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Author: Sally
Published: 05/14/2012Updated: 04/22/2022
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I am quite certain that there is nothing in this world that compares to apple pie. But a warm, freshly baked muffin to wake up to in the morning is a close second.
Typically, most muffins you find in bakeries are cupcakes in disguise, relying heavily on oil, butter, and cups of sugar for their sweetness. When I’m craving a healthier muffin, I like to make them at home. These applesauce muffins and healthy apple muffins are two other favorites I often turn to.
These homemade apple pie muffins are soft, fluffy, and full of good-for-you ingredients like whole oats and fresh apples. In lieu of butter and oil, I use yogurt and applesauce to give the muffins some moisture.
What I love most about these muffins is that they are SKY HIGH. It’s taken some practice, but I finally found a few tricks to bake up mile high, fluffy muffins—no more flat muffins here. How to bake high-domed, fluffy muffins:
- You need a very, very thick batter. Much thicker than cake or cupcake batter—you want “spoonable” batter, not “pourable.”
- Do not over-mix the batter. This will create tough + flat muffins.
- Fill muffin pan cups all the way to the top, even a bit higher. Filling only 1/2 or 2/3 of the way to the top is not enough batter to produce a high-domed muffin.
- Start off with a very oven hot temperature, then lower it down. Doing this lifts the muffin top up quickly and creates a tall crust. Typically, muffins are baked at 350F – 375F the whole time, but set the oven to 425F initially, then bring back down to 350F or 375F.
I also love these apple muffins with blackberries and apples. Replace 1 cup of the apples with 1 cup of fresh or frozen blackberries. In the pictured apple blackberry muffins below, I skipped the oat streusel made with butter and simply mixed 3 Tablespoons of oats + 1 Tablespoon brown sugar. Sprinkle that over each muffin before baking.
More Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Bran Muffins
Sky-High Apple Pie Muffins
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.8 from 6 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 14-16 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Description
Homemade sky high apple pie muffins are soft, fluffy, and full of good-for-you ingredients like whole oats, fresh apples, and white whole wheat flour!
Ingredients
Oat Streusel Topping
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour()
- 2 Tablespoons old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
Muffins
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour ()
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any dairy or nondairy milk)
- 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup plain or apple-flavored yogurt
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce*
- 2 large eggs
- 2 heaping cups chopped apple (peeled or not peeled—your choice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Prepare oat streusel topping by mixing everything together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
- Prepare the muffins: In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the milk, sugars, yogurt, applesauce, and eggs. Whisk wet ingredients into the flour mixture, mixing until *just combined*—do not over-mix. Gently fold in the apples.
- Spoon the batter into 12 lined muffin cups, making sure each one is filled to the very top. Lightly press a heaping spoonful of oat streusel into the tops of each muffin.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C), then immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (191°C) and bake for another 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover leftover muffins tightly and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Muffins may be frozen, up to 2-3 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links):12-count Muffin Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula
- Applesauce: The unsweetened applesauce gives these muffins moisture—just as oil would—without the added fat. Feel free to use vegetable oil instead of applesauce.
- Yogurt: In my muffins, I used Chobani 0% Apple Cinnamon flavor. If you can’t find an apple flavored yogurt, plain or vanilla yogurt would work as well.
