Fluffy, perfectly moist and tender muffins with tart apples, sweet apple cider, and warm cinnamon sugar coating. These taste just like my favorite apple cider donuts but are baked—not fried—and so simple to make that you can enjoy them year round!

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I know apple cider donuts are a “fall” recipe, but I also think these muffins are good enough to share any time of the year. They’re one of my favorite things I baked this last fall—no joke. I modeled them after the apple cider donuts at Boa Vista Farms in Apple Hill. We love that place, and it’s always our first stop on our annual trip to Apple Hill. In fact, they’re open year round, and we’ve stopped by a few times on our way to Tahoe and even made a special day trip up there during the first lockdown days of the pandemic.

Which also happens to be the time my daughter was walking around their (then empty) pumpkin patch and accidentally stepped on a snake. I almost died. Luckily, I grabbed her and ran like a crazy lady out of there.

Anyway, these muffins are special to me because they’re modeled after donuts that are very special to me.

I used the same base as my apple fritter bread, but I actually think the batter works better as a muffin. It’s just the right size to bake up perfectly and remain moist and fluffy throughout. Then I coated them with cinnamon sugar, since my favorite donut at Boa Vista is the sugar coated one. Wow. I know the extra sugar isn’t needed, but honestly it’s necessary. It just takes the flavor to a whole new level of yum.

Why this recipe works

The use of oil and butter ensures these muffins will be both moist and fluffy, an often elusive combination. The applesauce and apple cider both keep it moist as well, plus they add such rich flavors. And the chopped apples—if diced small enough—bake up so perfectly that they bring a burst of flavor to each bite. And, yet again, they help keep the bread from drying out. I actually had to add a little more flour before I got this recipe just right. And one of my not-so-secret-secrets is extra cinnamon. I find most recipes just don’t have enough cinnamon flavor, so I love adding extra.

And don’t forget that coating! Adding just a tiny brush of cider then tossing the muffins in cinnamon sugar just makes these soooo good. It helps create that “donut” crunch without deep frying these. Which isn’t bad, don’t get me wrong. But who has time to deep fry recipes all year long?

Key ingredients

Flour. Be sure to spoon then level your flour so you don’t pack in too much!

Baking powder. Be sure this is fresh—no more than 6 months old!

Salt. Sea salt is best!

Cinnamon. Use a high quality brand, if you can. It packs so much more flavor.

Applesauce. You can use any kind you like, but I recommend plain, unsweetened.

Apple cider. Not apple juice. You’ll reduce it as well to pack as much flavor as possible.

Vanilla. Not always used in this kind of recipe, but I have a hard time not using it!

Eggs. Be sure they’re fresh and room temp.

Oil. Helps the bread stay moist.

Butter. Helps the bread stay fluffy. Use European style, if at all possible, as it has less water and is far creamier.

Sugar/brown sugar. Brown sugar is just so perfectly fall! But you need a little white sugar to help with the rise. Plus, white (or granulated) sugar is far better to coat the muffins.

How to make apple cider donut muffins

1. Prep your ingredients. Reduce your cider and melt your butter then let both cool. Chop your apples and sprinkle with lemon juice.

2. Sift and whisk your dry ingredients. Sifting is key for a fluffy bread.

3. Whisk the apple cider, applesauce, oil, eggs, and butter. If the cider isn’t cooled to room temperature, add it right before or right after the butter, streaming it in while whisking just like with the butter.

4. Stream in the melted butter. Do this slowly and while whisking, so you don’t scramble the eggs. If your cider wasn’t cooled to room temperature, stream it in at this time.

5. Whisk in the sugars.

6. Fold in the dry ingredients. Be sure to leave it a little lumpy with some flour streaks—the next step will take care of the streaks.

7. Drain then fold in the chopped apples. You don’t want to add any liquid here, so be sure they’re drained.

8. Bake. Bake until a toothpick comes out with some crumbs, not clean (that usually means it’s over baked).

9. Brush with cider then toss in cinnamon sugar. Do this while still warm, so the coating sticks to them.

Enjoy!

Tips and FAQ’s for this recipe

Dice the apples fairly small

You could even shred your apples, if you’d like, but I wanted to have some visible chunks. I had to remake this recipe after my first batch fell apart from the apples being too large. Be sure your dices are around 1/4 inch square, or you will end up with a delicious mess of crumbs.

Note: don’t try to peel and chop the apples at the last second before you add them to the batter. I know this is the easiest way to prevent them turning brown, but you want them chopped before you start. Once you’ve mixed the wet and dry ingredients, you need to work quickly to get the muffins in the oven so they don’t become dense and chewy.

How do I know if my cider has reduced enough?

