Bakery style gluten free apple crumb muffins are topped with brown sugar crumbs and chock full of apples and cinnamon.
I'm not usually a muffin person. Sure, I like them okay. But I almost feel half the time that muffins are just a cupcake without frosting. Am I right? They're mostly just an excuse to eat a cupcake for breakfast and call it a day!
But a handful of muffins still capture my taste buds, and these gluten free apple crumb muffins are counted in that tally. They're big. They're chock FULL of apples. And they're LOADED with a brown sugar-y crumb topping!
Gluten Free Apple Crumb Muffins Ingredients
- Kim's gluten free flour blend--or you can use a store bought blend, such as Cup4Cup.
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon
- Sugar--granulated sugar for the muffin batter, brown sugar for the crumb topping
- Eggs
- Buttermilk or milk
- Oil--canola, vegetable, or coconut oil (melted) will work here
- Vanilla extract
- Diced apples--use any kind of apple you have on hand.
- Butter--for the crumb topping
No Mixer Required
Though nearly everything I make uses a stand mixer, it's actually in the best interest of muffins to NOT use a mixer. We really don't want to overmix the batter. I like the fact that I can use a bowl, a wooden spoon, and some gentle stirring to produce the best gf muffins around!
Stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients, followed by the diced apples. Stir just until combined. No need to go crazy with the elbow grease.
Make the Crumb Topping
I like the way using brown sugar with apples lends to caramel-like flavors, so I've replaced the usual granulated sugar in my crumb topping with brown sugar. Toss together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon until well combined. Cut in the butter until large crumbs form. You may need to squeeze the mixture between your fingers to get large chunks.
Jumbo Gluten Free Apple Crumb Muffins
When I eat a muffin, I want it to be substantial. How about you? If I'm going to use the calories, they may as well be worth it. Haha! I LOVE using these (affiliate link) jumbo-sized muffin pans to make these muffins more hearty. You'll also need jumbo muffin liners (affiliate link) OR you can check out my gluten free bakery style blueberry muffins for a parchment paper alternative.
Regular Sized Gluten Free Apple Crumb Muffins
If you're not into a jumbo muffin, or don't have jumbo muffin pans and don't want to buy them, no worries!! You can easily make these into standard-sized muffins by using a regular muffin pan and lining with standard cupcake liners. Bake them for the initial 5 minutes at a higher temp, but then reduce the rest of the baking time to 20-22 minutes.
How to Get High Rising Muffins
When I first made my gluten free bakery style blueberry muffins, I based the recipe off a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. In it, she states she fills her batter all the way to the top of the muffin pans AND starts baking the muffins at a high temperature.
Doing these two tricks results in the highest, tallest muffins ever! Fill each muffin well all the way to the top with batter (even a little higher would be fine). Sprinkle on the crumbs and press lightly so they'll adhere. Set your initial oven temp to 475 degrees F and bake the muffins for 5 minutes. Turn down the oven temp and continue to bake for 30 minutes (for jumbo) or 20-22 minutes (for standard size).
Perfect for the fall (or any time), these gluten free apple crumb muffins are easy and can be in the oven in minutes. They're full of yummy apples and have a wonderful crumb topping that's sweet and crunchy!
Gluten Free Apple Crumb Muffins
Ingredients
Muffin Batter
- 3 cups (420 g) Kim's gluten free flour blend (or any blend containing xanthan gum)
- 4 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1½ cups (360 ml) buttermilk (milk or dairy-free milk may be substituted)
- ½ cup (120 ml) canola or vegetable oil (melted coconut oil may be substituted)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups apples, peeled and diced to ¼-inch size (any apples will work, but I like Rome or golden delicious)
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup (100 g) lightly packed light brown sugar
- ¾ cup (105 g) Kim's gluten free flour blend (or any blend containing xanthan gum)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 tbsp (85 g) butter, softened
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475° F.
- Make the crumb topping. Toss the sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut in the butter chunks until large crumbs form. Place the bowl in the fridge while you make the batter.
- Line muffin cups with muffin liners or parchment paper squares (or spray the muffin wells with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients, including the sugar.
- In a large liquid measuring cup, add the buttermilk (or milk), oil, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients, followed by the diced apples.
- Stir everything to combine. Don't overmix.
- Using a large scoop or spoon, fill the muffin wells all the way to the top with batter. If making jumbo muffins, this will be about one cup EACH! (I use two large scoops to fill one jumbo well).
- Sprinkle the tops with crumbs, pressing the crumbs lightly to adhere.
- Bake at 475° F for 5 minutes. Turn down the oven temperature to 375° F and continue to bake for another 30 minutes for jumbo muffins or 20-22 minutes for standard-sized muffins, or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool for an additional 10-15 minutes before serving warm or at room temperature.
- Muffins will last for a few days at room temperature in a covered container, or may be frozen for up to 3 months by wrapping individually in plastic wrap and storing in a large ziptop bag.
Pete jibb
Found my error. I used your bread flour blend rather than the one posted. I feel like such a dope.
Kim
Accidents happen. Don't beat yourself up. I've done it before and I'm sure it won't be the last time for me 😊
Pete jibb
Not sure what happened. I substituted coconut oil and coconut milk for the recipe and the muffins came out dripping with oil. The x-large muffins actually had a layer of grease remaining in the bottom of the muffin tin. I followed the recipe exactly and checked measurements twice. Any ideas?