Apple Spice Muffins with Pistachio Streusel

I am very picky about muffin recipes. I have tried so many that were fine, but not ones I would make again or take to something special. My description of the perfect muffin would be one that is slightly more dense than a cupcake, very moist, has amazing flavor, and has some added item for texture. This recipe meets and exceeds all my expectations. The spices and additions of sour cream and apple to this batter create a moist coffee cake-like muffin that’s good enough to stand alone…but the streusel makes these truly special and worthy of taking to a special breakfast or brunch.

I’ve never had pistachios in a streusel and found the flavor to be a wonderful change from the usual nuts, but if you don’t have pistachios, the recipe would work equally well with most other nuts or a blend of nuts.

There is plenty of topping to cover all 18 muffins with a thick layer. My muffins took 28 minutes to bake. We let them cool slightly and tried them warm…so good they could be a dessert with ice cream but also perfect for breakfast.

With just family here they lasted a few days and were still wonderful 2 days later.

These muffins were a delightful surprise! I love pistachios and I love apples, but I had no idea that these two items combined in a muffin would be so good. And boy, were they. Personally, I’m normally not a big muffin fan because the flavors aren’t all that exciting most places. These muffins have me changing my outlook on muffins in general. I’d love to see these in more bakeries.

Now, don’t worry when you have your pre-apple batter and it’s looking a little thick. The moisture from the apples will fix that as soon as you fold them in!

I made a second batch with salted pistachios just to see how that worked out and I actually preferred the salted version. The savory of the salt and pistachio really nicely contrasted with the sweet of the apples.

Muffins are supposed to be a bit on the “dense and moist” side and not the light and fluffy side of the muffin-cupcake spectrum in my opinion. These apple spice muffins are decidedly more cupcake than muffin. They are airy, fluffy, and cakey. As such, they aren’t what I like to eat in the morning when I want a muffin and I was going to initially give them a lower score. However, my wife loved them for the exact reason I did not. She enjoyed the airy texture. As long as you know what this recipe will produce and this is your preference, then these baked goodies are a winner.

I loved the flavor. The spice is balanced and plays really well with the apples and the streusel. That Streusel, BTW, alone is worth making as a topping for a peach, apricot, or plum tart. It’s fantastic.

The cupcakes work very well as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I see no good reason to dirty another bowl to mix the sour cream and eggs in along with the vanilla and lemon juice. Just add them in the order listed directly into the mixing bowl and mix. I had no problem with this approach.

The quantity here is a bit too small for my stand mixer. I used my handheld mixer and it worked great.

Does anyone actually have an 18-muffin tin? Mine is a 12-muffin tin and the recipe made 12 perfectly sized muffins in it. If you use it to make 18, I think they will be too small and it’s inconvenient to bake 12 and then bake another 6. Just make 12.

These muffins are delicious and I will definitely make them again. They baked in 25 minutes and were delicious warm or at room temperature. I may add a little extra cinnamon next time but otherwise they were perfectly delicious!