Snickerdoodle Muffins with Apples
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This easy Snickerdoodle muffin recipe yields twelve perfectly moist muffins with help from sweet, chopped apples rather than sour cream.
All images and text ©Jenny DeRemer for Not Entirely Average, LLC
The Snickerdoodle, an iconic, sweet, everybody’s-Grandma-bakes-them cinnamon sugar cookie, has been a staple in American baking since the late 19th century. This oh so cinnamony flavor profile we all know and love is thought to have been brought to America by Dutch-German immigrants.
The origination of the whimsical name for this cookie is a bit ambiguous. Regardless of its hazy rise to popularity, today’s recipe will take the iconic cookie and bake it up, cinnamon sugar mixture and all, in ‘muffin form.’
Snickerdoodle Muffins with Apples
Muffin recipes seem to have their season. By this, I mean to say that I always feel as though I see and read about more muffin (and mini muffins!) recipes in the fall.
And I think this must be the universe playing a role, the baking time for this easy muffin recipe only being right around 20-ish minutes. You know, just long enough to make your kitchen SMELL AMAZING…
And in running down my master ingredient list for what will be this year’s Christmas cookies, I calculated cinnamon and sugar and flour for this Snickerdoodle muffins recipe also. I have a bushel of apples gifted by a friend and I intend to use every last one of them.
Why Snickerdoodle? Well, it’s my absolute favorite cookie, so why can it not then be morphed into tender muffins with that distinctive and delicious cinnamon sugar topping we’ve come to expect?
For this method, and again because ‘baking is a science,’ your eggs (two eggs) must be at room temperature. Take a minute to set them on your counter on a kitchen towel so they don’t roll away about 30 minutes before you begin this recipe.
You’ll also need melted butter but given we will be combining it with the aforesaid eggs, that melted butter CANNOT be hot or we will have made scrambled eggs instead of muffins. Melt 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter on your stovetop and allow it to cool as the eggs come up to room temp and you to gather and measure all else out.
Do You Have All You Need to Bake Snickerdoodle Muffins with Apples? Check the List!
for the cinnamon sugar topping
- granulated sugar
- ground cinnamon
for the brown sugar swirl
- brown sugar, may be light or dark
- all-purpose flour
- sea salt
- ground cinnamon
for the delicious muffins
- room temperature eggs
- unsalted butter
- milk, may be whole, 2%, or buttermilk
- vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- brown sugar, may be light or dark
- baking powder, not baking soda
- ground cinnamon
- sea salt
- an apple such as Granny Smith or Winesap or Honeycrisp
Do I Need Special Equipment for These Tasty Muffins?
Not unless you count a muffin tin, muffin liners, and an airtight container for storing ‘special equipment.’ But while we are on topic, rummage and find a wire rack for cooling, and a large mixing bowl IF you do not own a stand mixer.
Do I Need Special Ingredients for the Muffin Batter?
Nope. Pantry staples all the way. And if you do not have a fresh apple, substitute a fresh pear.
What Variety Apple Should I Use?
Because this is not a long bake, any apple variety will do. Longer bakes tend to require a sturdier apple, one that will not break down due to the heat.
I lean toward Granny Smith and Winesap and chop it into a fine dice as you would an onion. But…look in that fruit bowl sitting on your counter, and whatever apple is in there will work.
The apple will offer enough liquid to keep the bake moist well after they emerge from your oven. This way, you avoid having to use sour cream cream, Greek yogurt, or another dairy.
How to Make Snickerdoodle Muffins Recipe?
Prep and Assemble the Sugars
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a standard muffin tin with liners. In a small bowl, make the cinnamon-sugar mixture that will become the crunchy top and set aside.
There is a brown sugar swirl that is folded into these sweet muffins at the same time as the apple. To make it, stir together the brown sugar with the flour, sea salt, and some cinnamon.
Mix the Batter
If this is your first time making these easy cinnamon muffins, you’re going to be shocked because as of right now, you’re halfway through the method. Yup…
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the room temperature eggs along with the cooled melted butter, some milk, and vanilla. I go medium-low speed until these wet ingredients are well combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together some all-purpose flour (or gluten free all-purpose flour) with both brown and granulated sugars, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and some sea salt. Turn the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix on medium-low until JUST incorporated.
Fold in Apple and Sugar Swirl
Trigger warning: fall flavor coming your way! Detach the bowl from the stand and use a wooden spoon to fold in both the apple tidbits as well as the brown sugar cinnamon swirl.
Again, mix until JUST combined. Now, you may use a cookie scoop to plop each scoop of batter into a liner, however I find using two same sized soup spoons works better.
