Name: Cinnamon Apple Tahini Muffins
Yield: Serves 12 muffins
Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup tahini; 1/3 cup butter, melted; 1/2 cup milk; 1 egg; 1 cup diced, peeled apple (about 2 medium apples)

Photo by Posie Harwood

Test Kitchen-Approved

Author Notes

A riff on a classic fall recipe, these muffins rely on tahini for a moistness and nuttiness that elevates them from ordinary breakfast fare. They're not particularly sweet on their own, but the pockets of baked fruit add just the right amount of sweetness to each bite. —Posie (Harwood) Brien

Serves 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 ¹/₂ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¹/₂ teaspoon ground cardamom
³/₄ cup brown sugar
¹/₂ cup tahini
¹/₃ cup butter, melted
¹/₂ cup milk
1 egg
1 cup diced, peeled apple (about 2 medium apples)

In This Recipe

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Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, or grease each tin.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and brown sugar.
Whisk together the tahini, butter, egg, and milk. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Stir in the chopped apples.
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cups.
Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown on the top and just set. The muffins should still look slightly underbaked.

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Review

I like warm homemade bread slathered with fresh raw milk butter, ice cream in all seasons, the smell of garlic in olive oil, and sugar snap peas fresh off the vine.

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19 Reviews

Taylor S. March 30, 2020

Definitely agree that liquid should be increased to 1 cup. I used salted butter but probably still should've put a pinch more in the batter. I love the tahini flavor in this, and it pairs beautifully with the spices and apple! I baked six muffins and then put the rest of the batter in a 6-inch cake pan topped with turbinado sugar for a crust which was delicious. Probably would make these again with the aforementioned tweaks.

Alamobecky October 19, 2019

Followed others' advice and increased milk to 1 c., increased spices a bit, added 1 t. salt and added a couple of tablespoons of applesauce. The tahini makes all the difference in what would be an ordinary-tasting apple muffin. These are delicious!

Jackie.lacava February 23, 2020

So helpful! Made them a lot better.

Kitspy September 20, 2019

I like the flavor of these! The batter was a little hard to mix, so I had to add a little extra liquid - half and half, because I'm out of milk - a splash at a time until I could reasonably mix it. They're definitely dense, but not unpleasantly so. Next time I might cut my apples a little smaller so they're more evenly dispersed. Besides the half and half, the only change I made was swapping out half a cup of flour with half a cup rolled oats because my doctor told me to eat oats every day, and I know he meant oatmeal and this is cheating, but too bad.

lbn March 19, 2018

I should probably have followed the advice of the reviewers, but I made this as is (no increased milk) and they were quite dry, unfortunately.

Angela D. November 29, 2016

Following others' advice, I increased the brown sugar to 1 cup and the milk to about ¾ cup (I used almond milk), and these muffins turned out BEAUTIFULLY for me -- crisp on the outside, moist on the inside, and just sweet enough with the apples. The tahini, cinnamon, and apples complement each other really well, and I would definitely make this again for something different from all the ordinary apple-cinnamon recipes.

Lauren M. October 31, 2016

I also increased the amount of milk by two -- so one cup total, and I used buttermilk because that's what I had on hand and it worked well! I would recommend upping the spices by 1/2 teaspoon or so to retain that 'fall flavor' with the added liquid.

Molly October 23, 2016

I just love these. I am an enormous fan of muffins in general and these are a wonderful, not too sweet option. The tahini gives these muffins such a rich flavor.

Sara N. October 22, 2016

For moist muffins, I had add an extra 1.5 cups of milk. The initial dough was too dry and crumbly.

Justine S. October 21, 2016

Any tips on adapting this for a loaf pan rather than muffins?

SM October 9, 2016

Overall, I think these are very good. I increased the brown sugar to 1 cup and added a teaspoon of salt. I also used half and half instead of milk because that's what I had on hand. The texture of the batter is very thick, and once baked, these are a bit crumbly. I may try adding a second egg next time, but overall think these are good.

SM February 20, 2017

I made these again today, again with 1 cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon of salt. I also added 1 egg, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, and a pinch each of allspice and clove. I also doubled the amount of cinnamon. The first time I made these, I felt they were too crumbly and lacked the spiciness I was hoping for, so these adjustments helped. It's still quite a dense muffin, but I like it.

AnnaChris October 4, 2016

I really enjoyed these! Based on what I had in my pantry/fridge, I used coconut oil in place of the butter, allspice in place of the cardamom, and plain yogurt mixed with a bit of water in place of the milk. The flavor of the spices and the tahini were prominent without being overwhelming. Highly recommended!

Sofija October 3, 2016

Made these last night and subbed 1 cup of whole wheat flour for AP - didn't take into account that this would make the batter much denser, so when the whole thing was looking EXTREMELY dry, I dumped in about half a cup of applesauce and they turned out AMAZING!

lighthouse6 October 2, 2016

I would love to know the calorie content of these delicious sounding muffins. With a 1/3c butter AND 1/2c tahini that is a lot of fat per serving...

Emily T. October 2, 2016

Oh, and I tagged you in my photo of the results on Instagram (@eloise.bean). :)

Author Comment

Posie (. October 3, 2016

Awesome!! So glad you liked them. I love the garam masala riff -- so clever and I'm definitely going to try that!

Emily T. October 2, 2016

Great recipe! I halved it and substituted coconut oil, nondairy milk, and a "flax egg," to make it vegan. I also didn't have ground cardamom so for the spices I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp garam masala, a pinch of nutmeg, and added a little salt (double that for the full recipe). They turned out great! A wonderful way to start the Fall baking season! Thank you!

courtney.odellchaib October 2, 2016

These were not my favorite. Perhaps needed salt. I cannot decide how I feel about the texture.

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