If you’re craving gingerbread for the holidays and don’t want cookies, try these gingerbread muffins. They bake up tall and fluffy like the ones you get in a bakery!
We used to attend a gingerbread decorating event nearby. However, with the pandemic still lingering around, we have not gone in the past 2 years. I believe they made a take-home version last year, but it sold out pretty quickly.
What we enjoyed about the event, other than the actual decorating part, was the way it made our house smell. I simply loved the aromas from the gingerbread wafting throughout our home. It just made it seem like the holidays.
Rather than make my own gingerbread cookies, I opted to make muffins instead. While cookies are traditional, I’m actually not that big of a fan of them because I’m a soft and chewy cookie kind of girl. The crunchiness of classic gingerbread cookies just doesn’t appeal to me. Hence, these muffins.
Sadly, I ran out of molasses for this recipe so I substituted with an equal amount of golden syrup instead. It made my muffins sweet and lighter in color. The muffins were a bit on the crumbly side once I bit into them, so I’d suggest adding a little bit of applesauce to your batter to moisten them up.
All in all, these were a solid muffin recipe and definitely made my house smell good!
Husband’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
My rating: 4 out of 5
Gingerbread muffins (bakery-style)
Ingredients
- 2 and ½ cups white whole wheat flour can substitute with all-purpose
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup molasses I ran out and used golden syrup
- ½ cup milk of choice
- ½ cup (1 stick or 8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- coarse sugar for sprinkling optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Generously grease or line a standard muffin pan and set aside (I used a silicone muffin pan and did not line or grease it).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the molasses, milk, butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Slowly pour this into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until everything just comes together. Do not over mix.
- Evenly distribute the batter into your muffin pan, filling each well about ¾ full. If desired, sprinkle some coarse sugar on top.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 8 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, turn the temperature down to 350°F and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool before serving.