This is a particularly sticky dough or batter, so use one spoon to scrape the batter from the other into the liner. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the muffin tops and bake on the center rack for 22 to 24 minutes or until a pick inserted into the centers comes away clean.
Cooling and Storing
Once the bake is complete, remove the muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Work on pouring yourself a hot cup of coffee because these tender Snickerdoodle muffins were made for enjoying with coffee. Or milk…okay, so pour a glass of milk then 😉
Snickerdoodle Muffins with Apples
Equipment
- 12-cup muffin tin
- 12 muffin liners
- stand mixer or electric handheld mixer
- wire grid cooling rack
Ingredients
for the cinnamon sugar topping
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
for the brown sugar swirl
- ¼ brown sugar light or dark
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- pinch sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
for the delicious muffins
- 2 large eggs brought to room temperature
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and then cooled
- ¼ cup milk may be whole, 2%, or buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar light or dark
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 large apple cored, peeled, and finely chopped
Instructions
assemble the cinnamon sugar topping
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a standard muffin tin with liners. In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and granulated sugar. Mix well and set aside.
assemble the brown sugar swirl
- To make the brown sugar swirl, stir together the brown sugar, flour, sea salt, and cinnamon. Peel, core, and finely chop the apple. You want the pieces to be a nice dice as you would an onion. Set both aside.
make the delicious muffins
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the room temperature eggs along with the cooled melted butter, milk, and vanilla at medium-low speed until well combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, both brown and granulated sugars, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and sea salt. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix on medium-low until JUST incorporated.
- Detach the bowl from the stand mixer and use a wooden spoon to fold in both the chopped apple and brown sugar swirl. Mix until JUST combined. NOTE: it may seem like there are pieces of apple which are difficult to fully stir into the batter. This is a particularly sticky batter, so simply spoon any loose apple pieces from the bowl after you've filled the liners, dotting the muffins and pressing them in gently.
- Use a couple of soup spoons to fill the muffin liners. Use one spoon to scrape the batter from the other into the paper. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the muffin tops and bake on the center rack for 22 to 24 minutes or until a pick inserted into the centers comes away clean.
- Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To avoid the muffins becoming soggy in the container, make sure to cool the muffins completely before loading into the container. I also really, REALLY like a metal cookie tin lined with parchment for storing these.
Notes
Nutrition
If You Like This Recipe…
…you might also like:
- Berry Good Cornmeal Streusel Muffins
- Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes
- Pineapple and Rum Cupcake Recipe with Boozy Buttercream
- Sweet Lavender Cupcakes with Sugared Flowers and A Honeyed Cream Cheese Frosting
Jenny, I just discovered your website today and love some of your recipes. I’ve printed a couple of them today as I don’t “pin”. Although I llike the size of the color picture, it seems a bit large and takes a lot of color ink when printing. I really like it when a recipe is no more than 2 pages. Wonder if others feel the same way? Maybe consider re-formatting it that the ingredients could be 2 columns, less wide margins, left/right justified copy, etc. to take up less space? Not trying to sound picky, was a journalism major. Like to print it 2-sided/one piece of paper. Thanks for any consideration.
Kathy, this message has been the most pondered over and milled about message to which I have responded. I did send you an email immediately following receipt of your message, so do look to read from me in your spam folder if I did not land in your inbox.
It’s as if you were reading my mind. I have been wanting to and meaning to change the recipe card for some time, not for the same reasons you cited, rather just because I did not like it. To give you some context, the plugin (a plugin is a ‘program’ which structures recipes) comes with built-in templates. You have to pick from what’s there or customize your own. In the beginning when I was a baby blogger, I truly thought I would break the internet if I played with my plugins. So, I didn’t. Until last week when I received your message.
My super awesome tech dude Andrew and I are discussing the templates. You likely have not been on to see that since your message, there have been modifications to that original, though small. None of the templates offer columns that look correct with ads running, so we are looking at customizing and pulling in a 3rd party to help with the ads. I rely on the ads as this is my full-time job, so they must stay. But…we can make it look better and more cohesive while keeping them in place I should think.
Anyway, for the moment, and until I either seek out new paid-for templates or am able to modify what I already have available to me, the photograph for now has been reduced in size. I hope this is at least a start 🙂
I’ll try emailing you again if I do not hear from you first. Jenny
Ooh save one for me! These look heavenly! What a delicious morning muffin (or dessert)! There is just something so comforting about a fresh baked good in the fall with a cup of coffee to start the day.
Tammy, I couldn’t agree with you more! How about you head on over and we’ll snack on Snickerdoodle muffins and pour some wine…I promise they sort of go together!