I feel like you’re either a gingerbread person or you’re not. People tend to feel strongly about it. I was always kind of in the no man’s land of the middle or take it or leave it. Didn’t love it or hate it. But, I think I may be in the love it camp now with these gingerbread muffins.
These are full of warmth and spice and they have a wonderful crunchy top. I seriously considered adding a glaze on top but I wanted the gingerbread flavor to shine. I love how simple muffins are to make – no mixers needed. I also love that within an hour you can have these warm and spicy muffins perfect for the season ready to eat.
Gingerbread is very often correlated with the holidays but it doesn’t have to be. These are great anytime of year you want something warm and inviting. However, if you’d like to try these and some other holiday appropriate bakes, I’d also recommend: Soft Spiced Cream Cheese Cookies, Spiced Chai Tiramisu and Spiced Chocolate Star Bread.
Gingerbread Muffins Key Ingredients
- Molasses – Molasses is one of the two main important flavors in gingerbread muffins. This is going to add the warmth, sweetness and almost a subtle smoky flavor. I used this kind.
- Ginger – Ginger is obviously the second important ingredient in gingerbread. Ground ginger is going to add a bit of spiciness which goes so well with the dark sweetness.
- Buttermilk – I wanted to add a little tang so in lieu of regular milk I went with buttermilk.
Ingredients
- 280 g AP Flour 2⅓ cup
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1½ tsp Ground Ginger
- ½ tsp Cloves
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
- ¼ cup Unsalted Butter melted
- ¼ cup Neutral Oil
- 100 g Dark Brown Sugar ½ cup
- 1 Large Egg room temperature
- ¾ cup Buttermilk warm
- 155-160 g Molasses ½ cup
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- ¼ cup Demerara/Turbinado Sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease or line muffin tins with liners.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, baking powder and baking soda, set aside.
- In a large bowl, add melted butter, brown sugar and molasses and whisk to combine.
- Whisk in egg until combined.
- Add oil, vanilla, and buttermilk and combine until all wet ingredients are homogenous.
- Add dry ingredients to wet, and mix until just combined. Do not overmix, batter will look a little lumpy.
- Spoon batter into muffin tin. About ¼ cup in each, filling the muffin tin/liners about ¾ of the way full.
- Generously sprinkle your coarse sugar over the tops of the muffins.
- Bake muffins on center rack at 425°F for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake for another 17 minutes.
- A toothpick inserted into muffin will come out clean, and the muffins will be very fragrant. Remove from tins and place on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
