Why Should You Make This Recipe?
This easy recipe is a wonderful addition to my foolproof Almond Flour Desserts collection. If you have under an hour of free time, these paleo almond cinnamon muffins are a delicious and easy way to celebrate the fall season, one muffin at a time!
- Visually Impressive: These Almond Flour Apple Muffins are picture-perfect treats that will have all your guests fooled as to just how easy they are to make and decorate!
- Minimally Sweetened: The natural sweetness of the apples and maple syrup means that there is no refined sugar in these healthy apple muffins.
- In Season: These delicious muffins are an easy way to bake with the in-season apples you pick this time of year! Seasoned with a hint of cinnamon and that natural apple flavor, this fall treat will warm you up on the inside.
- Quick Clean Up: This recipe only requires one large bowl, one small bowl, and one whisk, so no long and tedious clean up afterwards. Just one more thing that makes this recipe so easy!
- Paleo, Gluten Free and Dairy-free: These apple muffins are paleo friendly and gluten free, so you can meet many dietary restrictions in group settings with just one simple recipe.
Table of Contents
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Ingredients:
These Almond Flour Apple Muffins only require 12 simple ingredients, many of which you likely already have in your pantry.
Gather your almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, ground cinnamon, eggs, maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract, apple slices, and chopped walnuts.
Helpful Ingredient Notes including Substitutions:
- Oil: I recommend using vegetable oil or melted coconut oil, but don’t use olive oil for this recipe!
- Almond Flour: This recipe calls for almond flour, although you can use almond meal interchangeably. Almond meal is a bit thicker than almond flour, but either creates a smooth textured muffin. Don’t have access to almond flour? No problem, follow my recipe for a simple DIY almond meal or almond flour at home.
- Apples: Any of your favorite juicy apples will work in this recipe. My personal favorites are Gala Apples or Honeycrisp Apples, but if you prefer a more sour apple, Granny Smith Apples or Pink Lady Apples are great alternatives. You can also do a mix and match with different apples to get a balance of sweet, sour and tart!
- Slicing Apples: When preparing your apples of choice, it is important to slice them very thinly with a mandoline or a knife. Slicing thinly and evenly will ensure that they cook completely and thoroughly. If you are baking for younger children, or just prefer smaller pieces, you can cut your apple slices in half.
- Maple Syrup: Pure maple syrup and agave nectar can be used interchangeably, depending on your taste preference and availability!
How to Make?
This paleo apple muffin recipe takes just a few steps from start to finish and is completed in just under an hour. Because of how easy these are to prepare, you can make these in advance to enjoy throughout the week, or as a spontaneous treat on the weekend!
- Dry Ingredients: Measure out and add your dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix together until completely combined.
- Wet Ingredients: Measure out and ddd your wet ingredients to a separate bowl and whisk until completely combined.
- Combine: Simply pour your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until all the ingredients are fully combined.
- Add Apples: Gently fold in the thinly sliced apple pieces into the muffin batter just until combined.
- Pour into Muffin Tins: Divide batter into your prepared muffin pan. Make sure you have 12 equally filled muffin tins with the apple pieces dispersed evenly.
- Decorate: Although this step is optional, it creates for beautifully decorated apple almond muffins. Thinly slice half an apple (again, your choice of apple) and lay three slices on top of each muffin. Each apple slice can slightly overlap to create a fan effect for an additional visual appeal.
- Add chopped walnuts: For an additional texture and nutty flavor, add a small handful of chopped walnuts onto each muffin as well.
- Bake: Bake your muffins at 325 degrees F for 35 minutes, or until the tops of your muffins turn golden brown. Allow your muffins to cool completely, at least 30 minutes in the tin or on a cooling rack, before enjoying!
How To Serve:
- Enjoy these gluten-free apple muffins with your morning coffee or tea, or serve with my Homemade Almond Milk on any brisk day this fall!
- If you cannot get enough of apple goodness, try serving it with a few tablespoons of my unsweetened applesauce on the side.
How to Store, Freeze & Thaw
The best part about these paleo apple cinnamon muffins is that they store and freeze well. Simply follow the steps below for delicious apple muffins every time:
- To Store: This recipe makes 12 apple almond muffins that can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature, or up to 5 days in the refrigerator. If you keep it in the fridge, warm them in a low-heat (250 degrees F oven) for 5 minutes before serving.
