Sourdough Apple Muffins
As the crisp fall air is upon us, I was inspired by the seasonal flavors of apple and cinnamon. I created these sourdough apple muffins for a quick muffin that is perfect for apple picking season. Autumn weather usually means pumpkin everything, crisp apples and warm spices (which are front and center ingredients in my sourdough pumpkin cinnamon rolls, my pumpkin sourdough blondies, and my sourdough pumpkin cookies, my pumpkin sourdough scones, sourdough pumpkin bread, sourdough pumpkin pie, and my sourdough pumpkin muffins).
Why You Will Love these Sourdough Discard Apple Muffins
These easy sourdough discard apple muffins are the perfect muffin to make in the fall when you are short on time. They can be made start to finish in under an hour but taste bakery fresh.
You can use any kind of apple you have on hand. I have a few apple trees in my yard and I like to mix up whatever I have that is in season and ready to use. For more flavor complexity, go for a combination of tart apples and sweet apples.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour: I recommend all purpose flour for this recipe. You can also use cake flour if desired.
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Butter: I recommend unsalted butter because you can control the salt in your recipe better but you can use salted butter as well. If making the recipe vegan, I love Earth Balance.
- Sourdough Starter: You can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough discard straight from the fridge. Ideally, you want your starter to be around 100% hydration (meaning you feed it equal parts flour and water by weight).
- Brown Sugar: If you don’t have brown sugar you can also use plain white sugar.
- Egg: If you are making these muffins vegan, I have tried many different vegan egg replacers and they will mostly give you similar results. I love Bob’s Red Mill Vegan Egg Replacer as well as Ener-G egg replacer. You can also make a flax egg by mixing 1 tablespoon of ground flax with 3 tablespoons of water.
- Milk: You can use any type of milk in this recipe. Whole milk will have more rich results than skim milk but they will taste almost identical. You can also use dairy free milk for this muffin recipe. I personally love Ripple pea protein milk and oat milk.
- Vanilla: I recommend pure vanilla extract but you can use imitation vanilla.
- Apples: You can use your favorite variety of fresh apples in this recipe. I like to use honey crisp apples, but you can also go for granny smith apples for a tart apple flavor. Other varieties that work well include fuji apples, pink lady apples or golden delicious apples.
How to Make Sourdough Apple Muffins
Step 1: Line your muffin tin with muffin liners. Mix the dry ingredients.
Step 2: Melt the butter. Be careful to only melt the butter in 10 second intervals if using the microwave. If overheated in the microwave, it can explode (don’t ask me how I know). Generally, the best way to melt butter is slowly over low heat on the stove.
Step 3: Mix the melted butter, sourdough starter, vanilla, milk, and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Step 4: Stir in the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients.
Step 5: Stir in the apples.
Step 6: Divide batter into muffin cups lined with cupcake liners.
Step 7: Bake. Allow the muffin pan to cool on a wire rack.
How to Make Vegan Apple Sourdough Muffins
My favorite part about these vegan sourdough muffins is that they taste like regular muffins. I always strive to make my vegan recipes so delicious that no one will know they are vegan (check out my vegan sourdough cinnamon rolls, my vegan sourdough brownies, my vegan zucchini muffins, and my vegan sourdough chocolate chip cookies) Your non-vegan friends and family will love these and won’t know they contain no eggs or cow’s milk.
How to Store Sourdough Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Store these muffins at room temperature for 3 days or in the fridge for up to one week. They should be stored in an airtight container or in a large gallon ziplock bag.
They can also be frozen in a gallon freezer bag for up to 4 months for best results.
I hope you enjoyed these delicious muffins as much as my family did. For more sourdough discard recipes or sourdough recipes with active starter, I encourage you to join my email list so you never miss a new recipe. Thank you for being here with me!
Sourdough Apple Muffins
Ingredients
- 1¾ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk
- 1½ cups apples, chopped into ⅓ inch pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low-medium heat.
- Remove from heat and add the butter to a large bowl along with the brown sugar, sourdough starter, milk, egg, and vanilla. Whisk smooth.
- Stir in the dry ingredients until almost combined.
- Add the chopped apples and continue to stir until just completely combined. Do not overmix. The batter should still have some lumps in it.
- Use a spoon to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
- Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack.
