I discovered this grain-free apple cinnamon muffin recipe out of desperation, really. (Isn’t it so true that necessity is the mother of invention?)
On this particular morning I realized I only had five eggs in the fridge — not even close to enough to feed us all, especially when each kid could easily eat three each! I had coconut flour, homemade applesauce, and coconut oil on hand, so I mixed them and … voilà!
The kids requested them every day at breakfast for a week straight, and a great go-to (and also “to-go”) breakfast recipe was born!
Paleo Apple Cinnamon Muffins: A Break from the Norm
I’ll be real here… I haven’t always been a great baker, which I guess makes sense considering we don’t often eat grains. Still, being grain-free can mean a lot of scrambled eggs for breakfast, and we all have those days when only baked goods will do.
It always feels great to get it right and hit on a recipe that makes both mom and kids happy.
If you haven’t had coconut flour muffins before, know that they turn out a little smaller and denser than your typical muffin. Still, they have that bready texture and aroma. They’re full of protein and fiber that really satisfy, not to mention all the great health benefits of coconut since these muffins use both coconut flour and coconut oil.
These apple cinnamon muffins stay in regular rotation at our house and even kick off the breakfast section in my Wellness Mama Cookbook. As with almost all of the recipes in my cookbook, this muffin recipe takes 30 minutes or less to make, uses real food ingredients, and doesn’t generate a lot of dirty dishes to wash up afterward.
If you have to be careful and rotate recipes for allergy reasons or are just looking to get more variety at breakfast, check out the Real Plans meal planning tool for more help.
Apple Cinnamon … or Whatever Flavor You Desire!
I chose this applesauce and cinnamon combo out of convenience, but these muffins are incredibly versatile. I even discovered with a few simple modifications I could turn this recipe into these coconut flour apple cinnamon pancakes!
Using either the muffin or pancake recipe as a base, try these mix-ins to change things up from time to time:
- Reduce the applesauce by ¼ cup and add an overripe banana before blending
- Stir in ½ cup toasted chopped nuts, such as walnuts, by hand
- Mix in ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries
- Add ½ cup chopped apples for a little extra texture
- Add 3 tablespoons cocoa powder to make almost cupcake-like muffins
- Top with shredded coconut before baking for extra crunch
- Skip the apple and make them orange cranberry or lemon blueberry muffins!
The Recipe
Coconut Flour Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup applesauce
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 2-3 TBSP cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 2 TBSP honey or other sweetener of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Grease a muffin pan with coconut oil or use silicone muffin cups like these.
- Mix all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl with an immersion blender or whisk until well mixed. I prefer the immersion blender so the coconut oil mixes evenly even if cold/hard.
- Let sit 5 minutes. This helps the coconut flour absorb moisture and creates a better texture in the finished muffins.
- Use 1/3 cup measure to scoop into muffin tins.
- Bake 12-15 minutes until starting to brown and not soft when lightly touched on the top.
- Let cool 2 minutes, drizzle with honey (if desired) and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Like this recipe? Check out my new cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!
Missing baked goods? Try these other favorite grain-free breakfast recipes:
- Almond Flour Pancakes – Easy to whip up for a crowd and only takes 3 or 4 ingredients!
- Grain-free Flatbread With Spinach and Egg – Missing toast? Try this!
- Grain-free Pumpkin Pancakes – This budget recipe skips alternative flour using egg and pumpkin as the binder.
- Coconut Flour Biscuits – Indulge in sausage gravy and biscuits again, or top with eggs and hollandaise sauce for grain-free eggs benedict!
Have you ever tried making grain-free muffins? What other variations can you think of? Please share below!
It also helps to add salt.
These sound great, but Im wondering, does anyone know the rough calorie count and other nutrition information. I swear, if I make something labeled “healthy” my husband thinks that means he can eat double to balance it out 🙂 Thanks!
They are low in carbs and high in protein, so he will probably find
he gets full before be can overeat them! If weight loss is a concern,
these shouldn’t raise blood sugar enough to cause weight gain.
168 calories per muffin
Thank you! Does anyone have a carb count? I am diabetic and need to count these.
Any one try these with almond four?
I haven’t yet… I’m hoping to be able to buy some almond flour
really soon. I’d think you’d have to adjust it some, since almond
flour acts a little more like wheat flour, and coconut flour is much
more dry. I’d think you’d have to add closer to 3/4 or 1 cup, but as
long as the consistency is right, it should work.
I did this morning. Cut the eggs down to three, and ended up tripling the flour (1.5 c) as the almond flour is not nearly as dry. I also added a tsp. of cider vinegar to activate the soda. Only 1.5 tbsp of oil just to cut back. They were marvelous and with company over didn’t make it past noon 😉
I wondered if I was the only one thinking about vinegar in response to the baking soda. Thanks for posting your experience! I’m looking forward to doing the same!
