Apple cream cheese muffins fold chopped apple into a one-bowl batter and hide a soft cream cheese center. They taste like fall without a specialty grocery run if you already have a couple of apples on the counter.
Use whatever apple is hanging around. Softer apples melt into the crumb. Firmer ones stay in little bites. Beautifully Chaotic Life cares more about empty fruit drawers than perfect dice.
Pear works for apple. The cream cheese filling is a small bowl, not a project.
Yield: 12 muffins · Time: 20 min prep · 18-22 min bake
Ingredients
Batter
- 2 cups (240 g) flour
- ¾ cup (150 g) sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) oil
- ¾ cup (180 ml) milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1½ cups finely diced apple (about 2 small)
Filling
- 4 oz cream cheese soft
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
Steps
- Heat the oven to 375°F. Line or grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Peel and dice the apple into small pieces.
- Stir the batter ingredients in one bowl until just combined. Fold in the diced apple.
- Mix the cream cheese filling until smooth. Fill cups halfway, add a spoon of filling, top with batter.
- Bake 17 to 21 minutes until golden and set. Cool briefly before removing from the tin.
Use-what-you-have swaps
- Pear for apple
- Greek yogurt for a few tablespoons of the milk for tang
- Skip the filling and bake as straight apple muffins if cream cheese is gone
- Add a crumb top: 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, pinch cinnamon
- Mini muffins: bake 10 to 12 minutes
- Dairy-free cream cheese if that is your house
Tips from a real kitchen
- Dice apple small so muffins bake through. Big chunks leave wet pockets.
- Fill cups halfway, dollop filling, cover with batter. Exposed filling can scorch.
- Do not overmix once flour goes in. Streaks of flour are better than tough muffins.
- Cool a few minutes in the tin so they set before you twist them out.
Make-ahead
Batter is best baked fresh. Baked muffins keep covered at room temperature 2 days or fridge 4 days. Freeze up to 2 months. Thaw on the counter or microwave 15 seconds. Pack in lunchboxes with a cold pack if your climate is warm.
Serve and store
Warm with coffee. Split and butter. For a brunch tray, dust with powdered sugar right before serving so it does not melt into the tops.
If it goes sideways
- **Filling sinks to the bottom:** Batter was too thin or cups were underfilled under the dollop. Thicker batter and a firmer cream cheese mix help.
- **Dry muffins:** Overbaked or apple pieces too sparse. Check at 17 minutes.
- **Stuck liners:** Let them cool longer, or grease the tin without liners next time.
Photo/Image credit: Pexels via Pexels (Apple muffins) (Pexels License (free to use))
Photo: Beautifully Chaotic Life (original illustrative image). Beautifully Chaotic Life created this image for the post.