- To Freeze: You can freeze these muffins for up to one month after making them. Allow the baked muffins to reach room temperature before placing them into the freezer.
- To Thaw: Once you are ready to enjoy the muffins, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes before baking at 250 degrees F for 5-8 minutes, or until they are warmed through.
Expert Tips
- Slicing Apples: If you own a mandoline, this is a great time to use it to thinly slice your apples. Big apple chunks will not work for this recipe, as they will not bake thoroughly and evenly. If you are looking to purchase a mandoline, I suggest this mandoline. Of course, you can always use a knife to slice your apples.
- Muffin Tin Liners: I love using parchment paper muffin liners for all of my muffins. If you use parchment paper muffin liners (affiliate link), you do not need to grease your muffin tins. However, if you use regular paper liners, I recommend greasing your tins so that your liners do not stick and result in messy clean up.
- Wet Ingredients: I suggest having your wet ingredients at room temperature so that you can develop a velvety smooth muffin batter and evenly baked paleo almond meal muffins.
- Do not skip on cooling: While I know that it is hard to wait, do not skip on the cooling process. These almond apple muffins need at least 20-30 minutes to cool for best results.
- Apples & Maple Syrup: As I mentioned above, you can use your own preference of apples, or a mix of different types of apples like tart apples and sour apples. However, if you are using sweet apples, you can decrease the amount of maple syrup that you use so that your muffins are not overly sweet. Start with using two tablespoons of less maple syrup and go from there.
- Decoration: The decoration on top is optional, but it is very simple to achieve and beautiful at the end!
- Coconut Flour: Do not replace your almond flour with coconut flour, as the batter consistency will be off and it will not work for this recipe.
Similar Gluten Free Muffins You Might Like:
If you enjoyed these apple muffins with almond flour, here are a few other paleo and gluten-free almond flour muffins recipes you might like:
- Pumpkin Almond Flour Muffins
- Almond Flour Zucchini Muffins
- No Flour Blueberry Muffins
- Easy Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins Recipe
- Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes
- Need more inspiration? Check out our collection of naturally sweetened desserts and muffin recipes.
Other Apple Recipes You Might Like:
- Healthy Apple Crumble Recipe
- Apple Roses Recipe
- Apple Cinnamon Oats
- Healthy Overnight Muesli
- Healthy Apple Salad
- Layered Apple Appetizer
Almond Flour Apple Muffins Recipe
Yields: 12 muffins
These gluten-free and paleo Almond Flour Apple Muffins are perfect for the chilly mornings of autumn to accompany your coffee. Naturally sweetened with maple syrup and apples, they are a healthier alternative to muffins made with granulated sugar.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour (8.4 oz.)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Wet Ingredients:
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup +2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil melted and cooled (avocado and grapeseed oil would also work)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Add Ins and Toppings:
- 1 apple Medium sized & Thinly sliced + more as garnish
- ½ cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with parchment liners.
- Mix almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon in a bowl until no lumps remain.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla extract on a bowl until emulsified.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until fully combined.
- Fold in the sliced apples.
- Divide the batter evenly in the muffin tin.
- If preferred, top each muffin with 3 slices of apples (like I did in the pictures) and sprinkle them with walnuts.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the top of the muffins turn golden brown.
- Let it cool for 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Apples: Any of your favorite juicy apples will work in this recipe. My personal favorites are Gala Apples or Honeycrisp Apples, but if you prefer a more sour apple, Granny Smith Apples or Pink Lady Apples are great alternatives. You can also do a mix and match with different apples to get a balance of sweet, sour, and tart.
- Slicing Apples: If you own a mandoline, this is a great time to use it to thinly slice your apples. Big apple chunks will not work for this recipe, as they will not bake thoroughly and evenly. If you are looking to purchase a mandoline, I suggest this one. Of course, you can always use a knife to slice your apples.
- Muffin Tin Liners: I love using parchment paper muffin liners for all of my muffins. If you use parchment paper muffin liners, you do not need to grease your muffin tins. However, if you use regular paper liners, I recommend greasing your tins so that your liners do not stick and result in messy clean up.
