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Apple Streusel Muffins are the epitome of fall flavors! Bright, juicy apple flavor, and a crispy cinnamon streusel topping make this a treat you will love!
This recipe was originally published in November 2015.
Perfect Fall Treat
I love apples this time of year—honeycrisp are my very favorite variety, and they must be cold from the fridge! Or….in muffins! These Apple Streusel Muffins are quintessential fall, and are absolutely delicious with juicy apples and cinnamon swirls! They muffins count as breakfast, but feel like dessert. A total win in my book—I’m always looking for new ways to pass dessert off as breakfast, paired with a venti cold brew! These do the trick.
Apple Streusel Muffins
I first developed this recipe when David was in preschool, which feels like approximately 1 million years ago. His class was going to do a fall baking project, and his teachers asked me if I would like to veganize the recipe they usually worked from. I gave it a full overhaul, swapping out eggs for baking powder, milk for apple juice, and adding a crispy streusel topping. The cinnamon and apple combination practically scream fall at you! They’re my favorite muffins!
Apples Three Ways
These apple streusel muffins are packed with apple flavor. Apples x 3 in fact! Diced apples, applesauce, and apple juice. The combination of all of the apples keeps these muffins really soft and moist, and so delicious too!
What’s the difference between a Streudel and Streusel?
Despite sounding virtually the same, a streudel and streusel are quite different! A streudel is usually a layered pastry or puff pastry type dessert, with fruit filling. I have very fond memories of eating Entenmann’s Apple Streudel as a kid—so yummy! A streusel is a crumb topping on a muffin or bread, usually made from flour, sugar, and butter. These apple streusel muffins are topped with….streusel!
More yummy Breakfast treats
- Vegan Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Cherry Chia Pudding
- Eggnog Latte Granola
- Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Overnight Oats
- Carrot Cake with Lemon Glaze
My Favorite Apple Recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal
- Aunt Betty’s Vegan Apple Pie
- Homemade Applesauce
- Vegan Monkey Bread with Apples and Cranberries
Let’s Make Apple Streusel Muffins!
Are you ready to make Apple Streusel Muffins? With quick prep and just a 20 minute bake time you’re only a half hour away from this yummy treat!
Print Recipe
Apple Streusel Muffins
Apple Streusel Muffins are the epitome of fall flavors! Bright, juicy apple flavor, and a crispy cinnamon streusel topping make this a treat you will love!
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time20 minutes mins
Course: Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: apple, fall, muffins
Servings: 12 muffins
Author: Sarah
Ingredients
For Steusel Topping
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
For the Muffin Batter
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup apple juice (can sub water if you don't have apple juice)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cup of flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup apple, chopped into 1/4" pieces (1 large apple)
Instructions
Heat oven to 400*. Grease bottoms of muffin cups or use paper liners.
For the Streusel Topping
In a small bowl mix dry ingredients well (flour, sugar, cinnamon). Cut the butter into 1/4" pieces. Add the butter and mix like you would a pastry crust. As the mixture begins to incorporate, you can use your fingers to mix the streusel topping into a sand like consistency, leaving larger chunks. Set aside.
For the Muffin Batter
In a small bowl, mix all wet ingredients (oil, apple sauce, and apple juice) and sugar.
In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and mix well until completely combined.
Fold in the chopped apples—batter should be thick.
Divide muffin batter into prepared muffin pan (I use an ice cream scoop). Sprinkle generously with 1/2 Tablespoon streusel topping, making sure you get a little piece of butter on top of each muffin.
Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan and allow to cool.
Notes
This recipe makes 12 full size muffins, or 24 mini muffins. Cook time is the same.
These are best served fresh out of the oven—and they're quick to make so you could definitely make them fresh for a weekend breakfast! If you do store them overnight the streusel topping will soften a little, but they will still be delicious! Enjoy!
From the Archives….2015
When David started school last year I was a little bit nervous about how we would deal with the “vegan issue.” I knew that there would be cooking projects and snack time and birthday parties, and being a newer mom I just had no idea how I wanted to handle it. It turned out that it was almost silly that I worried about it at all. I pack David’s snack for school each day—easy! He doesn’t even care that his snack is different from his friends’. For birthday parties I just emailed the other kids’ parents and asked what they were bringing in, or we just brought a treat of our own. And for the cooking projects we were blessed with an amazing and understanding teacher who invited me not only to come to school and help with the projects, but to veganize any recipes we worked on so that David could fully participate. Last year I helped the kids make pumpkin muffins, mini pizzas, and dirt cups and we had SO much fun!
Here we are one year later and we are fortunate to have another amazing pair of teachers who have once again welcomed me into the classroom, and welcomed me to adapt recipes as needed. Our first project this year was apple muffins. David’s teacher gave me the recipe they had used in the past and invited me to update and make changes as I saw fit. I ditched the milk and the eggs, replaced them with really crazy ingredients like apple sauce, water and baking powder, and added a streusel topping.
We’ve tested these recipes several times now, and my newest helper in the kitchen is Jonathan! He is so excited to scoop and dump and make “ca caws”—his all purpose word for any bread product. He’s also shown me what a careful and reliable helper David is—I’d forgotten what’s it’s like to cook with an 18 month old!
