Gingerbread Muffins with Lemon Glaze ~ the scent of gingerbread baking is one of the joys of the season — these muffins are perfect for holiday mornings.
When does a cupcake become a muffin? As long as you’re reading my blog, let’s play by my rules. Are you eating it for breakfast? Then it’s a muffin. Glazed not frosted? Definitely a muffin. Are there spices in it like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves? Muffin, muffin, muffin, and muffin.
There, that was easy.
Gingerbread has been around for centuries in cake, cookie, or biscuit form, and originally it was a medicinal food, thought to help with indigestion. The unifying principle in gingerbread is the mix of spices, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, and the use of molasses, which gives it that distinct deep rich color and flavor.
Lemon and gingerbread is an inspired combination ~ the warm spices play against the sharp tang of the citrus in a wonderful way, you’re going to love these!
Love gingerbread? So do I, and I’ve got lots of other gingerbread recipes on the blog, like my BITTERSWEET GINGERBREAD BROWNIES, these are topped with a deep dark chocolate glaze that makes them irresistible. My GINGERBREAD CRUMB CAKE and COPYCAT STARBUCKS GINGERBREAD are both delicious ways to infuse a little holiday cheer into a chilly morning.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp (5 grams) baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) molasses
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- fresh squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, beating in between.
- Beat in the molasses.
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Don't over beat.
- Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups, lightly greased or lined with muffin papers.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes until a straw comes out clean.
- Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a rack.
- Cool completely and then glaze with the lemon glaze.
Notes
Gingerbread recipe adapted from The Joy of Cooking
don’t forget to pin these Gingerbread Muffins with Lemon Glaze!
craving more gingerbread?
Copy Cat Starbucks Gingerbread Loaf
Whole Wheat Gingerbread Blondies
Homemade Gingerbread Playdough
26 Comments
From Beyond My Kitchen Window
December 15, 2011 at 3:25 amAnother winner of a recipe. Perfect for this time of year. My kids would love these.
grace
December 13, 2011 at 5:48 pmmuffins good, glaze better. :)
Bourbon&Pearls
December 13, 2011 at 3:19 pmSue, do you have a favourite stuffing recipe? Iwas looking for something different from the usual sage offerings, I was going to try Nigella’s gingerbread stuffing but just read : ‘fine if you like cake with bacon” hmm maybe not.
Joanne
December 13, 2011 at 12:03 pmI totally just made gingerbread muffins to bring into the class I’m TA-ing today. Now I need to go add a lemon glaze! these look delicious.
Sarah (Snippets of Thyme)
December 13, 2011 at 3:01 amYour “cuppffins” look so divine. Darn it!! I was sitting in bed trying not to be tempted to go and get a cookie! Now, because of that velvety looking frosting oozing down the sides of those “cuppffins” a cookie might help in this situation!
Kitchen Belleicious
December 12, 2011 at 6:48 pmgingerbread muffins instead of cookies- genius! i can just see the flavor oozing out of them!