- Wet Ingredients: I suggest having your wet ingredients at room temperature so that you can develop a velvety smooth muffin batter and evenly baked paleo almond meal muffins.
- Apples & Maple Syrup: As I mentioned above, you can use your own preference of apples, or a mix of different types of apples like tart apples and sour apples. However, if you are using sweet apples, you can decrease the amount of maple syrup that you use so that your muffins are not overly sweet. Start with using two tablespoons of less maple syrup and go from there.
Nutrition
Calories: 229kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 195mg | Potassium: 84mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 69IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 86mg | Iron: 1mg
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Jacquie
These are fantastic, light and so tasty. I used grapeseed oil and I am going to make these on a regular basis as I have Celiac Disease and my grandson is dairy intolerant. Perfect Thankyou. Weighing my flours has also changed my baking for the better 😊
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Jacquie,
We love these apple muffins too. Apples work so well with almond flour 🙂 I hope you try some of the other almond flour recipes we have on the site.
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to leave a review.
Cheers,
Ice
Annette
Please note that some of the comments below are for a different recipe than currently listed. I find it hard to scoop batter with sliced apples into muffin tins. Would be better to chop part of the apples and add to batter and then slice some for the top. Still baking so we’ll see how they turn out but getting them into the tins was a mess because i ended up having to separate out the batter laden slices to make sure each muffin had apples in it.
Jaya
This recipe sounds fantastic . Is it possible to use Date syrup instead of Maple syrup ? If yes then how much would the quantity be ?
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Jaya,
To tell you the truth, I have never used date syrup. However, a quick search revealed that it can be used interchangeably with maple syrup.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you try it. Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can find some and try it myself.
Thanks for coming by.
taylor
are the nutrition facts for the whole recipe or just one serving? love this recipe and have made it multiple times now!!! just delicious.
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Taylor,
They are just one serving. I am happy to hear that you like this recipe. It is a favorite in our house too. 🙂
Leacy Tucker
FABULOUS! The only change I made was to use pears instead of apples simply because I have a pear tree. These were DELISH!!!!!! BTW some people mention the recipe previously used applesauce. I made the recipe that had no applesauce mentioned. I even put the pears and walnuts on top like the picture, so pretty! I just used a knife to slice. The muffins had a lovely texture. I baked at 310 in a convection oven for 32 minutes. PERFECT! I would absolutely make these again!
Aysegul Sanford
I love this so much. I will try with pears this weekend. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review Leacy.
Julie
These muffins look delicious! I’m wondering if grating the apples and folding them into the batter would work rather than thinly slicing? I like the sliced apples as garnish, but feel I would prefer grated apple in the muffin. Your thoughts?
Aysegul Sanford
I have not tried that but I think it would still work.
The only thing I would caution you on is to make sure you do not put the juices of the apples into the muffin batter.
Hope this helps.
Liis Tuulberg
Hello,
I just returned to this recipe to remake our autumn favourite and it seems you have modified the recipe and lost the applesauce and grated apples and…I don’t remember what else. What a shame as these muffins were so-so juicy and delicious. Could you post the old recipe as a reply to my comments? I am super sad… 🙁
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Liis,
After I received a few emails from some readers saying that they can’t find buckwheat flour I decided to change the recipe. But don’t be sad, I am sharing it below:
Ingredients:
* 1 cup rolled oats GF certified – I used Trader Joe’s brand
* 1 cup almond flour/meal
* 2/3 cup buckwheat flour *1
* 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder corn or potato starch would work as well
* 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
* ½ teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon more for sprinkling in the end
* ½ teaspoon sea salt
* 10 fresh Medjool dates pitted and chopped
* 2/3 cup unsweetened fat-free plain yogurt at room temperature
* 1/3 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
* 3 large eggs at room temperature
* 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce divided *2
* 3 medium size apples peeled and cored – divided
Instructions:
* Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin time lightly with oil spray and fill each cup with muffin liners.
* Place rolled oats in the bowl of a food processor and process until it is fine, 45-50 seconds. Add in the almond flour, buckwheat flour, arrowroot powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Pulse 6-7 times to make sure that they are completely mixed. Transfer the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Wipe the bowl of the food processor with a paper towel. Do not wash.
