Oh, these Apple Cider Muffins! Soft, spiced, and baked with reduced apple cider. While still warm, they are finished with a crisp, cider-butter cinnamon sugar coating for that donut crunch. Perfect for breakfast, snacking or as a fall treat.
I'll be honest, that my son usually insist that a proper muffin must contain chocolate chips, just like my sour cream chocolate chip muffins, or banana chocolate chunk muffins. So these Apple Cider Muffins are a rare exception. And I think that that cinnamon-sugar donut crust makes him forget the chocolate.
Jump to:
Ingredients and substitutions
This is the ingredients overview, you can find ingredients quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- For apple cider reduction: It is best to use unfiltered, old-fashioned, apple cider (the cloudy kind found at refrigerated produce section or local orchard). The pulp will give your muffins a deep flavor that you cannot replicate with apple juice.
- For muffins: You will need flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt, regular sugar, brown sugar, eggs, oil, sour cream, vanilla extract, and apple cider reduction.
- For sugar cinnamon donut coating: You will need unsalted butter, cinnamon and granulated sugar.
Substitutions:
- Milk in place of sour cream: If you have just milk at home, you can use ⅓ cup of milk, plus 2 teaspoons of baking powder and omit the baking soda. Baking soda is needed only when sour cream or Greek yogurt is used.
- Butter in place of oil: You can use canola, vegetable or olive oil. If you want to use butter in place of oil, melt 8 tablespoon of unsalted butter, let it cool slightly and whisk it with the rest of wet ingredients.
How to make Apple Cider muffins
This is a step-by-step recipe overview. See recipe card for detailed instructions.
- Pour 2 cups of apple cider in a small saucepan. Let it simmer on medium-low for about 30 minutes until you have ¼ cup left. Let it cool down until warm or room temperature.
- In the first large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
- In the second large bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, oil, sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Add cooled down reduced apple cider. Whisk until well combined.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use a silicone spatula to mix the batter just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter between 12 muffing cups. This recipe makes 12-13 standard muffins.
- Bake muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F, reduce to 350°F and bake for another 13-15 minutes. The muffins are cooked when the toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
- Let muffins cool down in a pan for 5 minutes.
- Set up a bowl with melted butter and a bowl with whisked sugar and cinnamon.
- Dip each muffin top into melted butter, followed by cinnamon sugar. Set coated muffin on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat the process with the rest of the muffins.
mistakes to avoid
There are a few things that can go wrong with this muffins and you can easily avoid them.
Mistake 1. Baking at 350°F for the whole duration will result in flat domes.
How to fix? Start at 425°F for first 5 minutes , then lower oven temperature to 350°F without opening the oven door. bake them at 425°F for 5 minutes. The initial heat shock will push the batter upward into tall, rounded bakery-style tops. (image 1)
Mistake 2. Dipping muffins into melted butter and cinnamon-sugar immediately after pulling them out of the oven. Hot steam melts the sugar instantly into a wet glaze.
How to fix? Let baked muffins rest for 5 minutes for the beautiful crisp apple-cinnamon tops.
Recipe Tips
- For best results, measure the ingredients using the kitchen scale.
- It is best to use unfiltered apple cider.
- Do not overmix the batter, it may remain with a few small lumps.
- For higher domes, bake at 425°F for the first 5 minutes.
Variations
So far, I have tested only one variation for this recipe. I have tried adding shredded apples to the batter. I recommend trying it as see if you like it.
My husband and my son voted for no grated apples version, while I absolutely loved them with apples. They come out super moist, and the apple shreds melt in your mouth after baking.
You simple shred 2 apples on a coarser side of a box grater. Use your hands to squeeze excess juice and fold the apples into the batter.
📖 Recipe
Apple Cider Muffins
Equipment
- 1 small saucepan
- 2 large bowls
- 1 standard 12-muffin pan
- 1 Whisk
Ingredients
Apple Cider Reduction Ingredients
- 2 cups (475 ml) unfiltered apple cider
Muffins Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (75 grams) light or dark brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (120 ml) canola oil or vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup (80 grams) full fat sour cream or Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120 ml) reduced apple cider
- 1 (optional) large apple, grated
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Coating
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
Apple Cider Reduction Instructions
- In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of unfiltered apple cider to a boil. Turn the heat to medium or medium-low and gently simmer it until reduced to about ½ cup. It should thicken and look darker. Mine took 30 minutes. Cool it down to room temperature, slightly warm is OK. You can make the reduction the day before. Tip: Before boiling, I like to pour exactly ½ cups of water to the saucer pan and look at where the water line hits. Pour out the water out and pour your 2 cups of apple cider.
Muffins Instructions
- Preheat oven to 420°F. Line the muffin tin with paper muffin liners or grease it well with neutral oil.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk 2 cups of flour, 1½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon allspice and ½ salt.
- In a second mixing bowl, add 2 eggs, ½ cup of granulated sugar. ⅓ cup of brown sugar, ⅓ cup of sour cream.Whisk until well combined and sugars are almost dissolved. Pour in ½ cup of reduced apple cider. Whisk again until combined.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients.Using a spatula fold, gently fold the batter until just combined and no flour streaks visible. Do not overmix. Optional add-in: If you like more texture and moisture in muffins, grate one large apple (Granny Smith, Gala or other) on medium side of a box shredder. Squeeze out the extra juice, and fold it into the batter.
- Divide batter evenly into 12muffin cups Bake at 425°F. for 5 minutes, reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for another 13-15 minutes, until the toothpick comes out clean and the internal temperature reaches 200°F.
- Cool muffins in a pan for 5 minutes.Meanwhile prepare the sugar cinnamon coating.
- Brush or dip warm tops inn melted butter, then roll it right away generously in cinnamon sugar for a crunchy topping. Repeat with the rest of the muffins.Store these muffins at room temperature for1-3 days in an airtight container.
Cinnamon Sugar Donut Coating Instructions
- Add butter to the small or bowl (muffin should fit in it). Melt butter in a microwave.In second small or medium bowl, add ½ cup of granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon. Whisk well to combine
Comments
No Comments