Gingerbread Muffins

I love making up my own recipes, and I particularly love when they turn out exactly as I'd hoped on the first try! These gingerbread muffins have a pronounced ginger flavor, enhanced by a mix of spices and molasses. They're delicious right out of the oven and even better with the vanilla glaze. 

 

Gingerbread Muffins

Muffins:

                   ½ c butter                                                     ½ tsp salt
                    ¾ c molasses                                               1tsp baking powder
                    ½ c milk                                                       ½ tsp baking soda
                    1 egg                                                            ½ tsp ground cinnamon
                    1 tsp freshly grated ginger                        ¼ tsp ground allspice
                    ½ c brown sugar                                         ½ tsp ground cloves
                    2 ½ c flour


Glaze:

                    1 c powdered sugar
                    2 T milk
                    ½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Add molasses, stirring until the two are completely combined. Add milk and egg. Mix in grated ginger, then add in brown sugar. Stir until the mixture is completely smooth and uniform.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients, stirring just until you can no longer see flour. Spoon the batter into 12 greased or lined muffin cups.

Bake 18-21 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack. Eat them warm as is, or let them cool for 30 minutes before glazing.

To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl. Whisk together until completely smooth. If the glaze is too thick to drizzle, add milk to thin. If it is too thin, add powdered sugar. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the muffins. The glaze will harden in about 30 minutes. 

Lemon Muffins

Once again, it was my turn to host the monthly brunch for my MOMS Club friends. The last few times I've hosted I've made different coffee cakes (Overnight Berry Coffee Cake and Overnight Cinnamon Coffee Cake). This time I wanted to make muffins.    

As always, I had a huge supply of lemons on hand. So I dug through my pile of recipes to see if I had a recipe for lemon muffins. I found one that looked very promising: Luscious Lemon Muffins by Mary-Lynne Mason. As always, I made a few changes. The muffins were SO good! They might even be my favorite muffin of all-time! Definitely Top Ten anyway.

 

Here's my version: 

Lemon Muffins

                                                 1/2 c. butter, softened                        1 t. baking powder

                                                 1/2 + 1/4 c. sugar                                1/4 t. salt

                                                 2 eggs, separated                                1/4 c. lemon juice

                                                 1 c. flour                                                2 T. lemon zest

Cream together butter and 1/2 c. sugar. Add egg yolks and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with lemon juice to creamed mixture. Stir in lemon zest. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into batter, making sure egg whites are fully incorporated. Divide batter into 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Sprinkle 1/4 c. sugar evenly over the tops of the muffins. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until lightly golden.

So good!