* Place the dates, yogurt, coconut oil, eggs, and 1/3 cup of the applesauce in the bowl of your food processor. Process until smooth, 40-50 seconds. You may have to stop the food processor and scrape the bottom of the bowl a few times to ensure that the dates are not sticking to each other.
* Gently fold in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
* Grate 2 of the apples and fold them (with their juices) into the batter. Slice the third apple thinly and set aside.
* Drop a heaping tablespoon of the muffin batter into each muffin tin. Divide the rest of the reserved applesauce amongst 12 muffin tins (each should be around 1-teaspoon applesauce). Cover each muffin tin with the rest of the batter.
* Top each muffin batter with 3 thin slices of apples. Gently press them down.
* Sprinkle each muffin with a little bit of cinnamon.
* Bake for 20-22 minutes.
* Let them cool for at least an hour before serving.
Michelle
Hello. I have a grain free diet so is it alright to sub buckwheat flakes for the rolled oats? Thanks and greetings from Greece
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Michelle,
I have never tried this recipe with buckwheat flakes. Honestly, I have never tried buckwheat flakes. However, I think its worth a try. Since we already use buckwheat flour in the recipe, I’d say give it a go.
I hope this helps. Greetings to you from Vermont.
Cheers!
Lulu
Hello! Can I replace coconut oil with other types of oil? like olive oil?
Aysegul Sanford
Yes, you can. Though I would pick one that doesn’t have a strong taste.
Hope this helps.
Gayle
This recipe turned out great, light and fluffy. I was surprised the applesauce in the middle did not cause the muffins to fall apart. It was delicious, I did put walnuts on top also, next time I might just put in batter. Husband thought chocolate chips maybe also. Thank you!
Aysegul Sanford
So happy to hear that Gayle. I love the idea of adding chocolate chips too. I need to try that next time.
Thanks for stopping by. Cheers!
Suzy
Such a good recipe! Loved these muffins.
Aysegul Sanford
So glad you liked it Suzy. Thanks for stopping by.
Sommer
Love that I can feel good about feeding these for my kids!
Aysegul Sanford
Exactly. I hope they liked it as much as we did. Thanks SOmmer.
Lindsay Cotter
These muffins are so delicious! Love that they’re naturally sweetened.
Aysegul Sanford
YAY! So happy to hear that you liked them Lindsay.
Julie
Delicious and pretty, the best combination for a muffin!
Aysegul Sanford
So happy to hear that you liked it Julie. Cheers!
Tanya Schroeder
I love the simple ingredients, I bet they taste amazing!
Aysegul Sanford
They sure are. Thanks Tanya.
Liz
I need to watch my sugar intake, especially with breakfast! I loved how these muffins were just right….not too sweet and very tasty! Plus they were gorgeous!!
Aysegul Sanford
Same here. So happy that you liked these Liz. Thanks for coming by.
Riz
Looks yummy! Wondering if I can I use tapioca flour instead of arrowroot starch? And wondering if it’s okay to use dairy free milk instead of yogurt! 🙂 Thanks!
Aysegul Sanford
Hi Riz,
Though I have never tried, I think you can substitute tapioca flour with arrowroot starch. However, you do need yogurt for this recipe. Again, I didn’t try it but I would recommend swapping regular yogurt with plant based yogurt like almond milk yogurt or coconut yogurt.
I hope these help. Let me know how they turn out.
Cheers!
Helena
These look so good! Will have to make them soon. Remind me of autumn, even thought it’s getting summer over here. Still, they seem perfect for breakfast 🙂
Allegra
I baked them last sunday. They are great!! I think this one might be my new favorite muffin recipe 🙂
Beeta @ Mon Petit Four
These are so gorgeous, Aysegul! I love the way you placed the apple slices on top, and that crumbly topping… le sigh <3
Aysegul Sanford
Ha ha.. I love the “le sigh” :))
I am so happy to hear that you liked it Beeta. These muffins are my favorite. Hope all is well.
Cheers!
Gabriella @ Putumayo Kitchen
These look so beautiful …I love how those apples look so delicate on top! We have apples in abundance here right now from our tree in the garden, so I shall definitely be bookmarking this as one to make! Thanks for sharing :), Gabriella
Aysegul Sanford
Thank you Gabriella. This muffin is my absolute favorite apple muffin.
Cheers!