These tender and moist gluten-free apple muffins are made with almond flour and shredded apple, and the crunchy paleo streusel on top is my favorite part.
Table of Contents
- Why these gluten-free apple muffins work
- Ingredient substitutions
- Tips on how to make these paleo apple muffins
- Ingredients
- How to make apple muffins with paleo streusel topping
- How to store apple muffins
- Apple muffin FAQs
- Do I need to peel the apple?
- What kind of apples work best?
- Why did my muffins sink in the middle?
- Can I make the streusel ahead of time?
- Are these muffins dairy-free?
- More gluten-free fall desserts
- Gluten-Free Apple Muffins with Paleo Streusel Topping Recipe
Why these gluten-free apple muffins work
I’m not kidding when I say these apple muffins make your whole kitchen smell like fall. They’re gluten-free and grain-free, so almond flour does the heavy lifting in place of all-purpose flour, and a full cup of shredded apple keeps them moist and tender. The real star, though, is the paleo streusel on top: a crunchy mix of chopped pecans, almonds, and coconut with just enough salt to balance the sweetness.
Also, everyone will love them, even folks that claim that they hate gluten-free baked goods. These muffins have a delicate crumb, lots of apple spice goodness, and they’re not too sweet!
Ingredient substitutions
I’ve noted a few swaps in the ingredient list below, like maple sugar in place of coconut sugar, ghee instead of coconut oil, and lemon juice or vinegar if you’re out of cream of tartar. The eggs are a must, though, because they give these muffins their structure. Nomsters have shared some tasty tweaks in the comments, too: one reader adds allspice and uses both cardamom and nutmeg in the batter along with date sugar, and another adds crushed cardamom seeds and freshly grated nutmeg to the streusel. If you try a substitution and it works out great, please leave a note in the comments so everyone can benefit from your baking prowess.
Tips on how to make these paleo apple muffins
- Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients! The most precise way to measure dry ingredients for a baking recipe is to use an accurate kitchen scale—there’s just too much variability when you rely on measuring cups to portion out ingredients for baking. That’s why I always include gram measurements in my recipe cards for baked goods—just hit the metric button in my recipe card below to convert to grams!
- Beat the eggs and coconut sugar well! Coconut sugar doesn’t dissolve easily in liquids so make sure you beat them with the eggs for a good 2 minutes. Don’t be lazy!
- Work quickly after the wet and dry ingredients are mixed! As soon as the dry and wet ingredients are combined in this muffin recipe, work quickly because the baking soda has been activated. If you dawdle, your muffins won’t rise as well in the oven!
- Gently press the streusel topping into the raw batter! This step ensures that the topping sticks to the muffin and doesn’t fall off after baking.
Ingredients
For the paleo “streusel” topping
- Whole raw pecans: I love the combination of chopped pecans, almonds, and shredded coconut, but feel free to change out the nuts and coconut depending on your preference. Walnuts work great, too!
- Whole raw almonds
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Coconut sugar or maple sugar: In place of brown sugar, I like using coconut sugar or maple sugar for the crumb toppings.
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground cardamom or ground nutmeg
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt: I love the contrast of sweet and salty so this streusel ingredient is essential in my opinion. If you are using a fine salt, table salt, or even Morton’s kosher salt please decrease the amount of salt in half.
- Melted refined coconut oil: To keep this recipe dairy-free, I substitute butter with refined coconut oil. Feel free to use ghee if you’d like!
For the apple muffins
- Super-fine blanched almond flour: To keep this muffin recipe paleo and grain-free, I like to use almond flour as my substitute for all purpose flour. If you have a nut allergy, you can try using sunflower seed flour but the muffins will turn green because it will react with the baking soda.
- Shredded apple: Peel the apple first, then shred it on the large holes of a box grater. There’s no need to squeeze out the juice; it all goes right into the batter. Any variety should work in this apple muffins recipe—I love using Fuji, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Granny Smith, or Gala apples.
- Eggs: The eggs are needed for the structure of the muffins so you can’t replace them in this recipe.
- Coconut sugar: I prefer making these muffins with coconut sugar because it tastes the most like brown sugar. Honey will work but you will have to decrease the amount because it is sweeter than coconut sugar and adds more liquid.
- Ground cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda: In place of baking powder, I use baking soda + cream of tartar.
- Cream of tartar: This powdered acid reacts with baking soda to help the muffins rise. If you don’t have any cream of tartar, you can use 1 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice and mix that in with the wet ingredients.
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
How to make apple muffins with paleo streusel topping
Make the paleo streusel topping
Finely chop the pecans and almonds and transfer them to a medium bowl. (If you don’t want to chop them by hand, you can toss them into a mini food processor and blitz them!)
Add the shredded coconut, coconut sugar, cinnamon, kosher salt, and cardamom.
Pour in the melted refined coconut oil and stir well to combine. Set aside the topping mixture.
Heat the oven and prepare the muffin tin
Heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. While the oven is heating, line a standard muffin pan with parchment paper liners or grease well with ghee or coconut oil.
Make the apple muffins
In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, ground cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, and kosher salt.
Whisk it all together.
In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer or whisk to combine the coconut sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and use a hand mixer or whisk to blend until well combined. Next, dump in the shredded apple.
Fold the shredded apple into the batter until well mixed.
Divide the batter evenly into each muffin liner. I use a #20 disher (3 tablespoons) to scoop the batter.
