Apple Butter Muffins
on Sep 29, 2016, Updated Jan 10, 2022
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Apple Butter Muffins are our newest creation using one of our favorite gifts of fall, apple butter. This past weekend, I was a man on a mission. I wanted to see if we could spend the entire time at our weekend lake cottage without going out to eat.
Apple Butter Muffins
Although to most this may not sound like too much of a challenge to you, some of our favorite restaurants are located in the vicinity our little oasis in the middle of Nowhere, WI. They call out to us like the Sirens call out to sailors. If it’s a weekend, it is not uncommon to find us at the farmers market or enjoying a glass of wine at one of the local establishments.
I vowed to make this weekend different. I was going to feed our four youngest kids, Dan, and myself breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 3 days for $75.00, total. The only problem was that I forgot all about dessert. So I did what I normally do and “shopped” our cupboards at the cottage and discovered a lovely jar of apple butter that Dan brought back from Mennonite country in Wellesley, Ontario, during a family reunion this summer. So with a dash here and a pinch there, I created these delicious Apple Butter Muffins.
Under normal circumstances I probably would have had a brownie mix hidden away at the cottage, but not this weekend. Because of this, I was forced to think outside of the box, the brownie box that is :).
While I am not a baker, I do have some basic knowledge of how baking works. Using some common ingredients, butter, flour, eggs, sugar, baking powder, apple butter and some spices, we made our first batch of Apple Butter Muffins.
Now, we have all heard the saying that beauty is only skin deep, right? Well, deliciousness runs all the way through this recipe. While this cupcake is not a traditional beauty, because they did not rise as much as I wanted them to, they were almost alarmingly delicious, in spite of their appearance.
The entire family got into the swing of things and tried to figure out how to “pretty” them up. It was our son Joe that made the suggestion to garnish with a little more apple butter and some oats, which was a great idea for our Apple Butter Muffins. Not only did they look great, they tasted even better.
I learned a valuable lesson today in the kitchen. Even though my muffins weren’t the world’s prettiest cup, they were delicious. You can’t judge a book by its cover. These sweet and savory fall treats have a wonderful crisp and chewy top. But on the inside, they are moist and flavorful. Do yourself a favor and make my Apple Butter Muffins for your family. You will love them just like my family did. Enjoy-Scott
Other delicious muffin recipes
- Pumpkin Chia Muffins Recipe (All Natural)
- Easy Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
- Pretzel Muffins with Chocolate Chips
Apple Butter Muffins
Ingredients
For the Muffins
- 1/2 Cup Softened Butter
- 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 1/2 Cup Flour
- 1 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 Cup milk
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 3/4 cup Apple Butter
- 2 Tablespoon Cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon Cloves
For the Strussel Topping
- 1/4 Cup Softened Butter
- 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Oatmeal
- 1/4 Cup Flour
- 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
Instructions
- Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease cupcake pan or use cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl cream butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar together until butter and sugar are incorporated.
- Add eggs and milk and mix only until the mixture becomes looser.
- Add baking powder.
- Add flour a little at a time and stir each time to incorporate.
- Add cinnamon, cloves and apple butter and combine until batter is smooth. Do not over stir.
- Fill batter in a cupcake pan only halfway up each cupcake liner.
- Set aside.
- Strussel top:
- In a bowl add all ingredients.
- Using your hands combine until the mixture is "lumpy". You may need to add more flour to accomplish this.
- Place a little of the topping on each of the cupcakes before baking.
- Bake in preheated oven for approximately 25-30 minutes. Cupcakes are done when you can insert a toothpick in the center and it removes clean.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are delicious without the streusel to reduce calories and sugar! I did think 2 tablespoons of cinnamon sounded overpowering and cut down to a scant 1 tablespoon, as well as a scant teaspoon of cloves, which is perfect for my taste. I had pear butter as a Christmas gift and of course it was great; looking forward to apple butter next time. I cut the white sugar a bit and will reduce further because they are very sweet. I will be serving these to guests at a salad luncheon and making them again!
Too much cloves and cinnamon!!! Quantity of streusel is too much!
Annoyed that ALL of the other comments are 5 stars from people who say it’s a good idea or sounds delicious… but didn’t make the muffins. I come to the comments to make sure a recipe actually works. Do you just have a bunch of friends who don’t actually cook? Not cool.
Dear Muffins
Scott made the muffins. They are a good idea. They are delicious. The recipe works because Scott make it and I took the photos for it. Save your Karen comments for someone else and, be cool.
Scanned the net looking for a way to use up a jar of apple butter since I don’t each much bread & came across this and LOVE them! I prefer these muffins to the bars because they are easier for me to freeze and snack on when craving sweets. LOVED this “Karen” reply. Just snarky enough. Happy Holidays!
It’s like I’ve died and gone to fall heaven! These apple butter muffins were crazy good! Awesome job 🙂 Thank you for this recipe!
Sometimes the best tastings things don’t look good. These look delicious though. That lump of gooey in the middle has me licking my fingers.
Loving these muffins, my favourite cake involves apple so know these would taste amazing:-)
Oh, Wow! Apple butter in a muffin!!! I’m ready for it!
Love the idea of using apple butter in the muffins. What a lovely muffin and I can’t wait to give it a try.
Lol.. my mom always has brownie mix boxes in her cabinet for just such an emergency! But these look even yummier– YUMMMM