This recipe for Apple Cheesecake Muffins is divine! These little beauties are filled with an apples as well as a layer of cheesecake. Cream cheese is also in the batter to bring out the cheesecake flavor even more and to make them even more indulgent, they’re topped with a cinnamon crumb streusel.
I look really forward to the fall weather every year. Not because I don’t like summer, but because I love comfort food and I love to bake with fall flavors. Apples are on the top of that list.
They other day I was browsing my favorite food blog, Cooking Classy and came across her recipe for Caramel Apple Mini Cheesecakes and knew I had to do something with similar flavors!
As a food blogger, I don’t often get to make other people’s recipes (as much as I may drool over them), but I am very often inspired by them. Jaclyn at cooking classy inspires me on a regular basis and I really miss cooking her food!
So after seeing those amazing little cheesecakes, I got to work on creating something with similar flavors. The only thing I was missing was the caramel so I went with adding some brown sugar to the apples which gave a touch of caramel flavor.
These look complicated, but it really didn’t take me very long at all and they are so good, they really are worth the extra effort.
I started with the apple mixture so it wasn’t too hot when I added it to the batter. Make sure you let them cool completely before adding them to the cheesecake layer. You don’t want them to combine and turn into a custard.
Then I make cheese cake filling and the crumb topping.
Once that’s done, I layered them into the muffin cases. Starting with a small amount of batter, followed by the cheesecake mixture, then the apples and topped with batter and the crumb topping.
Bake and cool completely. This step is important. I tried these warm (who can blame me) and the filling tasted like custard. I thought they didn’t work and was ready to scrap them, but that night, my husband tried them cold and said they were fantastic.
I tried them and he was right. You have to give the fillings time to set. So chill them or let them cool at room temperature for a couple of hours. It really did make all the difference!
Update: As there were a few reports of issues with the muffins turning out dry, I re-tested the recipe and made a few changes. Since then, I have only been given positive feedback. Thank you so much for helping me make my recipes the bet they could be!
Apple Cheesecake Muffins
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all-purpose/plain flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ½ cup milk
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- For the cheesecake mixture:
- 4 oz Cream Cheese
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the apple mixture:
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 medium sized cooking apples
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- For the Topping:
- ¼ cup Butter melted
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose/plain flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375f/190C
- Line 12 muffin cups in a muffin pan with paper liners.
- Beat together the sugars, butter, cream cheese and egg until well blended and pale.
- Stir in the milk and then add the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined.
- Fill prepared muffin cups about a 1/4 of the way full. Set Aside.
- For filling:
- Peel, core and chop the apples, add them to a small bowl and coat with 1 tablespoon of the juice to keep them from going brown.
- Add the cornstarch and coat the apples evenly.
- In a small saucepan on med heat, melt the butter.
- Add the remaining juice, sugar, salt and cinnamon
- Add the apples and stir well and cook for 3-5 minutes to soften. If the mixture becomes too thick, add a bit more juice.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and egg yolk until smooth.
- Drop a rounded tablespoonful into the center of each muffin. Followed by a tablespoon of the apples and then top each one with the remaining batter.
- Mix together the topping ingredients and top each muffin evenly with the topping.
- Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely before serving.
Patty Haxton Anderson says
These muffins look so delicious and I am sad I don’t have one.
Erren says
Thanks so much PattY! 🙂
Kathi Cirringione says
Thanks you. That was going to be my guess! Making them now. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Kathi Cirringione says
The instructions need to be edited to add the pinch of salt in the apples and the vanilla extract in the cream cheese.
Kathi Cirringione says
They came out just fine (although I haven’t tasted them yet)! The ingredients list a tsp. of vanilla extract for the cream cheese and a pinch of salt for the apples, but it’s not mentioned in the instructions. Not a problem for me; I’m a seasoned baker and know how to adjust recipes. I thought it would be helpful to those that don’t bake so much. I did think that 4 apples was a bit too much, and I would have liked to have more batter to top off the muffins with. IF I make them again (a bit labor intensive), I would only use 3 apples and double the batter.
Erren says
Thank you for letting me know. The apple mixture was meant to be smaller. I copied the wrong thing into the recipe card. It was meant to be halved. I have made the adjustments. So sorry about the error!
Frederica says
Dear Erren,
Would it be possible to make the muffins without the topping? I’m trying to find something to satisfy my sweets cravings but the toppings JUST add those extra calories that makes me go: na-ah too much. It looks absolutely delicious!
Erren says
Hi Federica, Sure you can make them without the topping if you prefer. Hope you like them!
Rose says
Hi Erren, I made these yesterday and they came out beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing!
Cindy says
Hello Erren, I made these for a brunch over the weekend. They came out beautiful and so yummy! I agree that they should cool completely. I made them a day a head and they were perfect! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Erren says
Thanks so much, Cindy! I am so glad to hear they came out so well for you!
Lottie says
Hi Erren, I’ve made these as well as your raspberry jam muffins. They are unbelievably good! I make them all the time and they are a family favorite for breakfast! Thanks so much!
Bethany Danielson says
How much cream cheese is in the batter?
Erren says
Hi Bethany, the batter takes 2oz of cream cheese and the filling takes 4oz. Sorry if the recipe wasn’t clear. I’ve updated it.
Glenda Funk says
I must be misreading this recipe somehow. It only mentions 4 oz of cream cheese in the filling but none in the batter. Is the other 4 oz incorporated into the batter, then? Maybe it’s too early in the morning to be reading recipes 🙂
Erren says
Hi Glenda,
The batter takes 2oz of cream cheese and the filling takes 4oz. Sorry if the recipe wasn’t clear.
Glenda says
No worries, I just wanted to make sure I made them with the right ingredients. They look soooo yummy! Thanks, Erren 🙂
Erren says
I made them again yesterday. They are a fall favorite around here! 🙂
elliejc says
these look so delicious! how well do you think they would travel? would they be good for 3 days, unrefrigerated, do you think? so glad i found your blog! thanks, erren!
Erren says
Hi there, sorry for the late reply. I don’t know how long they would keep for. They go in my house so quickly. I’d guess no more than a couple of days though. Let me know how it goes for you!
Anna says
Hi,
I have no idea what went wrong, but the batter was like dough and very “doughie” after baking. I think I followed the recipe to a “t”, but it was very difficult to follow. I probably won’t make these again. Are they suppose to be “doughie”.
Erren says
Hi Anna, because of the cream cheese they are definitely a dense muffin, but I’ve never had them end up doughie. I’m sorry they didn’t work for you.
Michelle says
The recipe was difficult to follow because the pictures and comments do not go in the same order as your steps and in the instructions it was hard to tell which part of the muffin you’re making at what time. It also took me 2 1/2 hours for the whole process. They are super delicious, so I will have to make them again and I’ll have to rewrite the steps with the apples part first because they do need to cool off, just like you mentioned above the pictures.
Sherri says
Can these be made with egg beaters? I am allergic to yolk.
Erren says
I’ll be honest, I really don’t know. The egg yolk is used as a stabilizer for the cheesecake mixture. I don’t know if eggbeaters would do the job. Sorry I can’t be more help on this one.