Gingerbread Muffins

4.6 from 5 votes

These tender gingerbread muffins are loaded with brown sugar, rich molasses, and warm spices. A fresh lemon icing is drizzled on top adding a burst of fresh flavor. Enjoy old fashioned flavors that are perfect for the holiday season.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings

Calories 274kcal

Author Allison - Celebrating Sweets

Ingredients

Muffins:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2½ teaspoons ground ginger
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
⅔ cup brown sugar packed
⅓ cup unsulphured molasses
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
¼ cup applesauce
1 large egg
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablspoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling on top optional

Lemon icing (optional):

¾ cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

Muffins:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar, molasses, oil, and applesauce. Whisk in egg, milk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until no streaks of flour remain, be careful not to overmix.
Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups (I use an ice cream scoop). If desired, sprinkle the top of each muffin with a little granulated sugar.
Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove each muffin and place directly on the rack to cool completely.

Icing:

Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Adjust to your desired consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more lemon juice to thin. Drizzle icing over cooled muffins.

Notes

Icing:

If you’d prefer to top these with another flavor icing, you can omit the lemon juice and replace it with milk and add any of the following:

A few pinches of cinnamon
A couple drops of maple or vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon finely grated orange zest

Adding fruit (optional):

Before the dry ingredients are fully mixed into the wet ingredients, you can stir in 1 ripe-firm peeled chopped pear or 1 cup fresh cranberries to the batter.

Recipe updated November 2021. Original recipe HERE.

Nutrition