple chunks small so more can go into the muffins.
Step 3 - Whisk the dry ingredients together. Use either a medium- or large-size mixing bowl to whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and salt. Fold in your chopped apples and, if you'd like, chopped walnuts. I sometimes choose to add them, and other times not.
Step 4 - Mix the wet ingredients together. Whisk together the egg, granulated sugar, melted butter, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. I whisk together the first five ingredients, then add the buttermilk and vanilla extract. You can use either whole milk or buttermilk. See the quick tips section below for additional buttermilk substitutions.
Add the dry ingredients mixture to the wet. Use a spatula for this step instead of a whisk, folding gently until the ingredients are just combined.
Scoop, garnish, then bake. I used my 3.4 tablespoon size cookie scoop to evenly distribute the batter into each muffin liner. I filled each one up to the top. Using standard muffin liners, this recipe yielded eight muffins. If you use tulip-style liners, you can fill them up just a bit more, yielding six muffins.
Top with the cinnamon streusel topping and, if desired, any chopped walnuts (or pecans).
Bake for 8 minutes at 425ºF, then reduce to 350ºF and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes longer or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Recipe FAQs
I used standard white cupcake/muffin liners from Wilton, but you can also use tulip style liners.
I filled each liner up to the very top using a 3.4 tablespoon size cookie scoop. They rose up and domed slightly. For tulip style liners, you can fill them up even a little more.
You can, but you may find the muffins are greasier and don't rise or dome nearly as much.
No, not at this time.
Instead of a gala apple, I recommend using either a granny smith or mcintosh apple.
Looking for More Muffin Recipes?
📖 Recipe
Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Author:Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter (melted)
- 1 Large Egg (room temperature)
- ½ cup Buttermilk (or whole milk)
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Gala Apple (peeled and diced into small chunks)
- ½ cup Chopped Walnuts (or chopped pecans (optional))
Cinnamon Streusel
- ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon Unsalted Butter (cold and chopped into small cubes)
Vanilla Glaze
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar (sifted (more can be added to thicken the glaze, if needed))
- 1 tablespoon Whole Milk (any dairy type can be used)
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level mark (just above center), preheat your oven to 425ºF, and line a cupcake/muffin tin with 8 standard muffin/cupcake liners. Tulip style liners can be used as well, if desired.
- For the cinnamon streusel topping, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. With either your clean hands or a fork, blend together with the unsalted butter until you have small streusel crumbles. Having a few big crumbles is perfectly fine too. While you prepare the rest of the recipe, you can keep the streusel topping in the refrigerator.¼ cup All-Purpose Flour, ¼ cup Granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon, 2 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- Peel and chop up the apple. Keep the apple chunks small so more can go into each muffin. Set to the side.1 Gala Apple
- Using either a medium- or large-size mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and salt. Fold in your chopped apples and (optional) chopped walnuts.1 ¼ cup All-Purpose Flour, 1 teaspoon Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon Baking Soda, ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, granulated sugar, melted butter, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.½ cup Granulated Sugar, ¼ cup Unsalted Butter, 1 Large Egg, ½ cup Buttermilk, 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Using a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients mixture to the wet until just combined.
- Using a large cookie scoop or 2 spoons, evenly distribute the batter into each muffin liner, filling each one up to the top. If using tulip-style liners, you can fill them up just a bit more.
- Top with the cinnamon streusel topping and, if desired, any additional chopped walnuts (or chopped pecans).½ cup Chopped Walnuts
- Bake for 8 minutes at 425ºF, then (keeping the oven door closed) reduce the oven to 350ºF and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes longer or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- For the vanilla glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, whole milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. If a thicker glaze is preferred, add 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar to the mixture until your desired consistency is achieved. For a brown sugar glaze substitute, see the notes section below.½ cup Powdered Sugar, 1 tablespoon Whole Milk, ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Allow the apple cinnamon streusel muffins to cool in the muffin tin for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool a bit more.
- Serve the muffins either slightly warm or at room temperature with the vanilla glaze drizzled over the top.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutritonal information provided above is an estimate only and will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Svye says
Hi! Are the streusel instructions missing butter? Our something that will make them make crumbles? Thanks!
Jennifer says
Hi! Thanks for the catch! I just updated that part of the instructions.