These are quite possibly the best muffins I’ve ever made. On the first try too! Just nailed it. I love it when that happens.

Snickerdoodles just might be very favorite type of cookie; I love their soft chewiness, and who can resist that sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top? So the idea of reinterpreting snickerdoodles in muffin form was something I had to try. I added apples for a nice Fall vibe and threw some bran into the mix to keep things at least slightly healthier than the cookie version. But with a cinnamon sugar swirled into the batter along with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top of each muffin, these muffins are undeniably snickerdoodle-y.

Paired with a smear of butter, snacking on these muffins with a warm cup of coffee over the last couple of days has easily been the high point of my week.

Is that a teeny bit sad? Eh, I don’t care.

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Apple Snickerdoodle Bran Muffins

Servings 6 jumbo muffins or 1 dozen regular muffins

Ingredients

• for the cinnamon sugar:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• for the brown sugar swirl:
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• for the muffins:
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup bran
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter melted
• 1/2 cup milk room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 medium apple peeled, cored and diced

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and fill a muffin tin with paper liners. In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Set aside. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons flour 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside.
2. For the muffins, combine flour, bran, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium sized bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, milk and vanilla extract.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to mix until ingredients are well incorporated. Gradually add apples and brown sugar swirl mixture in a swirling motion througout batter.
4. Fill muffin cups until nearly full and sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (jumbo muffins will take longer to bake compared to regular muffins).