If you’ve ever been disappointed by dry day-after muffins, these Apple Muffins are going to blow your mind. They stay 100% fresh for 4 to 5 days! Made with fresh apples, this muffin recipe is quick and you’ve probably already got everything you need to make them (you’ve got apples, right?!)
Stay-fresh Apple Muffins!
If you’ve ever been disappointed / annoyed at stale, dry muffins the day after making them, these Apple Muffins are going to blow your mind!! They’re super moist on the day and they stay moist for 4 to 5 days!!
Here’s the secret to keep muffins moist…
The secret to these stay-moist Apple Muffins are:
Brown sugar instead of white – brown sugar retains moisture far better in baked goods; and
Only 1 egg – Eggs dry out baked goods. Well, the egg white part does. That’s why you’ll find some baking recipes only call for egg yolks – because it binds without drying out the batter.
Moisture in the apples which keeps the muffin crumb fresh for days and days!
And that’s the only difference between the batter for these muffins and the usual muffin mixes. Yet the shelf life difference is amazing!
Miracle stay-fresh muffin recipe
This magic stay-fresh muffin recipe is a great master muffin mix because it’s made with pantry staples:
flour – wholewheat OR white
butter
egg
milk
brown sugar
baking soda
vinegar*
cinnamon (or other spice mix)
No buttermilk, no yoghurt, no sour cream.
I know there are muffin recipes out there that swear by them for moist muffins. But they aren’t required for this recipe. I promise you, these Apple Muffins are going to be super moist straight out of the oven – and they will stay moist for 4 to 5 days. No need to even warm them up!
Wondering what the vinegar is for?
Just a touch of vinegar gives baking soda a kick start, the same effect that buttermilk and yoghurt has when used in batters. Useful for muffins to give that dome a boost.
Customise to your hearts’ content
I’ve made Apple Muffins here, but this miracle muffin batter is just waiting for your own add ins! Just add 2 to 2.5 cups of diced fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate or other chips – go wild!
For the fresh fruit, just be sure it’s fruit that won’t bleed too much and become mushy when baked. Some fruits I’ve used that work very well include:
Pears
Mango (though, if like me, you love coconut with mango, give these Coconut Mango Muffins a go!)
Berries – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, mulberries
Strawberries (use small ones)
With the super long shelf life of these Apple Muffins, they are ideal for grab and go snacks, popping into lunch boxes, afternoon teas and just generally devouring on an as-needed basis.
With the sweet little dome, a sparkling sugar crust (if you so choose), tender pieces of apple and a hint of cinnamon fragrance, they look and smell as great as they taste. Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Stay-Fresh Apple Muffins!
Ingredients
- 2 level cups apple pieces (peeled) , 0.7 cm / 1/3" cubes (2 large apples, I use red)
- 1 tbsp melted butter , for muffin tim (or use paper liners)
Wet:
- 115g / 0.5 cup unsalted butter , melted (1 stick)
- 1 cup (200g) brown sugar , packed
- 2/3 cup (165 ml) milk (low fat, full fat, non dairy also fine)
- 1 large egg (approx 60g / 2 oz)
- 1 tsp white vinegar (or any other clear vinegar)
Dry:
- 2 cups (300g) wholemeal flour (wholewheat flour)(white also ok, Note 1)
- 1 tsp baking soda (bi carb) (NOT baking powder)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- Pinch salt
Topping (optional):
- 2 tbsp raw sugar (demerara sugar – large granules)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F.
- Brush a 12 hole, standard muffin tin with melted butter, or line with paper cases. (Note 3)
- Place butter and brown sugar in a bowl, whisk to combine.
- Add milk, then egg and vinegar. Whisk to combine.
- Scatter flour across batter surface, followed by baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk 10 times until the flour is incorporated – some lumps is fine.
- Stir through apple -minimum stirs just to disperse.
- Scoop batter into muffin tin – I use an ice cream scoop – filling it all the way to the top. If using a scooper, leave it the slight ball shape (see video) – don’t smooth the top. You should get 12 (see Note 3).
- Sprinkle with sugar (if using – makes surface slightly crispy), place muffins in the oven.
- Immediately turn down to 180C/350F.
