Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

Apple Muffins

Apple Muffins

I've made these muffins with Granny Smith and gala apples. The apple slices on top are optional. - Jenny Jones

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Makes: 12 muffins

Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

    Topping:
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Batter:
  • 2 cups all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour
  • 6 Tablespoons sugar (for sweeter muffins use 1/2 cup sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 heaping cups of 1/4-inch diced apple (2 medium apples)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
  2. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or insert paper liners.
  3. Combine topping ingredients (sugar + cinnamon) and set aside.
  4. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
  5. In a measuring cup, combine buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.
  6. Peel and dice apples. You should have 2 mounded cups.
  7. Gently fold liquid into dry ingredients. Fold in diced apple.
  8. Divide batter into muffin cups and add apple slices if you like (see below).
  9. Sprinkle tops with sugar mixture. Bake for 18- 20 minutes.

To Add Apple Slices: Get an extra apple and cut 2 or 3 1/8-inch slices and push the slices into the tops before adding sugar topping. Slices must be thin.

No buttermilk? No whole wheat pastry flour? See Substitutions in my blog.

29 Comments on "Apple Muffins"

  1. Roberta

    Hello, Is the mix for the apple muffins supposed to be very thick? I did the apple
    Muffins today but they didn’t came out fluffy. My batter was very thick and I followed the recipe.
    Just wondering 🤔

  2. Sandra

    My name is Sandra and I’m from Mexico I want to say thank you for your cooking website because It’s been so helpful to my husband and my self.
    Our favorite recipes are for flatbread and of course, the sweets.
    (I make flatbread almost every day!)
    I really appreciate your effort to make the recipes easier,healthy and delicious.

    Thank you again.

  3. Sanna

    Forgot to mention I also made your banana bread many times as my friends and family keep asking for them. 🙂 Thank you.

  4. Sanna

    Greetings from Hong Kong. Jenny thank you very much for sharing the recipe. I made it today and it was perfect. I made it in a bread tin instead of muffin cups and I sautéed apples with sugar and cinnamon first and added some walnuts. It was wonderful and all my friends loved it. I usually have to cut sugar quantity to half when I try recipes from USA but I didn’t have to with this recipe as well as your oatmeal cookies. Now I will work my way through the rest of your bread and other sweet recipes.Thank you!

  5. Ozzie Phil

    We just tried your whole wheat muffins with nectarines. How delicious, we have bumper crop of nectarines (Queensland) this year and using them for everything worked wonderfully with your muffin recipe thanks again for another wonderful recipe keep them coming.?

  6. Farida

    What is shelf/refrigerator life of these as I m planning to make these for travelling purposes

    • Jenny

      These muffins are best served fresh just after baking and will not be as good over the next day or two. After baking, they can be stored at room temperature for another day but by the second day, I suggest refrigerating them.

  7. Becky

    Can I use whole wheat flour?

  8. Sylvia

    Can I use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour?

    • Jenny

      If you use all purpose flour the batter may be a little wet and you may need to add more flour. It’s always better not to change a recipe if you want something that’s proven to turn out, especially when baking.

  9. Gemma

    what is whole wheat pastry flour?

  10. Joyce

    What kind of Apple should I use?

    • Jenny

      I always use Granny Smith but a lot of other apples are good for baking if you want to search around.

  11. Liz

    I am a non-baker, not by choice but by a lack of success. This recipe produced not only successful muffins, but the very best muffins I have ever tasted.
    Having said and done that, the world of healthy muffins is now at my disposable. What an easy to follow, quick recipe. Just make sure you have the ingredients when you start. That was the non-baker in me at the get-go.
    Thank you.

    • Lisa

      Liz, I was the happy recipient of one of your muffins and they are absolutely delicious! I am planning on adding these gems to my favorite recipes. So good!

  12. Kaylee launderville

    Wow they are awesome
    Instead of the flour that you said to use I used all purpose flour but they where still good

  13. Koyo Kinase

    Am I allowed to use whole meal flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour?

    • Jenny

      That would not be a good idea. The muffins will be much heavier and more dense. If you can’t get whole wheat pastry flour, you can use half whole meal flour and half all-purpose flour and you will get a better tasting muffin.

