Apple Coffee Cake Muffins with Streusel Topping
Published 9/17/2023 • Updated 11/28/2023
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Start the fall season off right with these apple coffee cake muffins with streusel topping!
The sweet crumble topping is the secret ingredient to what makes these apple muffins stand out from the crowd. They’re sweet, buttery, and full of warm spice flavors, making it the perfect treat.
All the fall flavors we know and love, baked into deliciously sweet muffins. We love the taste of the diced apples in these muffins, but the streusel here is really the star of the show. It adds a delicious buttery flavor and crunch with the walnuts and rolled oats.
How easy are they to make? Just whip up the streusel topping, then the muffin batter, assemble, and bake. It’s simple yet delicious.
What’s in Apple Coffee Cake Muffins?
- Old-fashioned oats: this adds a nice crumbly, crunchy texture to the muffins.
- Walnuts: walnuts add texture and a lovely nutty flavor that tastes excellent with the other ingredients.
- Cinnamon: you can’t have a fall baked dessert without using ground cinnamon!
- Apples: we used honey crisp apples as they are perfectly crisp and sweet.
- Applesauce: make sure you use unsweetened apple sauce.
- Almond milk: we love how this tastes with almond milk, but dairy milk works too!
Kitchen Tools Needed to Make It
- Electric mixer: an electric mixer will ensure that all the ingredients are mixed together thoroughly.
- Muffin tin: you can’t make muffins without a muffin tin!
Substitutions & Variations
Nuts: Sub out the walnuts for pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, or cashews.
Spices: Add even more flavor to your apple cinnamon muffins by adding nutmeg, ginger, or even pumpkin spice/chai spice.
Apples: We love how this recipe tastes with honey crisp apples, but feel free to use your favorite apple.
Milk: Any kind of dairy or non-dairy milk will do (try our homemade oat milk!). You could even add flavored milk to add more flavor!
Topping: Although it’s darn delicious, the streusel topping isn’t a requirement. You can drizzle on icing, make a maple syrup/brown sugar frosting, or top your muffins with nuts or seeds.
FAQs
The best apples for baking are those that are sweet without having too much sugar. They should have a crisp and firm texture that won’t become mushy when cooked.
Great apples for this are Honeycrisp, Envy, Gala, and Mutsu. Granny Smith apples can also be used for baking, but they are quite tart.
A streusel and crumble topping are essentially the same thing. Both are made with a combination of flour, butter, and sugar to create a deliciously buttery, sweet layer that adds additional flavor and texture to baked goods like cakes, muffins, and pies.
Definitely use cold butter. It’s important to keep your butter cold when making streusel. Otherwise, the topping will flatten instead of forming those delicious chunks. Room temperature or melted butter won’t give you the same end result.
How to Store Apple Coffee Cake Muffins
Store any leftover apple coffee cake muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
Freezer Directions
To freeze, place the muffins in a freezer-safe bag or container and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
Autumn is here! And if you’re a fall fanatic like us here at Fit Foodie Finds, you’ve got to pair this delicious dessert with some other tasty in-season meals.
If you’re looking for something light and refreshing, try our Butternut Squash Harvest Bowl or Pumpkin Berry Smoothie.
For the ultimate comfort food meal, our Tender Beef and Barley Soup, Pumpkin Chili, or Chicken Apple Sausage Quinoa Casserole with Shredded Brussels Sprouts are sure to hit the spot!
Apple Coffee Cake Muffins with Streusel Topping
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ¾ cup old-fashioned oats
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Muffin Ingredients
- 1.75 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup diced apples, we used honey crisp
Wet Muffin Ingredients
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin tin with muffin papers.
- Prepare the streusel topping. Add the rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, walnuts, butter, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl. Use a spoon (or your hands work best) and cut the ingredients together until a crumble forms. This may take 4-5 minutes. Set streusel topping aside for later.
- Next, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon to a bowl and whisk the ingredients together. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream together the brown sugar, vanilla extract, and butter until light and fluffy with an electric mixer.
- Add the apple sauce to the creamed mixture and mix until combined. Add the eggs and mix to combine. Add 1/2 cup of milk to the batter.
- Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Fold the diced apples into the batter. If the consistency is thick and creamy, your batter is ready. If your batter is too thick, like cookie dough, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until it reaches a thinner consistency.
- Fill each muffin about ¾ of the way full, and then top each muffin with 1-1.5 tablespoons of streusel over the top of each muffin. Gently press the streusel into the top of the muffin batter. Spray the streusel with a little bit of cooking spray and place the muffins in the oven.
- Bake the muffins for 18-22 minutes or until they are cooked on the inside.
Tips & Notes
- We have tested this recipe with white whole wheat and all-purpose flour. They both worked. White whole wheat flour will give you a darker color, and all-purpose flour will give you a lighter color and a bit fluffier texture.
- We spray the top of each muffin with cooking spray to make sure the streusel ends up a golden color.
- You may end up with a little extra streusel. Feel free to overtop a few muffins.
- Don’t like streusel topping? Skip it!
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin from The Edible Perspective.
I wouldn’t normally try a new recipe without any reviews on it but I am glad I did. These were absolutely delicious and perfectly not too sweet. I can see myself making a few batches of these a week! 😀