- Bake for 20 minutes (standard) or 18 minutes (fan / convection) , or until a skewer comes out clean.
- Rest in the muffin tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool.
- Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container – it will stay moist for up to 5 days. These also freeze very well.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Muffin Mania
Cornbread Muffins (personal fave?)
Life of Dozer
Couldn’t decide which one to share. Both are classic Life-Of-Dozer moments.
About to make these re flour. All purpose or self raising? Baking soda is this bicarbonate or baking powder? Tks Nagi
All purpose and baking soda is the same as bicarb , will add to the notes!
Hi Beryl! All purpose flour , bi carb 🙂 Added extra notes!
I cooked a batch of these beautiful muffins and they were delicious. I will have to take your word for them being moist after a few days as they were all eaten within the first hour. 😣 I managed to get one before they were all devoured. Thanks for a great recipe.
I think you just need to make them again to test it out!!! 😂
Nagi..these look great! Do you think grating the apple (hiding it from my toddler) would change the result too much?
It will, I’m afraid. It will work, but the muffin ends up much drier. I tried it last year 🙂
Hi nagi I was wondering if you could use other fresh fruits either blueberries strawberries i love your recipes thanks so much
Yes!!! For blueberries reduce down to about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups. For strawberries chop them and you can use the same amount as the apple 🙂 N x
Can I replace the apples with any other fruits?
Absolutely! Any fruit you want! 🙂 N x
Thanks Nagi. As a Brit I suppose I should prefer buns, but must admit that I actually prefer muffins. Great recipe and great timing. Autumn is the time for apples, and I have apples aplenty.
Thanks as always for sharing!
Hope you try it Lincoln! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagie,
Making these now and they smell great. The batter was very thick and wasn’t sure if that was how it was to be as I couldn’t get video to run to see how yours was.
I was laughing at your story of Dozer. I remember having a cook out just with our friends so we took out four huge nice steaks. Seasoned them put them on the table for stuff to go outside. Yep you know my dog grabbed them all and my husband was saying where are the steaks honey.?Omg it was funny but awful. Dogs love cook outs.
Muffins are good but needed like 15 MORE min. In my new stove. Gonna try one green and one red next time. Thanks cause I love to freeze these kinds of goodies. Sandy
Hi Sandy! The batter is definitely thick enough to dollop into the holes, but it should be soft thick, not hard thick. 15 minutes extra?? Woah! Hope they were still moist!! N xx
I can never resist a delicious muffin! These look amazing and our apple tree is in bloom!
It’s meant to be! 🙂 N xx
Apple muffins look delish but the prawns remind me of my most awesome trip ever to South Africa with my best friend. Maybe you could post your recipe for them!!! I enjoy your recipes so thanks for sharing.
I definitely plan to share the prawn recipes! They marinades my mother used were INCREDIBLE!!!
Nagi the Apple is great could I use blueberries?
Thank you keep the great recipes coming.
Linda Knight
Hi Linda! I would reduce down to about 1 1/4 cups if using blueberries, and then it will make 1 muffin less 🙂 (possibly 2 muffins less)
Hi Nagi!
Your apple muffins look delicious!
Using wholewheat flour would make me feel less guilty if I have more than one serving hehe
I love these and all the tips!
So you say prawns in Australia! I learned a new word!
I hope you enjoyed the barbecue with your family and Dozer. I laughed when I read Dozer is attending! Haha
Have a great weekend!
He had a BLAST!!! And oh-so cheekeeeeee…..
Yum they smell delicious can’t wait for them to cool, quick and easy to make, anothe triumph thank you so much your recipes have made cooking a joy again.
Kinda knight
Did you love them, did you love them?? 🙂 N xx
Love them, understatement, gorgeous, tried the blueberry s, delicious tooooo
Thank you
Linda Knight
HIGH FIVE! N x
I Wish I was clever enough to send you a photo of today’s batch of blueberry muffins they are so delicious I’m taking orders for them. Thank you 😊
Just hit REPLY to any new recipe email I send you ! 🙂 N x
Sorry Nagi, I forgot to also ask. What is America’s equivalent for us when they say “light Golden” sugar?
It’s what we call golden sugar! Well, that’s the closest. 🙂 Again, it probably doesn’t really matter in most recipes, but it depends. 🙂
Hi Nagi, A quick one. Do you mean apples .7cm cubes or .7mm.
