Muffins

These delicious little two-bite muffins are the apple version of my viral Pumpkin Cinnamon Mini Muffins. They have fresh apples in the batter which helps to make them soft and moist. They’re rolled in cinnamon sugar after baking, which gives them a subtle crunch on the outside. These delightful mini muffins have the flavor and texture of cake donuts. They’re perfect on their own, but I love to serve them with caramel sauce for dipping which takes them over the top.

Apple Cinnamon Mini Muffins

Soft, tender apple mini muffins rolled in cinnamon sugar

Print Recipe

Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 muffins

Ingredients

1 ½ cups (191g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
⅜ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅜ teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly ground
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
⅓ cup (66g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
⅓ cup (80ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup (113g) puréed peeled apples or unsweetened applesauce**
Caramel sauce for dipping purchased or homemade

Cinnamon Sugar

⅔ cup (132g) granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
6 tablespoons (85g) melted butter

Instructions

Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease and flour a 24-serving mini muffin pan.* Do not use muffin liners. (The muffins need to form an outer crust. This prevents them from absorbing too much melted butter in the last step.)
In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
In a large bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla extract together until smooth and well combined. Stir in the puréed apples. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined. The batter will be thick.
Transfer the batter to prepared pan, filling the muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean, about 9-11 minutes. Do not over bake! Be diligent, since over baking can happen very quickly with mini muffins. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out and place on a cooling rack.

Cinnamon Sugar

Whisk the cinnamon and granulated sugar together in a shallow bowl until well combined. Briefly dunk the warm muffins in the melted butter, then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Notes

*To find the mini muffin pan I used, click here.

**If your applesauce is very watery, drain the excess liquid before measuring.

Keyword apple, cinnamon, muffins

Blueberry and lemon are a classic muffin flavor combination, but have you tried cherry and lemon? They complement each other beautifully in lemonade, so why not muffins? Cherries are plentiful at the moment so I came up with these pretty and delicious Cherry Lemon Muffins that are perfect for summer breakfast, brunch or picnics. They have a lovely soft, moist crumb that’s the quintessential muffin texture. Although I’ve been baking muffins since childhood, I learned to refine my muffins in culinary school. Here are a few helpful tips:

~ Muffins with big hole or tunneling may have too much leavening or it wasn’t mixed in evenly. Whisk the leavening agent into the flour thoroughly. Tunnels can also be caused by mixing the batter too aggressively.

~ Dry muffins were likely over baked or have too much flour.

~ Rubbery muffins were likely over mixed.

~ Soggy or gummy muffins were either underbaked or too much wet fruit was added. Try macerating the fruit first to release excess juices. This helps to prevent soggy spots in your muffins.

~ If you want tall, domed muffins, keep in mind that, although they look nice, domed muffins tend to be chewier and less tender. To get domes, try letting the batter rest a few minutes before baking if the muffins contain baking powder. You can also try giving the muffins a boost of high heat by starting them out with a higher temperature 400ºF (200ºC) then drop the temperature to 350ºF (180ºC) after a few minutes.

~ To keep crumble topping from sinking, make sure to work the cold butter into the flour mixture thoroughly, until it looks like wet sand and no large pieces of butter remain. Press the mixture together to form chunks, then chill it in the refrigerator before topping the muffins.

~ To keep fruit from sinking, lightly coat it with flour. Thick, voluminous batter is best for adding fruit.

Cherry Lemon Muffins

Tender, moist lemon muffins studded with fresh cherries, topped with crumb topping and pink cherry-lemon icing

Print Recipe

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

¾ cup (96g) all purpose flour
6 tablespoons (75g) granulated sugar
1 pinch fine sea salt
¼ cup (57g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

Cherry Lemon Muffins

1 cup (200g) plus 1 tablespoons (13g) sugar, divided
1 ½ cups (255g) pitted and chopped fresh cherries 1/4-inch to 3/8-inch pieces
2 ¼ cups (288g) all purpose flour, sifted plus 2 teaspoons to coat the cherries
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of 2 medium lemons
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ teaspoon pure vanila extract
1 cup (227g) sour cream, room temperature
12 cherries with stems for garnish optional

Icing

¾ cup (90g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon reserved cherry juice
1 tablespoons heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Crumb Topping

In a medium-size bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together. Work in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like the consistency of sand with no large pieces of butter. Press the mixture together to make chunks. Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Muffins

In a medium-size bowl, combine the cherries and 1 tablespoon (13g) of sugar. Let stand 30 minutes, then drain the cherries, reserving the juice.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Line a 12-serving muffin pan with tulip muffin liners.* (You can also use standard muffin liners. They hold less batter so you'll end up with a couple of extra muffins.)
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, 1 cup (200g) of sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer at medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in the extracts. On low speed, mix in the flour mixture in two additions, followed by half of the sour cream after each addition. Beat just until combined. Do not over mix. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of the chopped cherries. Coat the remaining cherries with 2 teaspoons of flour, then gently fold them into the batter.
Divide the batter evenly into muffin liners. (If using standard muffin liners, fill 3/4 full.) Top with the reserved cherries and the crumb topping. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 5 minutes. Turn the oven heat down to 350ºF (180ºC) and continue baking the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, about 12-17 more minutes. Do not over bake.
Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely. Drizzle with icing and top with cherries if desired.

Icing

In a small bowl, whisk the powdered sugar, cherry juice, heavy cream, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice together until smooth. Add additional lemon juice, if needed, until your desired consistency is reached.

Notes

*To find tulip muffin liners, click here. To find floral tulip muffin liners, click here.

Keyword cherry lemon, muffins