Just as good as toffee apples, this lower carb count, apple cinnamon muffin recipe with the added bonus of a caramel drizzle, will bring you all the flavours you adore in a moist, sweet cake.

I love a toffee apple although I’m not too sure my teeth would agree! So instead I have taken those wonderful flavours and made them into a more tooth-friendly sweet and moist muffin. These apple cinnamon muffins are also gluten and refined sugar-free so they offer a lower overall carb count. They only come in at a 3g net carb count per muffin!
This muffin recipe isn’t too tricky to make but it is made easier by using a stand mixer or electric whisk. This equipment helps to create extra rise and lightness to the muffins which I find hard to achieve doing it manually.

But the real treat with these apple cinnamon muffins is the refined sugar-free caramel drizzle, which adds extra sweetness and moisture to these cakes.
How to make a refined sugar-free Caramel Sauce:
This refined sugar-free caramel drizzle took me a little practice to master. Inspired by the recent Great British Bake Off I decided I needed to give this a go. It was a little hairy on a few attempts but I hope that if you follow the steps in the recipe card, you too can achieve a wonderful refined sugar-free caramel sauce that is perfect for all sorts of toppings.
Top Tips:
Try not to stir the sauce and where possible just leave it to do its thing. I found the more I interfered the more problems I would have, particularly around crystallisation.
If you can’t be bothered to make your own caramel sauce the NKD Living Naked Fibre Syrup or Sukrin Gold Syrup (affiliate link) are brilliant substitutions. Both are sucralose based syrups and are the thickest we have found so far, making them a great replacement.
Note on sweeteners
In this recipe, I use a white sweetener which could be either xylitol or erythritol. Both are a 1:1 substitute for sugar and work brilliantly in cakes.
Although please note I have only attempted the Caramel Sauce using Xylitol
My preference is xylitol and my current favourites are NKD Living Natural Xylitol or Total Sweet Xylitol (affiliate links)
If you prefer to use different sweeteners like sucralose or stevia, remember to convert your quantity. Most brands have this information on their websites.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different sweeteners and the quantities in sweet recipes. It may take a few attempts to find your preference as we all have a different palate.

What you will need for the Apple and Cinnamon Muffins with a Caramel Drizzle:
- Almond flour/ground almonds
- Gluten-free and net carb count free
- This flour adds a lovely nutty flavour and is a great no carb-count option for cakes and bakes
- My favourites are Seba Garden Extra Fine Almond Flour or NKD Living Finely Ground Almonds (affiliate links)
- Baking powder
- I use Gluten-free
- Essential for adding air and lightness into your bakes
- Xanthum gum
- a binding agent that really helps in all types of gluten free baking
- Eggs
- A key component to any bake and should be free-range if you can
- Sweeteners
- I used Xylitol but you could also use erythritol
- My favourite produt at the moment is NKD Living Natural Xylitol (affiliate link)
- see notes above on Sweeteners
- Greek youghurt
- This helps to make these muffins super moist
- Apple
- A great source of fiber and vitamin C
- They are also have a low glycemic index which means the carbs enter the bloodstream more slowly, and so there is a lower risk of a blood sugar spike.
- Ground Cinnamon
- Has a warm sweet flavour
- Pairs beautifully with apple
For the refined sugar free Caramel:
- Sweetener
- I use either NKD Living Natural Xylitol or Total Sweet Xylitol (affiliate links)
- Butter
- adds the caramel flavour
- Double Cream
- Adds teh creamy flavour to the caramel sauce
Diabetes Note
These apple cinnamon muffins with the added bonus of a caramel drizzle are gluten and refined sugar-free. The overall carb count is also dramatically lowered by switching out the traditional ingredients for almond flour and sugar alternatives instead.
We have found that by making some switches to reduce the carb count can ultimately help with overall blood glucose management.
Carb Counting
The overall carb count for a serving (one) apple cinnamon muffin with caramel drizzle based on the ingredients we would count is:
- Greek youghurt = 75g – 3.2g of carbs
- 3 Apples = approx 300g weighed with core – 30g of carbs
Now add all the carbs together – 3.2+30 = 33.2g
Finally divide this by the serving size, 12 – 33.2/12 = 2.8g of carb per serving
Please note I didn’t count for the double cream as the 3tbsp is under 1g of carbs and if you are only using a little of the caramel sauce the carb count becomes negligible.
Also, please note this carb count amount per portion is based on the standard ingredients listed above and may differ depending on what you use and how much you choose to eat.