Cinnamon Apple Streusel Muffins - Bursting with fall flavors, these moist gluten-free muffins are filled with apples and cinnamon and topped with a delicious crunchy streusel. You won’t believe they are naturally lower in sugar, dairy-free, and healthy for you!

Like most of the recipes I develop, they are inspired by my morning dreams. Well, the dreams I have upon waking up and hitting the snooze button! Mainly because I am starving by the time I wake up but that’s another story!

The story behind these bad boys was that I wanted to create a lazy version of apple pie. Afterall, apple pie should only be eaten if it’s homemade and preferably made from a grandmother. But if you are strapped for time and there’s not a grandma in sight, well, sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

And that’s just what I did. These apple cinnamon streusel muffins are basically apple pies but a muffin version. Some of my taste testers actually preferred mini apple pie muffins as the name because they taste just like that!

What I also didn’t tell them is that these muffins are naturally lower in sugar and oil, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo friendly, keto friendly, and use clean, real ingredients. After telling them what the ingredients were, they truly couldn’t believe it wasn’t an old fashioned muffin that you would get at a bakery!

So if you are wanting to trick your family and friends into eating healthy things, then try this! Haha. Not only is it fun to make a traditional baked good healthy, but these muffins are actually fun to make in general.

As illustrated in the picture, pour batter about halfway in the muffin liner followed by the “apple pie filling”, another layer of batter and top with the streusel mixture! If you are wanting to really elevate the dish and don’t mind the added sugar, then I created a maple cinnamon glaze to drizzle just before serving. These muffins are practically my new favorite!

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

Cinnamon Apple Streusel Muffins - Bursting with fall flavors, these moist gluten-free muffins are filled with apples and cinnamon and topped with a delicious crunchy streusel. You won’t believe they are naturally lower in sugar, dairy-free, and healthy for you!

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Ingredients

¼ cup + 3 Tbsp cassava flour
¼ cup GF oat flour
¼ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
⅓ cup dairy free yogurt
3 large eggs
3 Tbsp avocado oil
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Filling

1 honeycrisp apple (chopped)
1 Tbsp organic light brown sugar (optional)
2 tsp grass fed butter
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Streusel

¼ cup GF all purpose flour or paleo/cassava flour
2 Tbsp gluten free oats
1 Tbsp coconut sugar or light brown sugar
1 Tbsp softened ghee or coconut oil/grass fed butter
1 Tbsp sliced almonds
¼ tsp cinnamon

Drizzle

¼ cup organic powdered sugar
2 tsp pure maple syrup
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
1-2 tsp unsweetened almond milk (optional)
Dash of cinnamon

Yields 6 muffins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 6-cup muffin tin with paper liners or lightly grease with avocado oil spray. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and honey until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add the oil, yogurt, vanilla and mix until combined.
Add the liquid mixture into the flour mixture until combined. The batter should be pourable but not too runny. If it’s a little runny, add more cassava flour. Set aside.
In a small skillet, melt butter on medium heat. When the butter is starting to bubble, add chopped apples and sauté until apple pieces are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and dash of salt and mix until fully combined and the sugar has fully melted over the apple pieces. Turn off heat immediately and set aside.
For the cinnamon streusel topping: mash together the softened ghee and sugar until combined. stir in the flour, oats, almonds, and cinnamon, then use your fingers to form thick crumbs. Set aside.
Use a cookie scooper or ¼ measuring cup to divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Pour batter about halfway, top with about 1 Tbsp of the apple cinnamon mixture, another scoop of the batter until ¾ to the top full and then finish with the streusel mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until the muffin tops are golden and the toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the muffin tin before transferring to a cooling rack.
While the muffins are cooling, whisk together the powdered sugar, syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. If drizzle is too thick, slowly add 1 tsp of milk to the mixture.
Drizzle glaze over the warm muffins and enjoy!

Notes

If you are wanting to make this recipe lower in sugar, I put (optional) in the filling section. For example, if you are using a sweeter apple like a honeycrisp, then the brown sugar isn’t imperative. Also, you can completely omit the drizzle part and the muffins will still be deliciously sweet!