When reducing liquid, I always measure out some water in the final amount I need. I place it in my pot and get a good visual of where it should stop when it’s reduced. I sometimes also stick a kebab stick in there and mark on it how deep the water should be. That way, as it reduces, I know when to stop.

Help! My cider reduced too much!

That’s okay! If it reduced to almost nothing, you’ll need to start over. If not, you can top it off by adding a splash of plain cider. Or, if needed, you can use all of the reduction (which should be much thicker than when it was cider) for the muffins and use plain, not-reduced cider for coating the muffins after baking.

My apple cider donut muffin tools

Here are my must-have tools I use for making these muffins. Affiliate links provided.

Mesh sieve (because sifting is KEY for a fluffy bread)

Cupcake/muffin pan

Vegetable peeler (and cheese grater, if you want to grate the apple)

My favorite whisk

All-rubber spatula (this makes scraping the bowl easier as the batter and frosting doesn’t get all over a wooden handle!)

You might also like:

Apple Fritter Bread

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Maple Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Perfect Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Apple Cider Donut Muffins

Print recipe

prep time: 25-30 minutes
bake time: 20-25 minutes
total time: 55 minutes

servings: 12-16 (depending if you use muffin liners)

Ingredients:

for the muffins

1 ¾ cups (238g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
2 teaspoons (10g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (3g) salt
1 tablespoon (8g) ground cinnamon
⅔ cup (163g) unsweetened applesauce
1 ½ cups (360g) apple cider (not apple juice)
1 tablespoon (13g) pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 tablespoons (56g) avocado, grape seed, or vegetable oil
4 tablespoons (56g) melted butter
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar (light or dark will work)
1 cup (about 120g) chopped fresh apples
squeeze of lemon juice (to keep the apples from browning)

for the cinnamon sugar coating

½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon (8g) ground cinnamon
extra apple cider, as needed

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350F/175C. Prepare a muffin/cupcake pan by spraying with baking spray (or lightly greasing with butter and sprinkling with flour). Alternatively, you can line it with muffin liners, but this will likely require a second pan (as you cannot fill the liners as full as the bare pan) and you will only be able to coat the very tops of each muffin.
Reduce the apple cider by heating it over medium for 10-15 minutes, until it reduces to a little over ½ cup in volume (or reduces to ⅓ of its original volume). Set in the fridge to cool. While the cider reduces, you can work on the next tw steps.
Melt the butter and set aside. Don’t let it cool enough to solidify, but do let it cool somewhat before using.
Peel, core, and chop 1 medium or 2 small apples. Make sure the dices are fairly small, about ¼ inch square. Otherwise, your muffins will fall apart. You should have about 1 cup in volume, but you can use a little more or a little less. Sprinkle with some lemon juice to prevent browning and set aside.
Using a large fine mesh sieve, sift then whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Measure out ⅓ cup of the cooled apple cider. Reserve the rest of the cider for coating the muffins. In a large bowl, whisk together the cider, applesauce, vanilla, eggs, and oil until well combined. Slowly stream in the melted butter while whisking quickly (this prevents scrambling the eggs). Note: if the cider is still a little warm, whisk everything else together then stream it in just as you do for the butter, whisking quickly to avoid scrambling the eggs. You can do this right before or right after adding the butter.
Add the sugar and brown sugar to the wet ingredients and whisk for about 1 minute. You can whisk it by hand or, if using a stand or hand mixer, mix on medium.
Add the flour mixture and stir gently by hand until fully combined. I try to mostly fold it in. (If you’re unsure what folding means, you basically run a rubber spatula along the edge an entire turn around the bowl the pull the spatula toward the middle once you’ve come fully around the bowl, “folding” the batter on the edge into the middle part.) It should be somewhat lumpy and still have some dry spots, which will get stirred in during the next step.
Drain the apples and discard any extra juice. Fold the drained apples into the batter gently.
Pour batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each hole about ¾ full. If you used liners, you’ll likely end up with 14-16 muffins, as the liners cannot hold as much. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in a middle muffin comes out with some moist crumbs. Check early so it doesn’t over bake. Let cool in pan 5-10 minutes.
While the muffins cool slightly, whisk the sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a small mixing bowl (large enough to place a muffin in and toss to coat).
When the muffins are cool enough to handle (but still fairly warm), brush each one with a little bit of the reserved reduced cider then immediately transfer to the bowl of sugar and toss to coat. Be sure to use a pastry or basting brush, do not dunk each muffin or it will become soggy. Set each coated muffin on a platter until ready to serve. If you run out of reduced cider, you can use plain cider to coat the muffins. If you used muffin liners, you will only brush the tops of each one and tip it into the cinnamon sugar before serving.