Apple Muffins with Maple Glaze is a copycat of the old Costco muffins. Moist, fluffy, apple and spice-filled muffins topped with streusel and drizzled with a maple glaze. This tasty apple muffin recipe is perfect for your brunch table!
I have never been a muffin girl, until lately. I do recall years ago my mom or teaches getting a large pack of muffins from Costco and one was an apple with a maple glaze. I remember always begging for that muffin. It was delish.
So this recipe was born, there are quite a few steps, but don't let that intimidate you. You'll need to make the muffins, a streusel topping, and a maple glaze, but it's well worth the effort.
Let's get to the recipe.
🍏Ingredients
- Flour. You just need all-purpose or plain flour. You'll use flour in the muffins and the streusel topping.
- Quick-Cooking Oats. I love all the chew and texture you get from the oats.
- Sugar. I like the flavor of a little brown sugar and granulated sugar. You'll use the brown sugar in the muffins and the streusel topping.
- Baking Powder. This chemical leaving agent helps the muffins rise properly.
- Spices. Ground Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, and Nutmeg. We'll use these in the muffins and the streusel.
- Salt. I know a lot of time people think sweet, so they don't think salt is needed but it does balance out the ingredients so don't forget it!
- Large Eggs. They should be at room temperature. To do this quickly place the eggs in a bowl of warm water.
- Milk & Sour Cream. These both help provide great moisture to the muffins.
- Vegetable Oil. You could use butter but I find that oil provides better moisture in the muffins. You could also use another neutral oil.
- Butter. But we will use butter in the streusel topping.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. Love the flavor of vanilla, don't use the imitation stuff.
- Apple. I prefer a tart apple like Granny Smiths.
The maple glaze only needs confectioners sugar, hot water, maple syrup and if you love maple, like me then use some maple extract too!
📖Instructions
Preheat oven your oven to 375F/191C and grease a 12 cup standard muffin pan.
In a medium bowl mix together flour, quick oats, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.
Make sure everything is evenly combined, so the spices are evenly distributed.
In a large bowl mix together all the wet ingredients -- eggs, sour cream, milk, oil, and vanilla.
Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until no flour streaks remain. Fold in apple chunks, until just combined.
To make the streusel topping in a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, butter, oats, a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Use clean hands to rub the butter into the streusel.
Fill muffin pans all the way to the top with batter. Sprinkle the streusel on top.
Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Place the pan on wire rack to cool while you prepare the maple galze.
In a small bowl mix together powdered sugar, maple syrup, maple extract, and hot water.
If the glaze is too thick add a teaspoon of water at a time to reach desired consistency. Drizzle on top of muffins.
More muffin recipes
Another delicious muffin is my rhubarb muffins, the tart rhubarb goes perfectly against the sweet soft muffin crumb.
Who doesn't love chocolate for breakfast? Chocolate chip muffins are always a winner.
Another chocolate muffin winner is my banana chocolate chip muffins, classic delicious combo!
★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!
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Apple Muffins w/ Maple Glaze
Apple Muffins with Maple Glaze is a copycat of the old Costco muffins. Moist, fluffy, apple and spice filled muffins topped with streusel and drizzled with a maple glaze. This tasty apple muffin recipe is perfect for your brunch table!
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 Muffins 1x
Ingredients
Muffins
- 250 grams (2 Cups) All-Purpose/ Plain Flour
- 50 grams (½ Cup) Quick-Cooking Oats
- 150 grams (¾ Cup) Brown Sugar
- 50 grams (¼ Cup) Granulated Sugar
- 3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ Teaspoon Ground Cloves
- ¼ Teaspoon Allspice
- ¼ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 4oz (½ Cup) Sour Cream
- 5.3oz (⅔ Cup)Whole Milk or 2%
- 2.6oz (⅓ Cup) Vegetable Oil
- 2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Tart Apple, cut into small chunks (mine came out to 1 ½ cups)
Streusel Topping
- 63 grams (½ Cup) All-Purpose/ Plain Flour
- 50 grams (¼ Cup) Brown Sugar
- 25 grams (¼ Cup) Rolled Oats
- Pinch of Ground Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves
- 4oz (8 Tablespoons) Butter, at room temp.
Maple Glaze
- 150 grams (1 Heaping Cup) Confectioners/Powdered Sugar, sifted
- 3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 Tablespoons Maple Extract
- 1 Tablespoons Hot Water
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 400F/205C and heavily grease a 12 cup standard muffin pan.
- In a medium bowl mix together flour, quick oats, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together eggs, sour cream, milk, oil, and vanilla. Slowly mix in dry ingredients, just until no flour streaks remain. Fold in apple chunks.
Streusel Topping
- To make streusel topping in a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, butter, oats, a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Use clean fingers to rub the butter in to the dry streusel ingredients. You want clumps of streusel.
- Fill muffin pans all the way to the top with batter. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake for 5 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350F/180C and bake for an addition 13- 15 minutes. Until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool.
