Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked apple cinnamon muffins! These no-fuss, real fruit-added Apple Muffins come together in just minutes to create a warm, comforting addition to breakfast or snacks you can enjoy all week. Great for toddlers, kids, and adults alike!
Homemade Apple Muffins
It’s no secret I love a good muffin recipe. I’ve racked up quite a variety, from my banana muffins, to spinach muffins, to yogurt muffins, all the way to these mini blueberry avocado muffins. And now, let’s add a classic – these healthy, homemade apple muffins.
They’ve got real apple flavor, two ways – from both grated apples and unsweetened applesauce. They’re spiced with cinnamon and vanilla. And they’ve got just the right amount of sweetness to make you feel like you’re enjoying a light little treat, but not so much sweetness that you’ll be dreading a sugar crash hours later.
Toddlers, kids and adults will all love these cozy apple muffins. I love to pair these muffins along with a side of Greek yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast as they do with a schmear of peanut butter for a lovely pick-me-up afternoon snack.
Apple Muffin Video
Ingredients
Make sure to read the recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions!
- Flour: you can use all-purpose, white whole wheat flour, a mixture of 50/50 white and whole wheat flour, or gluten-free one-for-one flour.
- Apple: chopped or grated
- Maple Syrup: a good quality maple syrup to bring out the natural sweetness of apples. You can also use honey (for babies 1 year and up) or agave nectar.
- Oil/Butter: to make the muffins nice and moist. You can use coconut, avocado, vegetable, olive oil, or melted butter.
- Applesauce: plain unsweetened applesauce – homemade or store-bought
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Cinnamon
- Baking Soda
- Salt
You can also find more recipes and information in my best-selling cookbook, Little Foodies: Recipes for Babies and Toddlers with Taste.
Let’s Get Baking
Muffins for Toddlers & Kids
These apple muffins are great served as is, or with a smear of cream cheese, butter or peanut butter for breakfast. My kids’ current favorite is to serve them with a hard-boiled egg or a cheese stick for a little extra protein for snacks or packed into a school lunch.
Expert Tips
- Do No Overmix: I can’t stress this point enough – do not over mix the muffin batter, if you do they won’t rise in the oven and will become dense and hard. The dry ingredients should be just combined with the wet ingredients.
- Let Cool: let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes before enjoying them and let them cool completely before storing.
- No Sticking: make sure you generously grease the mini muffin molds or use mini muffin liners so that the muffins don’t stick to the pan.
- Dice, don’t slice: Dicing or even grating the apples into smaller pieces helps distribute them evenly throughout the batter. This ensures a more consistent texture in the muffin and can help with any kiddos who might be a little pickier about what’s in their muffins.
Kid-Requested Healthy Apple Muffins (25-Minutes)
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups white wheat flour, or all-purpose, gluten-free blend
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, honey (babies over 1), or agave nectar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup melted butter, or oil such as olive oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil or coconut oil
- 1/3 cup applesauce, homemade or store-bought
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup apples finely chopped or grated
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 375° F. Spray or line a muffin tin. Grate or chop the apples.
- Whisk: In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, sugar, applesauce, butter, eggs, and vanilla.
- Stir: Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gently stir until just combined.
- Combine: Add in the grated or chopped apples, and gently fold in. Do not overmix.
- Fill Muffin Tin: Scoop the batter into the muffin tin 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake: Place the muffin tin into the oven, and bake for 15-18 minutes or until just golden brown.
- Eat: Let cool to the touch, serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Toddlers
- Toddlers can help count out the muffin liners and place into the muffin tins.
- They can help measure and place ingredients into the bowl.
- Toddlers can help mix the ingredients together.
- They can help scoop the batter into the muffin tins. (I find it’s easiest to give them their own smaller bowl and spoon to use.)
Kids
- Older kids can pick out and measure all of the ingredients.
- They can help chop or grate the apples with adult supervision.
- Kids can help mix the ingredients together.
- They can help pour the batter into the muffin tins.
- Depending on your child’s age and skill level, they can carefully put the muffin tin into the oven (with adult supervision) and remove once baked.
Medically reviewed and cowritten by Jamie Johnson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), and Lauren Braaten, Pediatric Occupational Therapist (OT).
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