Gingerbread muffins are a rich, molasses-y treat that will warm up your morning and make the house smell like Christmas. Not too sweet and wonderfully light, these muffins are a crowd-pleaser.
Even better, they only need one bowl, so you can have young bakers whisk together the ingredients. While the muffins bake, together you can make the muffin’s decorations. Muffins, meet Christmas cookie decorating!
These Christmas muffins stand up to robust flavors. Enjoy them with a chai latte, cinnamon tea, or black coffee. Perfect to have on their own, you can also have them with a few slices of fruit sprinkled with cinnamon or a bowl of yogurt with a cinnamon-ginger granola or muesli.
These muffins store well and have even better flavors the next day. No matter how you eat and share them, you’ll want to make these muffins every Christmas season.
What You Need to Make Gingerbread Muffins
This recipe uses holiday baking staples like butter, dark molasses, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, eggs, milk, powdered sugar, and marzipan. The nutty flavor of the marzipan is delicious and festive, but it’s not always available or affordable. If you don’t have marzipan, you can make decorations with fondant.
You can also color your marzipan (or fondant) with a few drops of food coloring, but this is optional. If you do, know that a little food coloring goes a long way!
Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter, melted
- Dark molasses
- All-purpose flour
- Kosher salt
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Ground ginger
- Nutmeg
- Brown sugar
- Large egg
- Whole milk
- Powdered sugar
- Marzipan
- Food coloring (optional)
Tools:
Gingerbread muffins require a few supplies. You will need a bowl, a whisk, very small cookie cutters, a muffin tin, and an ice cream scoop.
You use the cookie cutters to cut out shapes in the marzipan decorations, but if you only have large ones, you (and your kids!) can shape the marzipan into all sorts of shapes and characters. Think of it like play dough you can eat that tastes much better!
How To Make Gingerbread Christmas Muffins
Prepare the batter: Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, spices, salt, and baking powder. Add in the wet ingredients, including the egg, and whisk until the flour has been incorporated and the batter forms ribbons. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
Bake the muffins: Preheat your oven to 425ºF and grease 12 muffin tins. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin tin ¾ of the way to the top.
Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool.
Make the marzipan decorations: While the muffins are baking, take a few ounces of marzipan and warm it up in your hands. Create a ball, and then, using your thumbs, create a small depression in the middle.
Add 1-2 drops of food coloring and mix the ball in your hands until the color is fully distributed. Pat out the marzipan ball into a small disk about ¼ inch thick.
Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes. Place these on a sheet of parchment and set aside.
Make the icing: Whisk together the powdered sugar with water until it becomes thick and drips slowly off the whisk.
Decorate the muffins: Place the icing in a plastic bag and snip off the end of the bag.
Decorate with the icing and then apply your marzipan shapes. I used toothpicks to make mine stand up, but they can also lay flat on your muffins. Enjoy!
Tips:
- When you go to measure out your molasses, give a quick spritz of non-stick cooking spray in your measuring cup. This will help the molasses come out more easily.
- I recommend using an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter. Using an ice cream scoop helps create a beautiful domed look on the top of the muffins.
The marzipan decorations are simple and fun, but you can add Christmas cheer to these muffins in an even easier way. Add green and red sprinkles and/or crystallized ginger after you’ve iced them. There are even sprinkles that are flavored with cinnamon that would taste delicious here.
These muffins last 3-5 days in an airtight container—if they stick around that long!
Gingerbread Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ⅔ cup dark molasses
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp grated nutmeg
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 to 3 oz marzipan
- food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
- Whisk together dry ingredients.
- Create a well in your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
- Mix with a whisk until combined.
- Scoop batter into greased muffin tins.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Allow to cool.
- Shape the marzipan into a ball. Using your thumb, create a depression in the center.
- Place 1-2 drops of food coloring in the depression and then mix the marzipan until the color has been completely incorporated.
- Press out the marzipan into a ¼-inch thick round.
- Using a small cookie cutter, cut out festive shapes.
- Whisk together 2/3 cup powdered sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons water. The consistency should be thick and slowly fall off the whisk.
- Put the glaze into a plastic bag and snip off the end.
- Glaze the cupcakes.
- Top with marzipan decorations. Enjoy!
Notes
- When you go to measure out your molasses, give a quick spritz of non-stick cooking spray in your measuring cup. This will help the molasses come out more easily.
- I recommend using an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter. Using an ice cream scoop helps create a beautiful domed look on the top of the muffins.
Nutrition
Here are a few other recipes you might enjoy!
- Eggnog Muffins
- Cranberry Lemon Muffins
- Cranberry Banana Muffins
- 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins
- Almond Flour Banana Muffins
Arielle is a food and drink photographer based in Washington, D.C. She was previously a social science researcher before she fell in love with photography.