It has been really cold here in Northern California and all I can think of is wearing fuzzy socks, Christmas decorations, gingerbread and peppermint mocha lattes. Also, I’m feeling a little homesick. My plan this year was to travel to Peru and spend the holidays with my parents but because COVID I can’t do that anymore. Anyway, I will start decorating soon because that cheers me up a lot plus baking for Christmas season is something that I love.

Here is a quick and easy recipe for gingerbread muffins that you can make at home. Very soft muffins made with spices like ginger, cloves and cinnamon. I also added one of my favorite ingredients to use during the holidays: crystallized ginger chips. The glaze is a vanilla drizzle that will make them look more festive.

Don’t forget to visit me on Instagram because I just posted the video of how I made these muffins. Click Here.

Yield 9 regular size muffins.

You can double the ingredients for a bigger batch.

Ingredients

For the muffins

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 plus 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1/4 cup Greek yoghurt at room temperature

1/4 cup milk, any milk you prefer at room temperature

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

6 tablespoons dark molasses

1/4 cup crystallized ginger chips by The Ginger People. Click HERE

For the vanilla drizzle

7 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tablespoon cold water

1/4 teaspooon vanilla extract

Directions

For the muffins

1.- Preheat oven to 400 F. Line your muffin pan with paper liners.

2.- In a heat-proof bowl add your butter and molasses. Place this into the microwave for 60 seconds . Take the bowl out of the microwave and mix really good. Your mixture should be smooth and the butter should dissolve compeletely. Set this aside to cool off a bit.

3.- In another bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg. Set this bowl aside.

4.- To the bowl with the butter-molasses mixture, add sugar and mix with a spatula. Add in egg and keep mixing. Add yogurt, mix. Add milk, mix. The mixture might be a bit lumpy because of the yogurt but that’s fine.

5.- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix carefully and slow with a spatula. Add in crystallized ginger chips. Do not overmix. The mixture will look lumpy.

6.- Filled your cupcake liners with the batter all the way up to the top. I use a regular size ice cream scoop for this step and it works fine.

7.- Bake at 400 F for the first 6 minutes. Then, turn down the temperature to 350 F and finish baking until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 14-15 more minutes.

8.- Let them cool completely.

For the icing

1.- In a small bowl mix sugar, water and vanilla extract. Mix well until smooth. If you think your mixture is still a bit runny, add more sifted powdered sugar.

2.- Drizzle the top of your cooled muffins and add some sprinkles. I recomend to add the sprinkles after you drizzle each cupcake because the icing sets fast.

Let them set for about 30 minutes and enjoy!