Maple Glaze
- In a small bowl mix together powdered sugar, maple syrup, maple extract and hot water. If too thick add a teaspoon of water at a time to reach desired consistency. Drizzle on top of muffins. Best eaten on the day they are made, but leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Breakfast
Keywords: costco muffin recipe, maple apple recipe
This recipe was originally published on May 23, 2014, the photos and text have been updated as of late 2019.
Ron says
This must be the Target version of the recipe. I don't see any apples listed.
Elizabeth says
That would be me writing the recipe at 2am and forgetting about the apples all together! LOL Sorry for the mistake and thanks for letting me know 🙂
Ron says
Thanks! I can't wait to make them. Sounds Delish!
Elizabeth says
I hope you do Ron. My family and friends LOVED them.
Laura Dembowski says
I love muffins and these look like some totally awesome muffins! I'm a little leery of the new grocery department in my Target - things aren't looking so fresh there either. I also remember those Costco muffins, but I don't eat them anymore because the ingredient list is a mile long and they don't taste nearly as good as homemade.
Elizabeth says
Yes homemade= way better! 🙂
ashley - baker by nature says
I love muffins - especially for breakfast! These look so warm and comforting. Bookmarking for the Fall!
Elizabeth says
Thanks Ashley 🙂
Gloria @ Simply Gloria says
You sound like a Costco girl like me...love all their goodies in the baking area! These apple chunks rock in this muffin!
Btw, your nail polish color is very pretty!
Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel says
I love it when you get all muffin girlie on me.
Elizabeth says
Oh shoot girl! ME too!!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I could drink that maple glaze! SO good.
Jocelyn says
Oh, nothing beats a nice warm glazed muffin!
Elizabeth says
True that!
Nicole @ Daily Dish Recipes says
Omg! These look SO good! Moist and that Maple Glaze makes me want to lick it all off. haha
My son will love these! Great recipe!
Miss Messy says
That maple glaze looks totally amazing. I'd want to put it on everything! 🙂
Cindy says
A long time ago I made these but forgot to write down the recipe that I had come up with. With your recipe I would double the strussel and pack the bottom of each muffin with 2 T. Of it so you get that crunchy bottom too. These are my favorite muffins. Today my granddaughter and I made blueberry ones. I get to eat a couple before I send them home with her, because first my husband is not a muffin eater.... Ok back... I'm old not dead! And doesn't like blueberries. Though he will eat 1-2 slices of a quick bread... Dah... Same thing! So I need send this recipe to my computer so I can print it off. Thanks so much for making it available to print! Cindy from Alaska 12/31/15
Jennifer says
Thank you for this recipe, I just made them following the recipe exactly and they came out beautifully! They were a little taller than the muffins pictured, and the maple glaze was perfect. So delicious. I love the maple Costco muffins but don't live anywhere near a Costco so this recipe will perfectly suffice. Good work!
Kim says
My family all liked these muffins, though the streusel could use a little more spice. My husband doesn't like oat in muffins, so I ground that ingredient to a flour consistency. I plan to make these again!
★★★★
Elizabeth Waterson says
Thank you for coming back and leaving a review, Kim. I appreciate it so much!! I too sometimes grind the oats down, it really creates such a fabulous texture!
Jesse says
Just like costco’s without the unpronounceable ingredients and excess sugar! Loved them! Super comforting late summer/ fall treat! Thanks for sharing your recipe
★★★★★
Elizabeth Waterson says
Thank you so much for coming back to review the muffins Jesse, I really appreciate it! Hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy during this trying time. XX Liz
Carol says
Oh heavens these muffins are delish!!!!
★★★★★
Karen says
Great tasting muffins but the topping calls for 8 tablespoons of butter, which makes it really runny when it’s baking. Possibly an error when written? I cut the amount of butter so when I made them again it had a crumbly texture.
Mackenzie Rae says
This was not only easy to make but made me look like I actually know how to bake given how everyone raved over it!!! Nearly everyone who tasted asked me to send the recipe… I’m a hit… I mean it was a hit!
★★★★★
Elizabeth Waterson says
So happy you enjoyed the muffins, this three-part muffin means you are totally a baker! Thank you for the 5-star review!! XX Liz
Lana L. says
I’m not sure where I messed up. I converted the recipe to US and only did a single batch. I didn’t have maple extract so used vanilla for the glaze. Other than that I followed the recipe to the letter. They didn’t turn out very tasty. Not sweet at all. I’m wondering if I was supposed to add the increments in the parentheses or not? Like for the muffins themselves the brown sugar is 1 cup (3/4 cup). Should I have added another 3/4 cup?
Elizabeth Waterson says
Hi Lana, I am so sorry you had issues. I am not sure you mean a single batch- the recipe at 1X is 3/4 cup or 150 grams. Let me know if I can help more 🙂 XX Liz