Dutch-Apple Crunchcakes
Submitted by wreiling
Dutch apple cupcakes topped with cinnamon streusel and drizzled with powdered sugar glaze. Granny Smith chunks and golden raisins fold into a tender oil-based batter for fall-baking nostalgia.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
35 minREADY
60 minThese are essentially Dutch apple pie reimagined as cupcakes, with the same buttery cinnamon streusel scattered over the top and a sweet glaze finish. The streusel is what makes them “Dutch", that’s what defines a Dutch apple anything in the American baking tradition.
Granny Smith apples are the right call here, not red eating apples. Their tartness and firm flesh hold up to baking instead of dissolving into sauce, and their acidity cuts through the sugary streusel and glaze.
Macerating the apple with sugar and cinnamon before adding to the batter is the move. The released juice gets stirred into the batter while the slightly drier apple chunks add texture without making the cupcakes soggy.
The batter looks impossibly thick when you mix it, that’s correct. The apple’s residual moisture loosens it during baking. Don’t add liquid to thin it or you’ll end up with flat, gummy cupcakes.
Low and slow at 325°F (165°C) keeps the streusel from burning before the centers cook through. Higher temperatures scorch the topping while leaving raw centers.
Pro Tips
- Use ½-inch apple chunks. Smaller dice releases too much moisture, larger chunks weigh down the batter.
- Press the streusel gently into the batter so it stays attached during baking instead of falling off.
- The 5-minute rest in the turned-off oven is what finishes the centers, don’t skip it.
- These are best eaten the day they’re baked, the streusel softens overnight.
Variations
- Add ¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans to the streusel for extra crunch.
- Swap raisins for dried cranberries for a tart-fruit version.
- Drizzle warm cupcakes with caramel sauce instead of the glaze for a deeper finish.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat oven to 325.
Grease and flour 12 regular-size muffin cups or line with paper liners.
In small bowl, mix apple pieces, sugar and cinnamon.
Stir topping ingredients in a small bowl with a fork or rub together with fingertips until large crumbs form.
BATTER: Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl until blended.
In mixer bowl, beat sugar into oil at high speed.
Reduce speed to medium and beat in egg and vanilla.
Drain liquid from apple (less than a tsp) and add to mixture.
Reserve apple.
Reduce speed to low. Beat in flour mixture until blended.
Batter will be very thick and look impossibly gooey.
Beat in apple and raisins, breaking up apple a bit with mixer.
Spoon batter into prepared cups.
Scatter on topping mixture and gently press into batter.
Bake 30 to 35 min. until crumbs are crisp and cupcakes golden brown, but still somewhat soft in the middle.
Turn off oven. Leave cupcakes in oven 5 min. longer or until tops spring back when lightly pressed.
Cool in pan on wire rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature, drizzled with confectioners’ sugar mixture.
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