These paleo apple muffins are fuss-free and completely maple sweetened. They get extra apple flavor from grated and diced apples. Thanks to Pure Canada Maple for making today’s post possible! Pictures updated on 10/1/18.
I’ve been wanting to post a paleo apple muffins recipe for a long time. At first I tried adapting the paleo blueberry muffins I posted recently. They’re my favorite muffin recipe, by far, but that didn’t work out. The cinnamon and spices just made them weird.
So then I tried adapting my paleo apple butter cake but I wasn’t in love with those muffins, either. I tried some other apple muffins with almond flour and then figured that it’d be easy enough to adapt my grain-free carrot cake cupcakes, which is one of my most popular recipes. People seem to love them and I hope you all will enjoy these just as much. :)
The carrot cake recipe uses 1/2 cup of grated carrots and I subbed that with 1/2 cup of coarsely grated apples. I’ve only made these muffins using this extra coarse grater to grate the apples so if you want to use a fine grater, I have no idea how that’d work out.
I’d be afraid that the muffins would come out too wet. These muffins are already super moist so I don’t know if they could handle even more moisture!
Another change was the sweetener. I use a lot of lighter colored maple syrup throughout the year as a sweetener in all kinds of different flavored goodies, like these paleo key lime pies or these paleo lemon cookies.
And now that I’m baking with cinnamon, apples and in a few weeks – pumpkin – I go through about 1 1/2 liters a month! I’m in the mood for maple everything. :)
The carrot cake recipe uses honey but 100% pure maple syrup seemed like a much better choice for these autumnal muffins. I used the exact same amount! It’s an easy sub and I think it blends better with the apple + cinnamon + nutmeg combination than honey does.
You can use any grade of all-natural maple syrup in these. You can’t really taste it through all the cinnamon flavor so I went with the standard Grade A Medium Amber kind that’s usually sold in grocery stores around here. I save the darker, stronger tasting and slightly more expensive Grade A Dark Amber kind for dishes where I want the maple taste to shine.
One tablespoon of cinnamon may seem like a lot for 8 muffins (it’s 3/8 teaspoon per muffin) but I’ve tried these with less cinnamon and they just weren’t very exciting. You need the cinnamon!
I’ve also tried these with a bunch of different apple types and we could hardly detect there were apples in the muffins – until I made them with Granny Smith. Their tartness helps them stand out more and together with the cinnamon and maple syrup, creates a truly awesome apple muffin.
Thanks again to Pure Canada Maple for sponsoring today’s post! As always, all opinions expressed are my own.
One of the old pictures for reference for those of you who have made these paleo apple muffins before!
Paleo Apple Muffins (grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 8 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (125 grams) blanched almond flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (20 grams) coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs (50 grams each, out of shell), room temperature (2 eggs is correct!)
- 5 tablespoons (70 grams) refined coconut oil, melted (if you use unrefined coconut oil there may be some coconut taste to the muffins)
- 1/3 cup (106 grams) pure Canadian maple syrup
- 2-3 tablespoons coconut sugar, optional (see note)1
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (90 grams) coarsely grated Granny Smith apples
- 1 1/4 cups (155 grams) Granny Smith apple chunks (about 1/4")
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a muffin pan with 8 muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (almond flour through nutmeg). Set this aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, pure Canadian maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Add the dry mix to the wet and mix just until combined.
- Gently fold in the grated apples and then the chopped apples.
- Divide the batter evenly among the liners, filling them almost full, and bake for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerate for up to 4.
Notes
- I added the coconut sugar to the recipe in October 2018. Before that, no coconut sugar was listed and the reviewers loved them that way! Only add the coconut sugar if you like things to be on the sweeter side.
- The video shows 3 eggs because the beginning part of the video that shows mixing together the ingredients is taken from the video I did for my paleo apple cake (which uses this same apple muffin recipe, but 1.5x all the ingredients - which is why it shows 3 eggs instead of 2). Sorry for the confusion! I didn't realize it until it was too late.
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243 comments on “Paleo Apple Muffins (grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)” — Add one!
6 comments are awaiting moderation!
What altitude did you make these at so I can adjust for high altitude (9,0000 feet)?
Sorry for just now seeing your comment! I just looked up my altitude. 556m or 1825ft. Hope you’ll enjoy the muffins!
I browsed the comments and didn’t see where anyone said they used all almond flour. Would this work? I am HIGHLY allergic to coconut.
With the coconut allergy- this means I would need a diff oil too- so would avocado oil work?
Olive oil would work but I think avocado oil would taste too strongly. Coconut flour’s not interchangeable with almond flour so you unfortunately can’t just use the same amount of almond flour. You could try adding a bit more almond flour, but I have no idea how much. I’m guessing at least 5 tablespoons but it’s just a guess. Sorry about that!
Can one substitute anything for the maple syrup in this recipe?
Honey works great. I’d love to hear how they come out. :)
Has anyone tried to sub flax egg for the eggs? I have an egg intolerance and am wondering how well it would work for this recipe. Thanks!
