These Healthy Apple Cobbler Muffins combine the buttery and sweet crumble topping of apple cobbler with the delightfully fluffy, cozy warmth of traditional apple muffins.
This recipe uses the natural sweetness of unsweetened applesauce and freshly grated apples to cut back on the added sugars. Plus applesauce allows us to cut back on the oil without losing any moistness. The result is a soft, moist, cinnamony apple muffin that is deliciously healthy.
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Tips for Making Perfect Apple Muffins
Grate the apples: After several iterations with this recipe, I finally discovered that grated apples are the best option for this batter. It gives just the right amount of juicy fruit in every bite, but it doesn’t result in weird airy pockets in the muffin when cooked, like larger apple chunks tend to create. Plus, I’ve found that these muffins stayed moist for a longer period of time when refrigerated with grated apple over cubed apple.
Use firmer apples: When it comes to baking, you want to pick firmer apples, like Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Pink Lady. They hold up better when baked, as opposed to other softer varieties, like red delicious apples. Plus these varieties have more sweetness and are overall juicer, which is good for this batter.
Don’t over-mix the batter: The best tip for making these muffins is do not over-mix the batter! It makes muffins tough, chewy, and overall sad and unpleasant to eat. It’s really easy to do when using a stand mixer, so I usually just mix my wet and dry ingredients by hand in separate bowls to lessen my chances of overmixing. Then I make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients, and stir together until the wet and dry ingredients are just incorporated and there are no streaks of flour mixture in the dough. Don’t be afraid to leave the lumps though!
Use foil muffin liners: Foil liners are a godsend. We highly recommend grabbing some for this recipe. The muffins roll right out of the foil liners, unlike with paper liners which tend to stick to everything.
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How to Make Apple Cobbler Muffins
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
In a large mixing bowl, combine whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, almond milk, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and grated apple.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Mix until the wet ingredients are just incorporated and there are no streaks of flour mixture in the batter. Be careful not to over-mix the batter, as it will result in tough muffins. Leave the lumps in the batter.
Next, make the cobbler topping. Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish. Add flour, sugar, and cinnamon to the melted butter. Mix until the butter is distributed and small pebble size beads form. Set aside.
Fill the muffin liners about ¾ full with batter. Top with a generous amount of cobbler topping. Bake the muffins for 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy! These muffins pair beautifully with apple butter, almond butter, sweet nut butters, or good old fashioned butter butter.
Let us know what you think about these Healthy Apple Cobbler Muffins by dropping a comment and/or rating below!
Be sure to check out our other baked goods recipes:
- Hearty Morning Harvest Muffins
- Chai Spiced Scones
- Cranberry Dark Chocolate Cake Scones
- Cinnamon Zucchini Bread
- Fluffy Plain Bagels
Healthy Apple Cobbler Muffins
Ingredients
Apple Cobbler Muffins
- 2 c white or regular whole wheat flour
- ½ c coconut sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 2 eggs, room temperature (or swap flax seed egg)
- â…” c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- ½ c unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ c canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Fuji or Honeycrisp apple, grated
Cobbler Topping
- 1½ Tbsp plant-based or reduced fat butter
- ¼ c all purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Granola Topping
- â…“ c rolled oats
- 2½ Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1½ Tbsp plant-based or reduced fat butter
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
- Combine dry ingredients: in a large mixing bowl, combine whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
- Combine wet ingredients: in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, almond milk, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and grated apple.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Mix until the wet ingredients are incorporated. There should be no streaks of flour mixture in the batter, but it's okay to leave the lumps. Be careful not to over-mix the batter to avoid tough, chewy muffins.
- Make the cobbler topping: melt the butter. Add flour, sugar, and cinnamon to the melted butter. Mix until the butter is distributed and small pebble size beads form. Set aside.
- Fill the muffin liners about ¾ full with batter. Top with a generous amount of cobbler topping. Bake the muffins for 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy! These muffins pair beautifully with apple butter.
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