Spiced Apple Muffins with Coconut and Chinese Five Spice

Spiced apple muffins are the perfect breakfast or snack for a crisp fall morning. They’re portable, convenient, and super tasty, with a few ingredients that make them exceptional. This isn’t your average apple muffin recipe – there’s coconut milk in the batter and the glaze and Chinese five spice in the muffins. It offers a subtle flavor that compliments the apples.

 

Spice Up Some Breakfast Muffins

Muffins made with fruit have a natural sweetness and moisture from the fruit itself. If you want a super moist muffin that’s a little different from an apple cider muffin or chunky banana muffin, add a different spice mixture along with some coconut milk. It’s a subtle difference but super yummy.

Chinese five spice powder gives a fantastic flavor to the muffins, which is a refreshing change from the usual cinnamon spice blend. These unique additions make a scrumptious muffin that is still comforting and familiar. It’s a wonderful use for fresh fall apples. 

Spiced apple muffins are a super quick and easy recipe. The batter is simple and unfussy, and the topping just gets stirred together in one bowl. Clean-up is quick, and the whole recipe takes less than an hour from start to finish.

They’re great served either warm or at room temperature, so you can make them the night before and have them for breakfast or enjoy them as an afternoon treat with a cup of tea or coffee. 

These apple muffins are an excellent breakfast all on their own, the glaze is optional, but adds a bit more coconut flavor. They’re also an excellent addition to a brunch spread on a lazy weekend morning. Try serving them with a breakfast sausage casserole or with a quiche with caramelized onions. Alone or supporting other dishes, these apple muffins are super flavorful.

Why You’ll Love Spiced Apple Muffins 

• Unique spice flavor: The Chinese five spice powder combined with the coconut milk and flakes make this recipe special and really different from other coconut muffin recipes. 

• Easy to make: Spiced apple muffins take less than an hour to put together from start to finish. 

• Great for on the go: These muffins will stay together, so they’re easy to grab and go. 

What kind of apples are best for making muffins?

Some varieties of apples hold their shape better as they bake, like Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji and Granny Smith. Softer apples like Macintosh or Golden Delicious tend to fall apart in the oven, but that might be what you’re after. It all depends on personal preference – my favorite apples for eating and baking are Fuji.

But really, the best apples to use for breakfast muffins are the apples you already have on hand. This recipe is an excellent way to use up apples that have been sitting on your counter for a while and need to get used up. 

What is Chinese five spice powder?

Chinese five spice powder blends contain cloves, cinnamon, star anise, peppercorns,and fennel. This mix is traditional in many savory Asian dishes, but it offers a unique flavor to these muffins. It’s a nice change from the traditional cinnamon and nutmeg combination that is common for many American apple desserts. You can easily find it in the spice aisle of major grocery stores or on-line.

What can I use in place of Chinese five spice? 

Chinese five spice makes this recipe really special, and I honestly think it’s worth buying just to make these muffins. If you don’t have any, these muffins would still be great using a standard apple pie or pumpkin pie spice mix. You can also use cinnamon for a more traditional flavor. If you want to make your own Chinese Five Spice, here’s a recipe from Feasting at Home.

Spiced Apple Muffin Recipe Ingredients

• Apples: Use any apples you like or have on hand for this recipe. 

• Butter: I usually bake with unsalted butter, but salted butter is fine. Just omit the additional salt in the recipe. 

• Chinese five spice powder: This unique blend makes these muffins special. 

• Coconut milk: Coconut milk is fatty and makes for a rich glaze and moist, tender muffins. 

• Coconut flakes: Sweetened coconut flakes in the topping add some extra coconut flavor that pairs perfectly with the apples and five spice powder. 

• Sour cream: Sour cream keeps the muffins super moist and gives them a slight tang. You can replace it with Greek yogurt if you prefer. 

• Pantry ingredients: Flour, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract 

How To Make Spiced Apple Muffins 

Step 1: Prepare the dry ingredients. 

Whisk together flour, soda, baking powder, five-spice powder, and salt. 

Step 2: Mix the wet ingredients. 

Using an electric mixer to cream the butter with the sugars. Add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.

Step 3: Make the muffin batter. 

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold it in using a rubber spatula. Add the coconut milk and stir just until combined – it’s totally fine if the batter is a bit lumpy. Fold in the diced apples and transfer into a prepared muffin tin with an ice cream scoop.

Step 4: Make the topping. 

Stir together the melted butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar, and sweetened coconut flakes in a small bowl. 

Step 5: Bake the muffins. 

Sprinkle each muffin with a bit of the topping mixture and bake.

Step 6: Make the glaze. 

Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and coconut milk in a bowl. Whisk together to form a glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins.

Tips for Making Perfect Spiced Apple Muffins 

• Once you add the flour mixture, stir or fold gently until everything is combined – and a few lumps are absolutely okay.

• Letting the muffins cool slightly before adding the glaze.
  
• You can adjust the glaze texture to your preference by using more or less coconut milk. 

Help! My coconut milk is chunky. 

Coconut milk is fatty, rich, and amazing in these muffins. It makes the glaze taste fantastic and keeps the muffins super moist and tender. Coconut milk is a mixture of coconut water and coconut cream, which is made from the flesh of the coconut. However, coconut milk separates in the can. First try shaking the can vigorously. If it is still separated, pour it into a glass bowl and microwave it for a few seconds.

Apple Muffin FAQs

Can I add a streusel topping instead of the topping in the recipe?

A cinnamon streusel topping would be a delightful addition to these muffins. The streusel topping on my peach muffins would be a great alternative.

How do I know when the muffins are done? 

The muffins are baked all the way through when you insert a toothpick into the middle of the muffin, and it comes out clean, with no batter stuck to it. 

Can I make these muffins with whole-wheat flour?

Whole wheat flour will make a denser muffin. If you want to add a whole-wheat flour, use a mixture of all-purpose and whole-wheat.

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