Make these Apple Muffins with Cream Cheese Glaze for the perfect fall breakfast. Spice cake mix makes these easy to make on any day of the week.
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We are a muffin household. So what if it’s basically a cupcake. Especially when it has a cream cheese glaze….. But because we are calling it a glaze and not frosting we’re still good. OK?!
With cooler weather right around the corner I am fully into all the fall flavors it brings. Apple and pumpkin being the best ones in my opinion. So you’ll be seeing a lot of them around here in the next few months.
Semi-Homemade
Along with apple, all the warm spices which I love this time of year are included in these muffins. And I’m incorporating them with a shortcut. These apple muffins start with a spice cake mix making them ridiculously easy to throw together. All the spices are already included in perfect proportion and it pairs so nicely with the fresh apple added to the batter.
I’m not helping my this isn’t a cupcake recipe argument here.
Sour cream adds some richness to the apple muffins and creates a really moist texture. If you don’t have sour cream, you can substitute plain Greek yogurt in its place and you won’t even be able to tell the difference.
Buttermilk is also included in this recipe. Not only does it make the muffins incredibly tender but it yields a slight tanginess which pairs so nicely with the sweet apples.
Make sure to check out my apple baking guide to discover the best apples to use in this and other apple recipes.
To turn these spiced muffins into apple muffins, finely diced apples are added to the batter. Make sure they are pretty small, like a quarter inch dice, to make sure they cook a little and don’t come out crunchy in the finished muffin.
Glaze It Up
While the muffins bake, whip up the simple cream cheese glaze. It consists of cream cheese, powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and a little milk to thin it out.
You can make the glaze as thick or thin as you like. I kept it on the thicker side so I could pipe it on and you would get more of the cream cheese texture and flavor. For a thicker glaze, place it in a plastic bag and snip a small corner off then drizzle away.
A thin glaze can be spooned over and smoothed until it drips over the edges. Either way, there is cream cheese involved so you are winning.
Are you totally ready for fall now? Let me know what your favorite fall flavor or ingredient is in the comments below.
More Fall Baking Recipes:
- Instant Pot Apple Crisp
- Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll Bombs
- Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
- Baked Pumpkin Streusel Oatmeal
Apple Muffins with Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 15.25 oz. box spice cake mix
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup finely chopped apple
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
For the Cream Cheese Glaze:
- 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
- sprinkle of cinnamon
- 1-3 tsp. milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, sour cream, vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs, apples and pecans. Stir until just combined.
- Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray well with nonstick cooking spray. Using an ice cream scoop, portion out evenly among 18 muffin cups. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, whisk together cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Add 1 teaspoon of milk and whisk. Add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
- Remove muffins from muffin tin to a cooling rack. Once cool, drizzle or spread with cream cheese glaze. If drizzling, place glaze in a plastic bag and snip a bit of the corner off then drizzle.
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