Delicious!!! And great texture too! I didn’t have any applesauce, so I used my food processor to shred two medium apples. Then switched to the blade attachment and added everything else and blended it all together. I think the apples make them sweet enough I didn’t even need to add any honey! Can’t wait to try a banana nut version next….
Love. Love. Love this recipe. Just made my second batch of the week. Satisfies the craving for sweet and bready! I miss Panera bagels!!!
I tried these and these were awful!! Not sure why but all I can taste is egg.
I was wondering about that. 5 eggs seems like a lot, can you make with less?
I have been makingg these for some time now and yes, definitely only 4 eggs is better. Otherwise it is too eggy
I agree. I made them one time and they smelled delicious so I couldn’t wait to try them. We all took a bite and looked at each other. Almost everyone was sure that I left something out because they tasted terrible. I may try them again with less egg and maybe some honey added in?
I’m going to try this in the morning. Do you make raw or cooked applesauce? I’m wondering if my raw applesauce will have too much moisture…
I’ve always just used my homemade canned applesauce, so I’m not sure.
Raw applesauce may have too much moisture, but you may be able to
just use a little more coconut flour or a little less applesauce. The
consistency you are going for is thicker than pancake batter but
thinner than peanut butter. I used a small measuring cup to scoop
into the muffin tins. I would think as long as you can get the
consistency right, it should work.
I hope someone can give me some pointers. I didn’t know where else to ask for help. I have a traditional mini pumpkin chocolate chip muffin that my son just loves. He has given up wheat with us, but this is one he is missing. How do I go about adapting or changing it to make it healthy?
Shelly
You could sub pureed pumpkin for the applesauce in this recipe, add pumpkin pie spices to taste and chocolate chips, and it should be somewhat similar.
Elana’s pantry has lots of grain free recipes. I have gotten a good pumpkin one there if you don’t find one here.
Try part oat flour and part brown rice flour in your recipe. I make pumpkin cranberry muffins with brown rice flour.
I substituted almond meal for some of the coconut flour. And I cut out an egg and added 1 tablespoon flaxseed meat mixed with a little water for added omega 3’s and fiber.
You can throw oats in the blender & turn it into flour. I make banana chocolate chip muffins with it. My recipe uses 2 cups. Add in a tsp. of xanthum gum for stickiness since there’s no gluten.
Is there a good egg sub for these? Thx
Isn’t coconut oil high in cholestrol?
As long as coconut oil is not hydrogenated and is in cold pressed,
extra virgin, unfiltered form, it actually has a good effect on
cholesterol. The medium chain fatty acids and lauric acid are great
for the body and don’t raise cholesterol at all. check out this
article if you are interested in reading more: https://wellnessmama.com/5734/coconut-oil/
This is the first recipe from your book I made . Measured carefully and double checked all ingredients. Definitely only made 9 muffins! I even put a little less than one-third cup in each. Kind of disappointed
coconut oil is soooooooooo good for you…………………people are so misinformed. Dr. Mercola is my favourite site. Here is a great article.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/22/coconut-oil-and-saturated-fats-can-make-you-healthy.aspx
Dietary cholesterol does NOT raise blood cholesterol! carbs do!
Not ALL and ANY carbs raise cholesterol. It’s the bad carbs, aka the simple carbs that can raise cholesterol. Complex carbs can actually lower cholesterol. What else raises cholesterol? Animal protein (if eaten too often). I suggest reading the fabulous and research based book called “The China Study” by Colin Campbell. It’s so informative.
https://chriskresser.com/rest-in-peace-china-study/
The recipe calls for tablespoons of cinnamon, is that right? Anyone think that it was too much? Love cinnamon but would love feedback on that before trying.
Coconut oil has no cholesterol. Cholesterol is something that only animals make, thus it’s only in animal foods and animal products. In addition, the idea that cholesterol is bad for us, has been disproven.
Coconut oil has zero cholesterol, not that it matters anyway. After more than a decade of research confirming that dietary cholesterol intake does not contribute to blood cholesterol levels, the world health organization finally acknowledge the same. Coconut oil is high in a healthy type of saturated fat called medium chain triglycerides. It is not only a healthier alternative to other oils, but actually a fat that you should try to intentionally get in your diet.
I tried this recipe tonight! Pretty tasty and much better than the attempt I made using an incomplete recipe from elsewhere on your site last night!
Those sound so yummy! One question – do you melt the coconut oil before mixing it in?
Nope, just mix it in and blend with the hand blender.
Thank you for that clarification! I get confused with some of the baking recipes and never know to melt or not to melt!
I mixed everything on low in my Vitamix, made it super easy to pour into muffin tins as well.
That was the same question I had too! It was unclear if you needed to melt or measure at solid. ALSO…. It says to use an immersion blender or whisk but I am guessing I can do this with a hand mixer as well??
I melted it first, came out fine.
These look wonderful, I can’t wait to try them out! I’ve been making wheat blueberry muffins lately, but I like the idea of using coconut flour and coconut oil even more!