Autumn is the perfect season for Apple Cinnamon Muffins! This recipe uses both applesauce and fresh apples. These muffins are incredibly easy to make in just a few simple steps.
Those are so delicious and perfectly moist that nobody will notice that they are gluten free, vegan, paleo and AIP compliant!
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Each time I eat one of those delicious and moist apple cinnamon muffins, I struggle a lot to resist the temptation to eat more than one! Personally, I think it is my best recipe so far.
This apple cinnamon muffin recipe uses my all-star grain free, coconut free and cassava free muffin batter. This batter can be used to create endless muffin varieties. You can see it again in my very popular Gluten free Banana blueberry muffins (paleo, AIP), Banana carrot muffins (AIP, paleo), Gluten free pumpkin muffins (AIP, paleo) and more.
⭐ Why you'll love this recipe
- These Apple Cinnamon Muffins are quick and super easy to make.
- This recipe is super simple.
- This recipe can be made without any added sugar.
- These muffins are gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, AIP compliant but also coconut free and cassava free to be the most allergy friendly as possible.
📖 Ingredient notes
- Fresh Apples. I recommend using sweet apples like Fuji or Gala. If you have some leftover apples you can make my Vegan Fall Salad With Butternut Squash or my French Apple Carrot Salad.
- Apple sauce. Make sure to use unsweetened apple sauce.
- Arrowroot. It is starch. See below for substitutions.
- Oil of your choice. I either use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
- Tigernut flour (or almond flour for those who are not on AIP nor nut free). If you don't know what tigernut flour is and want to learn more about it, you can read my post What is tigernut flour.
If you are on AIP and still in the elimination phase, you have to use tigernut flour (because almond flour is not AIP compliant). Those who are not on AIP nor allergic to nuts can use almond flour instead of tigernut flour.
For the complete list of ingredients and quantities for these apple cinnamon muffins, please see the recipe card below.
💭 Substitutions
- Arrowroot substitutions. If you are not cassava intolerant, you can substitute it with tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour). If you are not on AIP nor Paleo diets: you can use potato starch or corn starch instead of arrowroot.
- Cinnamon. It is high in histamine. So if you are looking for other spice options to replace cinnamon I suggest a pinch of ginger (no more than ⅛ teaspoon) or 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
🔪Step by step instructions
In a large bowl, combine the tigernut flour, arrow root, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir.
In another large bowl, combine the apple sauce, maple syrup, lemon juice (or ACV) and olive oil. Mix until combined.
Peel and cut the apples in small pieces.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined. Then add the apple pieces and mix again.
Line or lightly oil a muffin pan. Fill each muffin cup with batter, you should get about 6-8 muffins depending on your pan.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes. To make sure that they are cooked, insert a thin bladed knife into the centre of one muffin, the knife should come out clean. And voilà! Let them cool down before removing them from the pan. Bon appétit!
👩🏻🍳Top tips
- Tip #1. Never ever open the oven door before the end of the baking time (unless, of course, in case of a danger or problem with your oven). If you open the oven door during the baking time, just to "check how they look", they will fall down or won't rise.
- Tip #2. As you can see on the picture above, in order to create tall muffin tops, I fill my muffin tins all the way to the top.
💬 Recipe FAQs
Unfortunately there are no possible substitution for the tigernut flour if you are on AIP and still in the elimination phase. Why? Because all the other AIP compliant flours have very different texture and they all need their own amount of liquid. So it is not possible to replace the tigernut flour with another flour without altering the entire recipe.
Yes! If you want to make no sugar apple muffins, replace the maple syrup with the same quantity of oil or coconut milk.
Good news if you have a nut allergy and need a nut-free version, you can make these muffins with tigernut flour. Because tigernut is not a nut!
Yes! If you don't have a muffin pan or simply don't feel like having muffins, you can make this as a loaf instead of muffins. Just follow the instructions in the recipe card for the bread.
Yes! They freeze extremely well. Which is so convenient!! So nice to have a delicious snack or dessert that is ready to be eaten in the freezer (ok just need to be thawed). To thaw one of these delicious muffins, you can either take it out of the freezer a few hours ahead or pop it in the microwave oven (if you still have one, like me, and yes I know that they are very controversial health wise but nobody's perfect lol) for 1 minute or pop it in the oven for a few minutes.
🍪Other fall recipes you might like
Did you like this recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 on the recipe card and leave a nice review below! Tag @gohealthywithbea on Instagram and hashtag #gohealthywithbea! Also, let's stay connected on social media and continue to cook together! You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
📋 Recipe / Recette
Apple Cinnamon Muffins (gluten free, vegan, paleo, AIP)
Ingredients
- 240 grams (1 cup) unsweetened apple sauce
- 180 grams (1.5 cups) apples (once peeled and seeds removed which makes about 2 apples)
- 150 grams (1 cup + ⅓ cup) tigernut flour (if you are not on AIP nor nut free, you can use almond flour instead of tigernut flour)
- 50 grams (¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon) arrowroot (see notes below for substitutions)
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup (see notes if you want to reduce quantity)
- 60 millilitre (4 Tablespoons) oil (I either use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 360° F (180° C)
- In a large bowl, combine the tigernut flour, arrow root, baking soda and cinnamon. Stir.
- In another large bowl, combine the apple sauce, maple syrup, lemon juice (or ACV) and olive oil. Mix until combined.
- Peel and cut the apples in small pieces.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined. Then add the apple pieces and mix again.
- Line or lightly oil a muffin pan (or a rectangular 4x8 inches baking tin if you are making a bread). Fill each muffin cup with batter, you should get about 6-8 muffins depending on your pan.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes for the muffins (or about 35 minutes for the bread). To make sure that they are cooked, insert a thin bladed knife into the centre of one muffin, the knife should come out clean. And voilà! Let them cool down before removing them from the pan.Bon appétit !
Kristie Palin
OMG these are the best. I used almond meal, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, and sprinkled some coconut flakes, hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds on top. Mine needed more than 25 mins but could be that there may have been more apple? Not sure (I used 2). Anyhow I'm hooked!! ;-p Thanks Bea!