Also can you give us Aussies the equivalent to America of the various sugars like Demerara, Muscovado and Turbinado as I get very confused. Also, is wholewheat what we call wholemeal, I know all-purpose is plain flour and what do American use for Self-Raising flour is that “cake flour”? I’d appreciate your help in clearing this up for me. Thank you.
We’re going away up the coast again with our caravan this coming week, so would like to try these muffins since they freeze well.
Who is teasing who with Dozer? He’s so gorgeous.
Hi Josephine! Yep is 0.7 cm, not 0.7 mm (that would be tiny tiny!!)! Demerara is sold in Woolies etc but honestly, just use any large granule sugar you can find, or even normal white sugar will work 🙂 Yes wholemeal flour, never even realised I called it wholewheat!!! Self raising flour doesn’t exist in the states, or at least it is not common. 🙂 HAVE FUN ON YOUR TRIP!!! N xx
Looks yummy! I’d like to make this recipe as a breakfast sweet bread. Any idea what the baking temp and time would be? Thanks!
Hi Cathy! Hmm, to be honest I am not sure how this will go made as one big cake, I think it will be better to use the apple cake mixture (it too is a dump-and-mix job) https://www.recipetineats.com/easy-apple-cake-recipe/ Cook it at 180C/350F for 30 minutes covered with foil, then 20 minutes uncovered. 🙂
Thanks Nagi! I’m going to try the apple cake recipe you suggested. Can’t wait to try it!
Wow Nagi, you must be psychic. Apple season is upon us, I’ve been looking for a muffin recipe using apples and it shows up right here in my mail box. Thanks a bunch, these do look spectacular. Demerara sugar is the only ingredient not in my pantry so I’ll sub turbinado instead. And I second the idea of you posting some of the photos of your beach party here for us non Instagram folks to enjoy. Lookin’ forward to seeing them.
Oh, any large grain sugar will work fine!!! I totally failed to take photos because I underestimated how insanely excitable Dozer would be around kids running around, all the beach birds to chase, the surf to dive into and ALL THAT FOOD…. he stole entire hot dogs. I kid you not. He also face planted in someone’s plate of food. NAUGHTY DOZER!!!!!
I was just trying to figure out an apple treat to bring to a church fellowship Sunday, since I went apple picking this week and have tons of them, and look what shows up in my inbox… Perfect! These look delicious and I can’t wait to make them! I am going to have to make a triple batch at least, because I’m sure my family will want to taste test! 🙂
So perfect!!! If scaling up, suggest only making a double batch and cooking in 2 muffin tins at the same time in the oven (don’t leave the mixed batter lying around), then make the 3rd batch separately. Just because 3 trays in the oven is alot, concerned how it might affect the temperature. 🙂
Thanks Nagi! I ended up doing like you said, except I made a double batch twice! Might as well! Then I have some extras to freeze 🙂
By the way, they turned out delicious! I love that they are moist and sweet, but not overly sweet.
OOOH!!!! So glad you loved them Alexis! N xx
Dozer always makes me laugh! Your Dear MUM IS HEART OF GOLD, however in my Family is the same, you simply DO IT YOUR SELF THE LOT, HAIL, RAIN IR SHINE OR EVEN IF YOU PREGNAT, THATS HOW IT IS.SO DO NOT COMPLAIN……. DOZER CAN HELP! Have good W/end and ENJOY FAMILY, LIVE IN MOMENT.!
Te he he! She didn’t complain – and I have to say, she marinated the prawns too and they were EPIC! I’m going to share the recipes here, they were that good 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, thanks for all your beautiful recipes – these look delicious! As a busy mom of three little ones I would love to keep a stash of these in the freezer. Any idea how they would do if baked ahead of time and frozen; and then just defrosted the night before needed?
THEY ARE SO GOOD FROZEN!!! Can’t tell you how many I have in my freezer 🙂 Sorry, I thought I put that in the notes, will add it now! N xx
Looks perfect for fall, I love all those little apple bits you can see. And poor Dozer, haha! He must think you’re torturing him when you’re working.
Now now let’s not feel too sorry for him…. he lives a pretty cushy life!!