Deliciously soft & fluffy vegan apple muffins, loaded with sweet, tender fruit and topped with an irresistibly crumbly, cinnamony, streusel topping. Want one?
It's been a while since I published a muffin recipe here. I think the last one was my Lemon & Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins and that feels like ages ago. I was planning a different flavour combination but Mr A Virtual Vegan had a craving for my apple cake. I had set my mind on making muffins so we compromised and Vegan Apple Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel happened.
I love that muffins are self contained with no slicing involved. And you get to eat a whole one, muffin top first of course!
The only time I care to think about muffin tops is when I am baking, but lets be honest, even though these muffins are healthier than a lot of recipes out there, if you eat too many you will no doubt end up with your very own muffin top and I don't mean of the cake variety.
I'm not trying to put you off making these Vegan Apple Muffins because they are so delicious you really need to. The muffin tops are always the best bit too aren't they? Especially these ones with their cinnamony, nutty, crumbly streusel topping.
Yum!
These Vegan Apple Muffins work out to be only about 223 calories and 6 grams of fat each, which isn't all that bad as far as muffins go.
If you try them please leave your feedback below and hit the stars to rate the recipe. Share your pictures on Instagram too. Tag me with @avirtualvegan. I wanna see your muffin tops!
Apple Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel
Ingredients
For the streusel
- 3 tablespoons liquid coconut oil see recipe note for oil-free option)
- 40g / ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon spelt flour or all purpose or whole wheat
- 3 tablespoons rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (can be left out to make the recipe nut-free))
- 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1.5 tablespoons granulated sugar (any kind)
For the muffins
- 1 tablespoon ground flax
- 3 tablespoons water
- 340g / 3 cups spelt flour , you could use ½ wholewheat ½ all purpose instead
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 115g / ½ packed cup coconut sugar , any granulated sugar is fine as a sub
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 255mls / 1 cup + 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar , or lemon juice
- 130g / ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 medium / 1.5 heaping cups apples , peeled & chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400°F and prepare your muffin tins (see recipe note)
- Start off by making the streusel topping.
- Combine all streusel ingredients in a small bowl and stir well to combine.
- Set aside.
For the muffins
- Mix the ground flax with the water in a small bowl and set aside.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl.
- In a jug or another bowl combine all of the wet ingredients.
- Add the flax mixture to the wet ingredients and stir well.
- Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to combine everything. Do not stir too much.
- Add the chopped apple to the batter and stir to distribute evenly.
- Divide the mixture between 12 muffin tins. Fill each one right to the very top of the muffin cases.
- Sprinkle the streusel topping over the muffins and press it in gently with your fingers, then place in the oven.
- Bake for around 25 minutes or until a tooth pick/skewer can be inserted and comes out clean.
- Remove from the tin and cool on a cooling rack
NOTES
NUTRITION
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Long time vegan, creator of A Virtual Vegan & author of the book 
Kallie says
Hi Mel, I make your blueberry bran muffins on repeat for my kid's school lunches - (they love them) and I want to give these a try. I just have a question about the coconut sugar. Both this recipe and the blueberry one use 1/2 cup coconut sugar- but the gram measurement is different by quite a bit (96g in blueberry - 115g in this recipe). 19 g of sugar does make a difference. Which gram measurement is the best one to use in both recipes? (I'm mainly asking because I think that our NZ cup measurements are often different to US measurements)
A Virtual Vegan says
I've just corrected it. The grams were correct but these apple muffins should have said half a "packed" cup which makes it about 115g. Sorry about that!
Wendy says
I wanted to love these, or even slightly like them, but the truth is they were nasty, dry, and bland. My husband spit it out. I tried to make myself eat them so as not to waste ingredients but I ended up throwing them away. It looks like most reviewers are just going by the photo. I was taking in by the tantalizing description, sadly it did not match the taste at all.
josie says
I made these today! They are yummy. And vegan! A couple of differences I noticed : the batter made enough for 15 muffins so once my 12 muin tin was full. I quickly made a little loaf with the extra. Also, when i sent to take the silicon liners off each muffin the Streusel topping just fell off, leaving oats, nuts an crumbles all over the counter. It tastes good, but doesn't stick. Is there something I am doing wrong?
Melanie McDonald says
I'm glad you enjoyed them! The crumbly topping is a little messy, but most of it should stick on as they bake. If you make them again, you could push it down very gently with your fingers before putting them in the oven to get it stuck on a little better.Hope that helps!
josie says
Thank you! Will try that. Sorry about my terrible typos above! It was late ;)
Becca B says
First of all, I love the checkbox option on your blog with the ingredients and recipe steps! SO helpful!
I just made these using a gluten free flour blend and honeycrisp apples! I also added some pumpkin pie spice to the batter and nearly doubled the amount of cinnamon in the streusel (by accident - I was confused because so many of the streusel ingredients were in tablespoons and I missed that the cinnamon was teaspoons!) It definitely took me longer than 10 minutes to prep them, but that's because I don't bake much and I'm slow. However I was so excited that I could make these from just things I had on hand - I didn't plan a shopping trip - and they smelled so wonderful in the oven!
Mine came out rather crumbly, but that might be due to using the gf flour? Taste was quite good, although I would probably add even more vanilla and cinnamon to the batter next time! They are definitely nice and moist even though I probably cooked them a tad longer than I needed to (just under 25 minutes).
Thanks so much for the recipe! I'll continue to enjoy these for the next couple of days (assuming I don't eat them all by morning...!)
A Virtual Vegan says
Hi Becca. I'm glad you find the checkboxes helpful and that you enjoyed the muffins. They shouldn't be crumbly at all. I am sure that is as a result of the GF flour you used. Often it's not just a case of switching flour, other things need to be adjusted too to get good results. I think oat flour might work well with these muffins so could be worth a try next time you make them. The milk quantity might need to be adjusted a little though as it isn't as absorbent as spelt flour.
Morgan says
These are good but upon maoing them twice, I've found they are so much better when you add apple pie spice or simply cinnamon to the batter.
Karinia says
I made these apple cinnamon muffins today for breakfast. I since have had one for an afternoon snack and again after dinner for dessert. They are delicious! I didn't have Walnuts so I substituted with pepitas. Great recipe!!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yay! So glad you are enjoying them. Thanks so much for coming back to leave feedback!
Laura says
Apple + cinnamon + streusel + muffins is always a win. Great recipe!
Uma says
This crunchy muffin is wonderful. Love anything with cinnamon flavor on it! Made them twice already!
Ginny says
I bet these are so moist. They look perfect and am definitely looking forward to making them. Love the ingredients!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Ginny. They stay lovely and moist for days and days too which is great if you aren't part of a family that eats them all on the first day like mine!