Apple Cider Mini Muffins

Confession: I’m not much of a pumpkin fan. My oldest loves all things pumpkin, like these easy pumpkin truffles.

I don’t mind it in small doses, but I’ve never bought into the “make everything pumpkin” craze.

But apple? Oh yes, bring it on.

And especially apple cider. I love to add a few things and let it simmer in my crockpot all day or add it to wine with some fruit and make a fall sangria.

Apple cider donuts are another favorite.

These apple cider mini muffins will give you the same flavor as apple cider donuts, but with much less work. This recipe makes 48 mini muffins, but you could easily double it.  I made these for our PTO luncheon this month, so I doubled it to feed the teachers plus have some for my family, too. (Okay, I made these apple cider mini muffins plus banana chocolate chip mini muffins since food is how I show love and appreciation and I tend to go overboard.) I actually started writing this with the double portions and then realized that not everyone needed 96-100 mini muffins all at once… so here it is in its more reasonable quantity form.

Also, my personal preference for these mini muffins is to wait until they’re cool to eat. My boys ate them hot and had no complaints, but I liked them better once they’d cooled. Maybe because it gave all that glorious butter a chance to soak into the mini muffin.

Apple Cider Mini Muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups apple cider
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping 

• 1/2 cup melted butter (approximate- I really dunk my muffins in this, so I tend to need a little more)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar + 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, combined

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 and grease your mini muffin tins
• In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients (wet ingredients: cider, egg, vanilla, milk, and melted butter)
• In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (not including those for the topping, just the flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt)
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until combined.
• Use a tablespoon cookie scoop to measure your muffin mix into the mini muffin tins
• Bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove from the tin
• Let cool a few minutes longer (so you don’t burn your fingers when you pick them up to do the topping)
• Dip each muffin into the melted butter, then into the cinnamon sugar mixture
• Allow to cool or enjoy right away