Applesauce Mini Muffins (Toddler + Kid Favorite)
Applesauce Mini Muffins – perfectly wholesome and delicious muffins for toddler and kids! Made with white whole wheat flour, applesauce and a big spoonful of cinnamon for the ultimate muffin your little one will devour.
Applesauce Muffins
I have never in my life seen my girls eat muffins with such a short amount of time⏰! They couldn’t get them inside their bellies fast enough.
To say these were a winner🥇.. was a complete understatement!
These humble looking muffins pack a big taste punch👊!
Made with white whole wheat flour, applesauce and a big spoonful of cinnamon.. these muffins are a simple yet delicious breakfast or snack for your little ones.
Plus, there is nothing cuter than mini muffins 😍.
Applesauce Mini Muffins Video
Watch this video to see step-by-step instructions on how to make these muffins!
Reasons to Love these Mini Muffins
- toddler, kids and adult approved
- made with simple ingredients
- one-bowl recipe
- can be made gluten, dairy and egg-free
- are naturally nut-free
- fluffy and moist
- great for a breakfast or snack
- awesome packed in a school lunch
- freezer-friendly
- great meal prep item
- fun to make with the kiddos
- serve plain or with cinnamon sugar topping
Ingredients
- Flour: you can use white whole wheat, all-purpose, a gluten-free one for one, or half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour for this recipe.
- Applesauce: look for applesauce that has no sugar added.
- Egg: feel free to use a large egg or a flax egg in this recipe.
- Butter: you can use butter or any mild oil in this recipe – coconut, olive, canola or sunflower.
- Sugar: white or organic sugar is called for in this recipe.
- Brown Sugar: you can use regular brown sugar, coconut sugar or coconut brown sugar for this recipe. If you are going to reduce the amount of sugar, reduce the white sugar, not the brown sugar.
- Cinnamon: gives these muffins a to-die-for warming taste.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: gives the muffins a little lift to make them super moist and fluffy. You can also use white vinegar if that is all you have on hand, or leave it out completely.
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
Best Applesauce to Use
The best applesauce to use in this recipe is a brand that has no added sugar. You want the flavor of the applesauce, not the sugar. I would also recommend a thicker applesauce variety but all three of brands I have used for this recipe – ranging from generic to organic – have worked great.
Allergy-Friendly
- Gluten-Free: make these gluten-free by using a one-for-one gluten-free flour.
- Egg-Free: you can make this egg-free by using any egg substitute or a flax egg.
- Dairy-Free: you can make these muffins dairy-free by using oil instead of butter.
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: preheat the oven and line or spray a mini muffin tin.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Add Dry Ingredients: In the same large bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gently fold the ingredients together until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Spoon into Muffin Pan: using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill each muffin cup with batter.
- Bake: for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
- Cool: let cool in the muffin pan or on a wire rack.
- Add Topping: you can roll them in a cinnamon-sugar topping for some more yumminess!
Can I make these Applesauce Muffins Sugar-Free?
If you are looking for a refined sugar-free muffin, you can definitely take out some or all of the sugar in this recipe. I made them without the white sugar, and used coconut sugar in place of the brown sugar and while they had a slightly deeper flavor, my kids still devoured them.
Just note, the more sugar you take out of the muffins, the denser the muffins will be. I would not suggest taking all of the sugar out completely, as you will have very hard muffins.
Add even more Deliciousness
You can serve these muffins as-is, or you can add a simple cinnamon and sugar coating to the top.
You simply dip the cooled muffins into a little melted butter and then roll them into a cinnamon and sugar mixture.
Cooking with Kids
TODDLERS
- Toddlers can help measure and put the ingredients into the bowl.
- They can help mix the ingredients together.
- Once cooked, toddlers can help roll the muffins into the melted butter and cinnamon sugar topping.
KIDS
- Preheat the oven.
- They can pick out and measure all of the ingredients.
- Kids can help mix the ingredients together.
- They can help to fill the muffin cups with the batter.
- Once filled, kids can carefully put the muffin tin into the oven (with adult supervision) and remove once baked.
- Kids can melt the butter in the microwave, and then roll the muffins into the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Storing and Freezing these Mini Muffins
You can store these muffins in a loosely covered container on the counter for up to 4 days.
These muffins freeze beautifully! To freeze muffins, place the muffins in an air-tight container, zip-lock baggie or stasher bag and then place in the freezer for up to 3 months. To thaw, simply leave the muffins in the fridge overnight or heat in the microwave.
Tips for making the best applesauce muffins
- Do Not Over Mix: do not over mix the muffin batter, as this will cause hard and dense muffins. Gently fold in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Some lumps will be okay.