Add a sprinkling of paleo streusel on top of each muffin (about 1 tablespoon).
Use your fingers to press the topping gently into the batter so it doesn’t fall off after baking.
Bake the muffins in the oven at 350°F for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the muffin tray at the halfway mark.
The muffins are done cooking when the toppings are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
How to store apple muffins
You can store the muffins in a sealed airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 4 months. When you want to eat a frozen muffin, you can thaw it overnight in the fridge or microwave it for 30 seconds straight from the freezer. If you’re using a countertop toaster oven to heat up a muffin, I would still thaw it first and then bake at 300°F for ~5 minutes or until heated through and the topping gets crunchy again.
Apple muffin FAQs
Do I need to peel the apple?
Yep! I peel the apple before shredding it on the large holes of a box grater, but I don’t bother squeezing out the juice.
What kind of apples work best?
Any variety should work. I love using Fuji, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Granny Smith, or Gala apples.
Why did my muffins sink in the middle?
The most common culprit is measuring the dry ingredients with cups instead of a kitchen scale, since cups can give you a lot more or less almond flour than the recipe needs. Hit the metric button in the recipe card to get the gram measurements. Also, work quickly once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, because the baking soda starts doing its thing right away.
Can I make the streusel ahead of time?
Absolutely. Store it in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Are these muffins dairy-free?
They are as written, since the streusel uses refined coconut oil. If you swap in ghee, keep in mind that it’s made from butter.
More gluten-free fall desserts
Hungry for more? Check out my roundup of 20 Gluten-Free Fall Desserts, or try one of these:
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
Gluten-Free Apple Muffins with Paleo Streusel Topping
Ingredients
Paleo Streusel Topping
- ¼ cup whole raw pecans
- ¼ cup whole raw almonds
- ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ¼ cup coconut sugar or maple sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt use ¼ teaspoon salt if using fine grain salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom or ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons melted refined coconut oil or melted ghee
Apple Muffins
- 2½ cups finely ground almond flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt use ⅛ teaspoon salt if using fine grain salt
- ¾ cup coconut sugar or maple sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded and peeled apple grated on the large holes on a box grater
Instructions
Make the paleo streusel topping
- Finely chop the pecans and almonds and transfer them to a medium bowl. Add the shredded coconut, coconut sugar, ground cinnamon, kosher salt, and cardamom. Pour in the melted refined coconut oil and stir well to combine. Set aside the topping mixture.
Make the apple muffins
- Heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. While the oven is heating, line a standard muffin pan with parchment paper liners or grease well with ghee or coconut oil.
- In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, ground cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar, and kosher salt. Whisk it all together.
- In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer or whisk to combine the coconut sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and use a hand mixer or whisk to blend until well combined. Next, use a spatula to fold the shredded apple into the batter until well mixed.
- Divide the batter evenly into each muffin liner. I use a #20 disher (3 tablespoons) to scoop the batter.
- Add a sprinkling of paleo streusel on top of each muffin (about a tablespoon). Use your fingers to press the topping gently into the batter so it doesn't fall off after baking.
- Bake the muffins in the oven at 350°F for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the muffin tray at the halfway mark. The muffins are done cooking when the toppings are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- The streusel topping can be made ahead of time and stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 4 months.
- Use a scale to measure the dry ingredients! The most precise way to measure dry ingredients for a baking recipe is to use an accurate kitchen scale—there’s just too much variability when you rely on measuring cups to portion out ingredients for baking. That’s why I always include gram measurements in my recipe cards for baked goods—just hit the metric button to convert to grams!
- Beat the eggs and coconut sugar well! Coconut sugar doesn’t dissolve easily in liquids so make sure you beat them with the eggs for a good 2 minutes. Don’t be lazy!
- Work quickly after the wet and dry ingredients are mixed! As soon as the dry and wet ingredients are combined in this muffin recipe, work quickly because the baking soda has been activated. If you dawdle, your muffins won’t rise as well in the oven!
- Gently press the streusel topping into the raw batter! This step ensures that the topping sticks to the muffin and doesn’t fall off after baking.
- Storage: You can store the muffins in a sealed airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for 4 months. When you want to eat a frozen muffin, you can thaw it overnight in the fridge or microwave it for 30 seconds straight from the freezer. If you’re using a countertop toaster oven to heat up a muffin, I would still thaw it first and then bake at 300°F for ~5 minutes or until heated through and the topping gets crunchy again.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
great muffins! absolutely delicious! def recommend it!
nom nom yum yum
I so wish I could include a photo-these muffins are SO DELICIOUS. I added allspice and used both cardamom and nutmeg in addition to the cinnamon. I used date sugar and they’re gorgeous, and soooooo delicious.
I made these muffins today and they smell amazing! However, the centers of my muffins sunk in for some reason. (All my ingredients were new, and I didn’t wait too long after mixing the wet and dry ingredients).
Hmmm…I’m not sure what went wrong. Did you use a scale to measure the dry ingredients by weight? Measuring cups aren’t super accurate and can lead to lower or higher amounts.
I made these for the monthly challenge and thought they were delicious! Love the flavor and the crunchy topping is perfect. Will definitely make these again!
Delicious, great texture and crumb. My whole family gave them a Big Thumbs Up!
Thank You!
I added crushed cardamom seeds and freshly grated nutmeg to topping and it was amazing! The whole family loves this muffin recipe. Thank you!