These apple crisp cupcakes are made up of a fluffy vanilla cupcake, apple pie filling, a caramel cream cheese frosting, and a buttery, cinnamon crumble on top. Every bite screams autumn!
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Nina Kneads to Bake.
Jump To Recipe
🧁Apple pear crisp as a cupcake?
I have an apple pear crisp recipe and love it so much, that I thought, what would an apple crisp cupcake taste like? Well, they are perfection!
Yes, these cupcakes sound like a lot of work. Yes, there are 4 parts to these cupcakes. But, they are so worth it! If you could put everything you love about fall into cupcakes, these are it! Every bite is full of fall flavour from the apple pie filling inside the cupcake, to the caramel cream cheese frosting, to the cinnamon crumble on top. These cupcakes are just so good. I dare you to try and eat just one!
For more holiday recipes, check out my cranberry upside down cake, pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls, apple pear crisp, or mini apple crisp cheesecakes!
🥘Ingredients
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder & baking soda
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar - either light or dark brown would work.
- Eggs
- Vanilla yogurt
- Whole milk
- Vanilla extract - Helps to make the cupcakes moist and gives an extra vanilla kick.
- Apples - I used a combination of granny smith and Macintosh apples. Granny smith are more tart and Macintosh are sweeter.
- Water
- Cinnamon & nutmeg
- Cornstarch
- Butter - salted and unsalted butter is used in this recipe.
- Cream Cheese
- Caramel sauce
- Icing sugar
🔪Instructions
The vanilla cupcake comes together by mixing the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add in the eggs until combined, and then mix in yogurt and vanilla.
Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk, and then the rest of the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into cupcake liners and bake for 15-18 minutes.
Apple pie filling
Combine apples, water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Sir in cornstarch. Heat mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The apple pie filling will thicken. Take of the heat and use a potato masher to mash up the softened apples to pea-sized. Cool until ready to use.
Crumble topping
Combine flour, sugars, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut in cold butter until butter has been well incorporated into the dry ingredients and is pea-sized. Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake, breaking up the crumble every few minutes with a spoon. Remove from the oven when the crumble is golden in colour. Let cool at room temperature until ready to use.
Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in caramel sauce and vanilla until combined. Mix in icing sugar until smooth.
To assemble, core a cupcake with a cupcake corer or a knife. Carefully spoon apple pie filling into the cupcake cavity. Use a medium round piping tip to pipe frosting onto the cupcake. Top the cupcake with crumble.
For more step-by-step photos and instructions, see the web story for apple crisp cupcakes!
✔️Expert tips
- The vanilla cupcake, apple pie filling, and the crumble can all be made a day ahead to make assembly easier. The cupcakes and crumble should be stored at room temperature, and the apple filling filling in the fridge.
- I suggest using a combination of tart and sweet apples such as Granny Smith and Macintosh. Use whichever apples you prefer though. Even just one type is fine. 🙂
- Make sure you stir the crumble frequently as it bakes. It will bake in one giant glob if not.
- Leftover cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
💭FAQs
Honey Crisp, Gala, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, and Macintosh are all the best type of apples to use for apple pie filling. I like a combination of tart and sweet so I used Granny Smith and Macintosh. Feel free to use whatever combination you want, or just pick one type of apple.
The vanilla cupcake can be made a day ahead and stored, covered, at room temperature. The apple pie filling can be made up to 2 days in advance. Cover and store in the refrigerator. The crumble can also be made ahead and stored at room temperature in a container.
You could, however, fresh apple pie filling tastes so much better. Also, store bought filling tends to be more watery.
Yes, a buttercream frosting would work well too.
📋Recipe
📋 Recipe
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Nina Kneads to Bake.
Apple Crisp Cupcakes
Equipment
- one 12 cup muffin tin
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 1 ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup vanilla yogurt room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup whole milk room temperature
Apple Pie Filling
- 2 cups apples peeled and chopped
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Crumble Topping
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar packed
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons salted butter cold, diced
Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup salted butter room temperature
- 3 tablespoons caramel sauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy, about 4 minutes.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix until each one is combined. Mix in vanilla yogurt and vanilla extract.
- Add half the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour in milk and mix, and then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Fill cupcake liners with the batter until ⅔ds full. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely before assembly.
- Apple Pie Filling
- Place apples, water, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Stir to combine. Add cornstarch and stir to combine.
- Heat over medium heat until the filling thickens and the apples soften. Remove from heat and use a potato masher to mash the apple chunks to the size of a pea.
- Cool the apple pie filling in the refrigerator until ready to assemble cupcakes.
- Crumble Topping
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk flour, sugars, and cinnamon together. Use a fork or pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients. The butter should be pea sized and well incorporated when done.
- Spread the crumbs on the baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. Stir frequently so the crumbs do not bake into a whole piece.
- Bake until the crumbs are golden. Remove from oven to a wire rack and stir again. Let it cool down before using.
- Store cooled crumble in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Caramel cream cheese frosting
- Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add caramel sauce and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
- Add in icing sugar and beat until combined.
- Assembly
- Core cupcakes with a knife or a cupcake corer.
- Carefully spoon apple pie filling into cupcake center. Gently pat it in to get as much filling as possible in.
- Use a medium round piping tip to pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
- Sprinkle crumble on top of the cupcakes.
- Store cupcakes airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- The vanilla cupcake, apple pie filling, and the crumble can all be made a day ahead to make assembly easier. The cupcakes and crumble should be stored at room temperature, and the apple filling filling in the fridge.
- I suggest using a combination of tart and sweet apples such as Granny Smith and Macintosh. Use whichever apples you prefer though. Even just one type is fine.
- Make sure you stir the crumble frequently as it bakes. It will bake in one giant glob if not.
- Leftover cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Did you try this recipe? Comment below to let me know ☺️