- Sugar: I know we don’t want our kids have a ton of sugar, these muffins have just 3 grams of added refined sugar per mini muffin. I tried to find the perfect balance of having delicious muffins without excess sugar. If you want, you can cut the white sugar in half or omit completely. This will however affect the muffins and make them denser and less fluffy.
- Use No-Added Sugar Applesauce: we are adding in our own sugar and want to have control over how much added sugar goes into these muffins.
- Mini Muffins Vs. Regular: you can definitely make this recipe into regular size muffins. You will get roughly 6 full-size muffins and will need to bake them for 18-20 minutes.
More Muffin Recipes
- Lemon Blueberry Mini Muffins
- 15 Healthy Muffins Recipes for Baby + Toddler
- 3 Fall Blender Muffins for Baby + Toddler
- Spiced Sweet Potato Mini Muffins for Baby + Toddler
Tools Needed
DID YOU MAKE THESE MINI APPLESAUCE MUFFINS?
I’D LOVE TO KNOW HOW IT TURNED OUT! LEAVE A COMMENT AND A ⭐️ RATING BELOW 👇
Or watch the shortened video here.
Get the recipe: Applesauce Mini Muffins
Ingredients
Applesauce Mini Muffins
- 1 cup flour (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup applesauce, no sugar added
- 1/4 cup butter or oil
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar Topping
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Applesauce Mini Muffins
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Line or spray a mini muffin pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract until well combined.
- In the same large bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gently fold the ingredients together until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups until 2/3 the way full. I use a ____ cookie scoop which works great for mini muffins.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until just golden brown.
- Let cool.
- You can serve as is, or coat in the cinnamon-sugar topping.
Cinnamon-Sugar Topping
- In a small bowl, melt the butter. In another small bowl, mix together the sugar and the cinnamon.
- Take a cooled muffin and dip it into the butter and then roll it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until well coated. Repeat with all of the muffins.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @babyfoode on Instagram and hashtag it #babyfoode!
21 Comments on “Applesauce Mini Muffins (Toddler + Kid Favorite)”
Oh my goodness, I just made these and they are heavenly little morsels!! So fluffy and delicious, and I haven’t even put the topping on yet! I used the spinach and apples recipe from you as my applesauce (so there’s even some spinach in these now. Ha!). Anyway, these are amazing and the apple cider vinegar makes them so incredibly fluffy and delightful. These are already a new household staple!
So happy you love them as much as we do! And love the addition of using the apple spinach puree in them #genius!
I just made this and it was lovely. The flavour was so good that my kids, hubby and everyone loved it. Thanks for the recipe
Just made this with only the coconut sugar and they came out so good! Very fluffy and my 1 year old and 5 year old just had 3 each. Need to double this recipe!
Awesome! So glad you liked them with coconut sugar. We love using coconut sugar for baking but I know some people don’t care for the taste. These also freeze really well.. so double the batch and you might have some for later in the month;)
Also, would love it if you left a star rating when you have a second. Thanks!
Absolutely delicious
So glad you liked them!
Delicious! Easy to make and we all loved them. We left off the topping.
So glad you all enjoyed them!
We made for a mommy/child playgroup and it was a great success. I forgot the ACV in the trial batch and decided to leave it out in our event. I also used sweetened applesause. Used what was on hand. This is a tried and true! Thanks for this. Totally kid-approved!! 🙂
Thank you for the review! Glad to hear that these were approved by an entire group of kids!
These were delicious! The kids and I loved them so much and happy to have an easy treat that can be made rather quickly with ingredients that are already in the pantry.
I do want to add mine were a bit spongy.. idk if that’s how that’s the preferred outcome..
Please provide feed back!
Thank you
These are so easy and taste great! My 13 months old daughter is a big fan.
So happy to hear that your daughter loves these!
First, let me start by saying I never ever write reviews for anything! I could not believe how quickly my really picky 2 year old gobbled one of these up and asked for more. Thank you so much! It’s such a struggle to get my picky toddler to eat.
I am so glad your toddler loved these muffins and I appreciate your 5-star review!
These were delicious! My 12 month old loved them. I served them without the topping and used whole grain flour. I can’t wait to make more.
When I was making them my butter was pretty cold and did not mix very well with the wet ingredients however I just went with it and folded in the dry ingredients and it still came out excellent. Next time I will use room temperature butter.
So happy to hear these muffins were such a big hit! Thanks for taking the time to comment ❤️
I made these with bob’s gluten free flour (just what I had on hand), and didn’t add any sugar. Instead I chopped up 6 medjool dates into bits and added it in. They turned out great! We added honey/butter and cinnamon on top for my 4 year old and husband. My 9 month old and I ate them as is, and they were fluffy and soft. Thanks for the great recipe!!
So happy to hear that the entire family loved these! Love your substitution of adding dates!