I unfortunately haven’t tried it. It’s always kind of risky in grain-free recipes like this. Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!
I tried the flax egg! They don’t stay together as well, but are still SUPER tasty! I am thinking of it as an apple cinnamon crumble. :)
Haha. I like how positively you think. :) I’m happy they still came out tasty! Thanks for reporting back.
These were awesome. I was just wondering how many calories were in each one.
Thanks! I don’t but you could use this recipe analyzer if you’d like for that info. :)
can muffins and/or cookies be frozen?
Muffins and cookies in general? Or these muffins? I’ve never tried freezing these muffins but I think it’d be fine!
Delicious! I grated both apples (1 Granny Smith, 1 Gala) very moist:)
Awesome! I’m happy to hear that you liked it. :) Thanks for your comment!
Kinda disappointed with how mine turned out. I’m thinking I must’ve done something wrong. Before pouring into the pan they were very crumby, it wasn’t like a batter…which might be how it’s supposed to be I dont know. But when they finished they have an overpowering baking soda flavor. Not very sweeet😕kinda a cornbread texture.
I’m thinking you’re right and something must have gone wrong! Did you make any changes or subs at all to the recipe? None of the other commenters have had that issue (and I’ve made these tons of times) so either one of the ingredients or one of the measurements were off. Or perhaps you really, really packed the almond flour? But even then, I don’t think it’d come out crumbly and dry. There have been times when I follow one of my own recipes (which has nothing but great reviews) and they come out terribly. Then I realize I added too much or too little of something. It happens. :/ I’m sorry! I hope you’ll give them another try. :) Maybe you could use a scale next time, if you didn’t last time. They definitely should be nicely sweet and muffin / cake-like. Not like cornbread.
Can this be made without eggs?
You definitely just can’t omit them. You could try a flax egg but it’s always kind of risky in grain-free recipes like this.
I made them with a flax egg (1 Tbsp. flax to 3 Tbsp. water). Although the muffins were a little more crumbly, they were still delicious!
Great! Thanks for sharing how you made them. :)
After researching these are approximately 267 calories each.
Thanks for sharing!
These are everything my fall dreams are made of! I just got back from the Apple orchard and was dreaming of Apple Cider Donuts. Thank you!
I absolutely love the first sentence of your comment. :D Thanks so much! I’m so happy that you enjoyed the muffins. :)
Made these yesterday, add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, weighed all ingredients and they were fabulous! Thank you!
Awesome! So happy that you enjoyed the muffins. Thanks for your comment. :)
These are delicious! I found this recipe because I had some left over chopped apple, so using only chopped and no grated was fine. Also did not add all of the syrup. Delish! Thank you!
That’s great that they worked out without the grated apples! Thanks for your comment. :) I’m happy to hear that you liked them!
I never post comments. I mean never. But these are hands down the best muffins I have ever tasted. Thank you so much!
Aww, thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. :) I’m so happy you liked them!
Moist and delicious! Even my fiancé with a discerning palate loves these. Flavors are comforting and remind me of fall. So good! Thanks!
You’re welcome! I’m happy to hear that you both liked them. :) Thanks for your comment!
I just made these and tasted sooo good! However, mine did not rise. It looks the same. It doesn’t look like the picture. What do you think I did wrong? I made sure I followed directions and all the ingredients in.
Could your baking soda be expired or your oven temperature off? That’s all I can think of if you didn’t make any changes or sub at all to the recipe. I’m happy they still tasted good. :)
I just made these muffins–and they were very delicious! Thanks for the recipes :)
So happy you liked them! Thanks for your comment. :)
Just wondering if you have tried this recipe with a flour other than almond? I need to replace that due to a nut allergy. I have not had luck substituting flours in the past :). This looks like a good recipe, hopefully I can figure out how to make it work for us!
Unfortunately, nuts flours aren’t interchangeable with non-nut flours. I’ve heard of people using sunflower seed flour as a sub but I’ve never tried it and have no idea if it’d work here. Sorry about that!
I just made these for tomorrow’s breakfast. My picky toddler and I couldn’t wait to try them so we split one for dessert. I’m not sure I have had a muffin this delicious in awhile! They are really fantastic! I only had some Fuji apples so I used two small-ish ones and reduced the syrup to a “heaping” 1/4 cup. I shred all of the apples instead of chunks (picky toddler). I had 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice in the fridge so at the last minute I threw that in (not sure if it did anything :-) ). Chopped walnuts would be a delicious add. Thank you for this recipe!
Haha. I love that you added a random 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice. At least it didn’t mess anything up so that’s good. :D Thanks a bunch for your comment! I’m thrilled that your changes worked out well and that you and your kid enjoyed the muffins. :)
THese muffins are a favourite in our family! As well as the banana chvovolate muffins! Thanks for the great recipes!
You’re welcome! So happy you like them. :) Thanks for your feedback!