These apple crumb muffins are soft, moist, and fluffy stuffed with small chunks of fresh apples, flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg and topped with a crumb topping and homemade salted caramel sauce drizzle.
80grams¼ cup + 1 tablespoon eggs (about two whole eggs)
256grams1 cup granny smith apples, very small dice
½teaspoonnutmeg
1 ½teaspoonscinnamon
zest from whole small lemon and juice from half a small lemon
Streusel Topping
¼cupunsalted buttercool
⅛teaspoonsalt
1 ½teaspoonscinnamon
½cupall-purpose flour
¼cupbrown sugar
¼cupgranulated sugar
½teaspoonnutmeg
Instructions
Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside. Begin to cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about five minutes.
Wash and peel the apples. Cut into a very small dice, almost like a mince. Add the apples to a bowl of apple juice, pineapple juice or lemon juice/water solution to prevent browning if you need a bit of prep time. Set aside.
Add the sour cream, vanilla extract and eggs into the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined. Then, add in the lemon zest, lemon juice and diced apples (drain the juice or water out if you placed the apples in them) and mix until just combined. The mixture may appear like it's breaking, but that's normal since it's all wet ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients all at once. Fold in gently until just combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, take the batter out of the fridge and let it thaw at room temperature for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a medium-sized ice cream scoop to scoop out 1 ½ scoops of batter into a well-greased muffin liner. Continue to do so until you use up all the batter into 12 liners. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the streusel ingredients and use a pastry blender or your hands to combine the butter with the rest of the ingredients until the mixture looks like wet sand.
Sprinkle some of the streusel topping over each muffin. Tap the pan on the countertop to allow excess air to escape.
Place the pan in the preheated oven and turn the temperature to 325°F and bake for 20-25 minutes. 22 minutes was perfect for me, but check at 20 minutes with a toothpick. It should come out with a few moist crumbs. Take the pan out of the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the pan for five minutes.
Take the muffins out of the pan and allow them to cool for a few more minutes on a wire rack. This is optional, but you can drizzle some salted caramel sauce over the top of each muffin.