  14. sue

    I made these last night and WOW!!! They are amazing!!! So Good!!!! 🙂
    I was confused at first, because it said whole grain pastry flour in the recipe and I used whole wheat pasty flour. But whichever you are suposed to use the whole wheat pasty flour made them just incredible too!!! 🙂

    • Jenny

      Whole “grain” and whole “wheat” pastry flour are the same thing so I should probably indicate that in the recipe. I’m glad you liked them.

  15. Alondra

    These look great, I have been meaning to make them myself. Is butter milk a must ingredient? Will it be okay if I just used regular milk?

    • Jenny

      I wish I could say yes but buttermilk is essential to this recipe. The acidic nature of the buttermilk makes the muffins light and fluffy and helps them to rise. They say you can substitute a combination of milk + lemon juice or milk + vinegar for buttermilk, but it has never worked for me. So I stick with real buttermilk (but I still can’t drink it!)

      • Kathleen

        Dear Jenny, I just discovered your wonderful recipes yesterday. I have an old Polish cookbook, and although I’m not Polish, I went to a Polish convent school in Connecticut, long ago, and my best friend’s mother, when I was a child, was from a large Polish family, and she was truly an inspiration to me, and to my own mother. ‘Stella’ made everything ‘from scratch’ -and not just food [and that’s plenty, as we know] -rugs, quilts, clothes, everything. So when I found this cookbook yessterday, I was suddenly very nostalgic for that family, and, y’know, everything, but, wonderful as my old cookbook is, it gives very imprecise amounts, and what measurements there are are quite excessive for two people, so, I looked on the internet for ‘Polish cook’, and I found you and your recipes! I’m so very grateful, I’m going to give you a recipe for a quick way to make ‘farmer’s cheese’, which produces more than a quart of lovely whey, which is an excellent substitute for buttermilk, and can be used in countless ways. Take a half-gallon of 2% milk, and heat it slowly [-no cover on the pot, although I use one of those disc-screens, that I think most people use for covering a frying pan], taking about a half-hour to reach about 180 degrees. -it even works at a higher temperature, but you don’t want to scorch the milk. Mainly, the thing to remember is to take the time to heat the milk gradually, since this releases casein, for the best separation into curds and whey. When you’ve got bubbles around the milk along the sides of the pan, remove the skin from the surface, and pour in 1/3 cup of [I use cider vinegar] vinegar,1/3 cup, if you’re using cow’s milk, and 1/4 cup of [I use cider] vinegar if your using goat’s milk. Stir the vinegar in gently, with the heat still on, and when it separates into yellow clear liquid [whey] and nice curds -they’re likely to be large curds, using this method- turn off the heat, put a cover on the pan, and let it cool a bit [there’s nothing quite so hot as hot whey], before you strain the cheese -no real need to use cheese cloth; a small-mesh stainless steel strainer is fine -which reminds me, it’s best to use a stainless steel pot for this; enamel’s okay, too, but, aluminum is not. The cheese is lovely and has so many uses -you’ll get about two cups from this, and sometimes, more, but if anything, it’s needing to refill the bottle of whey that makes this a regular kitchen routine around here. It’s probably obvious you have to keep it in the refrigerator, but when that happy, sparkling bottle of whey is replenished, we’re good for another few days of baking, gravies, soups, fruit and vegetable juices, etc. etc. around here. Anyway, if you get this [it’s quite long, so I’m not sure you will], try making some whey, one nice day [-by the way, cheesemaking does ‘like’ nice weather; there’s probably a hint about that in the Little Miss Muffett story; it must’ve been a nice, sunny, ‘high, dry’ day, to be out sitting on the grass, and have a spider come by -incidentally, all animals love whey]. I think you’d enjoy it. Thank you again. I think I’m going to start with the Cabbage Rolls, but I doubt it’ll be too long before we’re into the ‘Punch-Keys’! Best Wishes, Kathleen Wilson

  16. sandra

    You were right I didn’t need more flour they come out great,thank you

  17. sandra

    can I use regular flour?

    • Jenny

      Yes, you can use regular all-purpose flour. From my experience, whole wheat pastry flour can make muffin batter a little more dense so if your batter doesn’t feel thick enough to push the apples into, you can add a couple of tablespoons of extra flour in at the end. But I don’t think you will need to do that.

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