Apple Coffee Cake Muffins

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These apple coffee cake muffins are tender muffins with a cinnamon streusel topping. You’ll love how easy they are to assemble and the moist texture. They’re a great breakfast treat or grab-and-go snack.

I understand muffins are a year-round thing, but does anyone else go looking for the baking tin more often as the weather cools? Because I am right there with you. Give me all the comfort baking recipes during sweater weather. All of them; especially these apple coffee cake muffins.

If you’re a fan of the moist texture of coffee cake, a cinnamon-spiced streusel topping, and of course, apples, this is the muffin recipe for you! I like that it’s easy to mix. You need one bowl for batter and one for topping. There’s no need to pull out your mixer, this muffin recipe whips up just fine by hand.

What makes this a coffee cake muffin recipe?

I call these coffee cake muffins for two reasons. First, they’re a very simple variation on my sour cream coffee cake recipe. If you haven’t tried it, by the way, you really should!

These muffins are made with sour cream to keep them super moist and create a tender crumb. They’re almost like having mini coffee cakes in individual portions. We are all about that.

Second, there’s the crumb topping. I think the cinnamon sugar crumb topping just adds something special. To me, a coffee cake isn’t a coffee cake without a crumb topping. You can, of course, have muffins with a topping that aren’t coffee cake muffins, but in this case, it fits.

What kind of apples are best for muffins?

The apples in the recipe are fresh, and I recommend using a variety that’s good for baking. I’m noticing more grocery stores are including helpful tips near the apple displays highlighting the best ways to use each apple variety. Love this, and it always makes me smile when I see it!

Of course, not all grocery stores have gotten to this point yet, so if yours hasn’t, here’s my shortlist. The apples that work best for this muffin recipe include any variety that works well for baking. These include Jonagold, Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, Fuji, Gala, and Granny Smith.

Personally, I buy the first 5 varieties more often since they’re all-purpose apples. That means you can eat them, cook with them, make some apple butter or apple sauce… they’re super versatile varieties.

Recipe notes for the apple coffee cake muffins…

The key to making fabulous muffins is simple… don’t over mix! For this recipe, I follow the muffin method of mixing. The muffin method is when you mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then pour in the wet ingredients and stir until just combined, folding in any mix-ins like fruit or chocolate chips at the end.

It helps to have all your ingredients at room temperature, or close to it too. Even 15-20 minutes to take the chill off the sour cream and eggs makes a difference.

Lastly, watch the muffins towards the end of the baking time. You start baking at a higher temperature to get a nice domed top, but once you get towards the last couple minutes of the lower baking temperature, you don’t want to stray too far so you don’t accidentally over-bake the muffins. When it comes to muffins, a few extra minutes of baking time makes a difference between fabulous and dry.

To check if the muffins are done, a tester inserted in a center muffin should come out pretty much clean. If there’s a baked crumb or two stuck to it, it’s fine.

While it will be hard not to enjoy all the muffins freshly baked – they’ll smell amazing! You will likely have extra. Store them loosely covered at room temperature for a day or two. If you have a domed cake stand, these look gorgeous arranged in one on a kitchen island or dining room table. So inviting!

Otherwise, you can keep them in an airtight container (with a piece of bread to help prevent drying out) in the fridge for 5ish days. If you want to store them for longer, place the baked and cooled muffins in an airtight container and freeze.

You can thaw on the counter for about 30 minutes, or pop them into the microwave for about 20 seconds to thaw. You do lose a little of the topping texture this way, but they still taste good.

I hope you enjoy this coffee cake apple muffin recipe, darlings! Happy baking!